GregDewar.com

If you want to see what a desperate, sad, and hopeless state Mayor Hahn's campaign is in, you simply need to look at what he's doing to try and get re-elected. This Son of Kenneth, this Mayor of One of America's Largest Cities, this Longtime Politician, so stained with inaction, corruption, a lack of charisma, or leadership, has a new campaign theme. What is it?

Simple. It's called "I may be a crook, but at least I'm white. Tony's a Mexican. And we gotta stop the Mexicans from taking over."

Ok, not literally, but that is more or less the campaign theme. Bill Carrick and Kam Kuwata are smart and literate enough to put it some other way. I'm sure after Carrick's presidential candidate, Dick Gephardt, saw his career go down in flames, after a torrent of negative campaigning, he and his cohorts have learned from that little disaster. (What is Dickie G. doing now, anyway?)

Now, I'm not a member of the Legions of P.C. that cry "racism" the way the little boy cried "wolf" (as is too often the case these days), but watching the kind of campaign Hahn is running, and watching how easily people are falling for it, makes you wonder What Would Kenneth Do if he were confronted with someone in public life who can't say much more than "Vote for Me I'm White."

Take for example the Mayor's front-and-center placement of Crank Candidate Walter Moore's endorsement. Surely your remember this clown - he's the guy who cared more about the rights of bunnies and birdies instead of property owners. Hahn lost the endorsements of prominent leaders in just about every community there is in Los Angeles - which he derided as bunk.

Yet he was joyous to get Crank Walter Moore's endorsement to telegraph to Angry White People "Hey, I may be a corrupt, and incompetent steward of your tax dollars, but at least I'm white."

A quick look at the cranky ex-candidate's website proves that a) Moore is just another white person afraid of "those people" and b) Hahn is getting his support primarily because of his skin color.

How else to explain Moore's total abandonment of principle to support his former nemesis? (Memo to Moore: You keep sending me two copies of your stupid emails all the time - and I don't want any of them. Stop it.)

Frankly, I'm a bit surprised that any Good Republican would consider voting for Hahn. I mean, I can understand a Republican not wanting to vote for Tony Villaraigosa because of his openly liberal views, but the sad truth is, on most issues Hahn and Villaraigosa are not that far apart. So why vote for Hahn if he's really no different on 90% of issues than Tony V?

Even the famous Mayor Sam's Sister City blog, no home to hippie liberalism, has bitten the bullet and supported Villaraigosa to root out the Hahn mess in City Hall. And yet, there's Mayor Hahn, belatedly picking up semi-right wing causes in an unabashed effort to get the only block left to him - the white people who Don't Like Mexicans.

I wish I could hold a seance and call upon the spirit of former Supervisor Kenneth Hahn and ask him what he thinks of the kind of campaign his son is running, stooping to race-baiting as the only way left to hold on to power. I'd ask Supervisor Hahn if this is something he'd do himself, or would have done in the turbulent 60s when race relations weren't so great. What Woud Kenneth Do?

I'd even ask him if he was proud of the constant ethical problems his son has had, or how after years in office, Hahn the Minor has yet to really do much with his career, or his life, besides Get Re-Elected.

In fact, I wish I could force Jimi Hahn to justify his campaign to his father, face-to-face. I'd love to see Jimi try and obfuscate and use the hair-splitting lie to wriggle his way out of the situation. I'd like to see how far he gets with his weasel-ish performance in front of an actual adult, and leader, especially one like his father was. Especially since he invokes his father's name when more emails are subpoenaed and more US Attorneys and FBI agents are sent to City Hall.

And it's not like this is the first time he's done it anyway. Let's face facts - in 2001, Jimi Hahn invoked the image of Saint Ken to shore up support in the African American community, while at the same time sending under-the-radar messages to same community warning them of the specter of the Rise of the Browns.

At the same time, such a scorched-earth policy is not entirely unexpected. When a candidate is down and out, they tend to get desperate enough to try something, anything, just to hold on, since they are either facing jail time or an unemployable future.

If I was in charge of Hahn's re-election effort (and I thank God I'm not!!!) I don't know what I'd do. But I'd have a hard time fanning the flames of hatred just to bleed a handful of votes out of a pack of cranks I a) dislike intensely and b) would hate to see get something out of a new administration should he win.

Mayor Willie Brown, who mismanaged San Francisco into financial ruin during the boom years, and saddled it with massive, permanent financial, and social problems, took a similar right turn when faced with a possible defeat, begging hard-right Republicans to support his re-election.

He ended up having to hand out taxpayer funded goodies and civil service jobs to people a year before the election hated his guts (partially because of his politics, partially because of his skin color). It was a sick, depraved example of the decline of a so-called leader, and helped cement San Francisco's slide into mediocrity, one Gavin Newsom is desperately trying to rescue it from.

Whatever. The whole thing is disgusting, and I really hope at this point Villaraigosa wins. I don't know that he's the best guy for the job, but for now, I am not as much about who will do the best job, as much as I am about seeing a pack of jerks get denied their post-election goodies. Maybe some other jerks will get them, but at least it ain't gonna be THOSE jerks.

© 2003-2006 Greg Dewar | All Rights Reserved | Originally Published at www.schadelmann.com

Posted by Greg Dewar at 6:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just in case you thought that John Kerry and his campaign apparatus might have learned something about logistics, communication, or timeliness during the last election fiasco, well, think again. This latest "stealth" trip to the West Coast is just bearing it out.

What's that you say? You've not heard of Kerry's West Coast trip to boost his presidential aspirations for 2008? Well don't feel bad. Most people haven't either. Or, at least they weren't given much warning.

Political events usually require some lead time if they are to be successful. Even if you have a gaggle of celebrities, a promise of free drinks (well maybe not at a Democratic event!) and whatnot, you still need time to make it a success.

That's why I'm eyeing Kerry's supposed generosity and "power" with some suspicion. It sounds more like the Kerry Hype Machine is pushing stories to the press about his supposed "power" while of course, he isn't doing much. Remember that little case of the $15 million+ "surplus" the losing Kerry campaign ended with?

Today's LA mediasphere noted that Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa will be having an event with Sen. Kerry, and as usual, I got the obligatory email from the Esteemed Senator. The event is on Saturday. I got the invite today. Now, I'm sure the event will do OK, but it would seem that if Kerry really wanted to help Antonio, he'd have spent less time planting stories about his mythical "network of donors" helping Antonio "win" the election, and might have put the word out about this sooner. Let's give them some credit - at least they listed the event on Kerry's site.

This is not the only event, though. On April 15th, I received an email from the Washington State Democratic Party inviting me to an event with John Kerry on May 1st in Seattle, to raise money for Gov. Gregoire's legal fund.

Nice, sure, but again, if the invites are going out on the 25th for an event on the 1st, that isn't giving the folks on the ground a lot of time to get things ready. I hate to break it to Kerry & Co., but he's just not such a big draw that people are going to delay the credit card payments, move their schedule around, and cough up the money just to touch the hand of the man who blew the Presidential race.

Ironically, the only event that had a decent amount lead time and preparation was a fundraiser for Janet Reilly, who is running for the State Assembly in San Francisco. I'd heard about this event several weeks ago, and I have no doubt it will be a success. However, when I went to find the event on John Kerry's official website, it said that there were no events in San Francisco.

Likewise, Kerry's media machine isn't doing nearly as much work ginning up the PR mill as it was for Antonio. To me, that's cheap and thoughtless. Janet, and her husband Clint were early supporters of Kerry's campaign and did a lot of work to help his campaign in California - the least Kerry's crew could do was give her some free PR in advance of the event.

I'm sure there are other events on the Kerry Resurrection Tour, but I will probably not hear about them until just a few days before they happen. After all, this isn't really about helping Mr. Villaraigosa, Mrs. Reilly, or Mrs. Gregoire. This is about helping John Kerry keep his lifeless presidential ambitions hooked up to political life support.

And frankly, given his mistakes and that darn Presidential campaign surplus, I'd say it's time to pull the plug. I'm sure that's something even my most conservative Christian pals can agree with me on.

PS: On an unrelated note: someone has been posting all sorts of nutty comments on blogs, both here at JS and elsewhere, signing other people's names but using my URL. Whoever it is, please cut it out, willya? It's lame, and childish, and you're pissing me off.

© 2003-2006 Greg Dewar | All Rights Reserved | Originally Published at www.schadelmann.com

Posted by Greg Dewar at 5:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Loyal readers have probably noticed that I haven't written a single thing about the Mayor's race since the election in March. It's a conscious decision on my part, simply because unlike some other LA-area blogs I could mention, I don't get a lot of enjoyment out of snark for snark's sake, nor do I enjoy joining the legions of partisan bloggers who pump out whatever it is they feel is necessary to help Their Guy.

We all know who these people are, so it's not necessary for me to link to them - I'd rather not give these over-exposed folks more attention than they already get.

In these hyper-abbreviated elections, we usually get to the point where we hear a rehash of the following criticism, which we hear during every election at about this time. They include:

-"The candidates are being all negative. Boo Hoo."

-"No one is talking about this issue [insert important issue here]."

-"The campaign mailers/TV/websites/whatever are saying things that aren't 100%" accurate."

-"Why didn't [insert name of failed candidate] do better so we could vote for him (be real folks, it's rarely a "her" when it comes to Southern CA politics).

-"Both candidates suck. I'm not voting. I'm going to show my 'independence' by calling for a pox on both houses." (this is usually followed up with a dose of "See how smart I am and better I am than these two guys?")

And on and on. You get the idea. If you think about it, isn't this about where we are during any election cycle? Wasn't everyone bitching about Kerry and Bush's campaigns towards the end? They weren't? Come on.

It's just more glaring now because the election season for local Los Angeles elections is ridiculously short. Let's look at the timeline, shall we?

We got hit with a huge election in 2004, followed by: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. Sure candidates may have been running during the fall of 2004, but did anyone notice? Did anyone care? No, they didn't (despite the banner ads).

Not until halfway through January did most campaigns start making a big presence known locally, and by then, well we were just about a month away from the dropping of mail ballots to voters for the March elections. Suddenly, we had a Big Election in front of us, with barely enough time to assimilate the various campaigns and their shenanigans, before the vote hit.

Of course, we had to listen to the usual roster of Self Appointed Prophets of Truth who spent most of their time whining about their lack of coverage, while doing little to get actual votes (and of course they all lost. Big time.) We even had the inevitable "Why isn't [insert name of total loser here] allowed to attend a debate?" and a lot of soothsayers talking about how "important" debates most people never saw, were.

End of history lesson. Back to the question (and the complaints): who or what is to blame?

In this case, I don't point fingers at the any one of Usual Suspects of Big Media, Big Biz, Big Labor, Big Politicians or Those Dumb Voters. You can read those analyses elsewhere.

Instead I'd argue something else - the reason the candidates and campaign aren't living up to some people's expectations has more to do with the political culture of Southern California and Los Angeles in particular, than anything else. More to the point, the political scene reflects where the voting public actually is than whatever some self-appointed prophet says it is, or thinks it should be.

Take a look at our leading candidates, the ones that got the most votes from a very small pool of voters. One is a longtime politician who has run for years on Daddy's Name and Record, and has done very little as the incumbent Mayor other than work on that re-election fundraising.

An ethically challenged politico, you'd think he would have been rejected by most politicians and voters - but he wasn't. When confronted with his record, a surprising number of Actual Voters simply responded by saying "We knew that already. All politicians suck" and voted for him anyway. Even with a message of "I'm my daddy's kid" and "the other guys suck" - two very thin reasons to vote for anyone - he was able to pull through (but not in first place!)

Our other candidate, the top vote getter, is someone who ran and almost one once already. He projects a nice guy image, looks good on TV, and in general says the things a core group of voters like to hear. But again, this is no revolutionary campaign, nor should we expect any bold changes to the fabric of LA politics should he get elected.

In a city whose political culture is one of disengagement and acceptance of how things are, is it any surprise these two made it so far?

The fact is, who is Mayor of Los Angeles to most people is far less important than who is deciding whether to make a film or tv series in town, or in Canada. Whether that's true or not is irrelevant - it is what people think and believe and influences how they vote - if at all.

Likewise, in a town dominated by people who either feel they must live here, because they wish to pursue a certain line of work, or that they have to live here because they have no way out, they are far more likely to accept the proposition that Los Angeles has to be a polluted, hot, and traffic-ridden city, with expensive rent and mortgages.

One would think that people would not only be upset at the concept of paying almost $20,000 a year in rent to live in places that don't' really warrant it, and ask/scream/demonstrate/riot/whatever for someone t o do something about it.

They don't. They write the checks every month, and keep on truckin'. If they vote, they vote for the least offensive guy, or the one most likely to help their small piece of turf.

They sit in traffic for over an hour each way to work, and they keep on doing it, day after day. They have fundamentally accepted the way things are, far more than people do in other places. You'd be hard pressed to see New Yorkers just sit idly by when things are going to Hell - look at the recent city elections and see the difference.

Does that mean our citizens in Los Angeles are stupid? Absolutely not. It does mean that people here are more focused on Other Things they consider important, to the point that they've accepted the world around them for all its faults, and do not' think too much that it doesn't have to be this way.

That's not an indictment of the people of Los Angeles - instead it is a recognition of where they are, as citizens. If you can't or won't acknowledge this sense of status quo, you can't begin to do anything to change it. No one can expect to overcome it in a short campaign season that doesn't command the attention of most voters. (And oh, yeah, silver tongued eloquence from an unknown isn't going to cut it, either. Sorry.)

There's no magic answer to change the status quo - and you're certainly not going to find it on a blog (not even this one). But if you're wondering why it is we have who we have as our choices, look again. One is a dull politico more concerned with political fundraising than doing a good job. The other is a more exciting politico who is also quite concerned about his career.

Both will do what it takes to get elected, and one will win. Neither is going to make any big changes. And for most people, that suits them just fine. Maybe things aren't great, but for most people who are just treading water, they don't want the current stirred up too much and risk sinking.

If you want to stir up things, be prepared to find a way to reassure these millions of treaders that they're not going to drown. The people that figure it out will one day run America's second largest city. Until then, enjoy your choices. And keep sending me copies of their election mail - it's fun stuff!

UPDATE: Several LA based blogs have linked to this article, including LA Voice, LA Observed, and Dropping the Gloves, to name a few. We even got a mention at KPCC. Thanks, gang!

UPDATE II:Associated Press did this article, also commenting on the lack of interest in the race which had an oddly familiar ring to it.

© 2003-2006 Greg Dewar | All Rights Reserved | Originally Published at www.schadelmann.com

Posted by Greg Dewar at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As I said earlier this week, rather than just "blog away" about issues, sometimes I like to actually do something somewhat tangible, so I spent Tuesday with all sorts of snarky signs in front of Gov. Doofinator's latest special-interest fundraiser.

While I can't claim credit for the event's a success or failure based on my presence, it was nice to spend a nice sunny day outdoors, and to see for myself what was really going on.

The news media tends to make these things out as "union" events, but they're really not - I was rather surprised at the number of Ordinary People who showed up, not for some massive Agenda of the Left, but because they were sick and tired of politicians who lie and take lots of special interest cash, without any benefit to the average citizen.

As rallies go, it was loud, but relatively peaceful. If you look closely at the video footage from KRON you might catch a glimpse of the snarkiest of signs, the one I made for a protest in front of the GAP's San Francisco headquarters (calling attention to the big donations the company has made to the Governor's campaigns), that labeled the Governor the "Doofinator." [Insert rolling eyes here.]

I had a bet wtih one of my firends at the event that my inimitably goofy sign would make all three local network affiliates for the news because it was so dopey, and it did!) You can also see some political commentary from retired political consultant and local philanthropist Clint Reilly commenting on the situation as well at KRON.

Rallies, protest, and direct action these days usually don't do a lot to swing The Masses to any one side, nor do they tend to convince the people on the inside to change their mind. However, when it comes to Gov. Doofinator they're more effective than people realize.

That's because this Governor is not committed to the Republican Party, any basic set of ideals, or other politicans. He is only committed to the idea of being popular. Any time that popularity takes a hit, as it has done recently, and he'll quickly drop an idea or sell out a friend to restore said popularity.

That's why, after taking multiple hits on his ill-thought out scheme to take away teh pensions and death benefits for police and firefighters, he abandoned his much ballyhooed reform efforts and gave up, rather than risk having some unhappy fans out there.

So for those well-heeled kids spending their fun money on the Doofinator's signature gathering machine, all I can say is, you may want to rethink how you spend your money. A new popularity poll can sink that wacky initiative you're trying to promote.

This is not the first time a little heat has made the Governor abandon a policy proposal - we only have to look back at the Great Puppy and Kitten Revolt of 2004, which always astonished me.

For someone who loves to hurl insults, taunts, and bad jokes, he sure can't take a little criticism. But I suppose that's what happens to someone who's spent a career working on being popular all the time. It gets to you after a while.

There was a lot of coverage of this particular protest/event/whatever in local papers, television, and the wire services. There was also a lot of noise on blogs. I think it's interesting how some people in the "blogosphere" (God, I hate that word) really get on a high horse about how they're somehow "better" than the mainstream press in reporting what "really" happens.

Sometimes, it seems like most political bloggers are loudmouths, so full of themselves they don't let something like the facts get in the way of a good sounding "messaging exercise." But I digress. (and yes, if I may paraphrase Sideshow Bob, I see the irony of using a blog to decry blogs. So what.)

However, in this case I'd like to point out two blogs that covered Tuesday's events and compare and contrast them a little. I found both using Google and picked them at random.

The first is a blog written by a guy in Livermore, CA who attended the rally. He's posted a nicely detailed account of the day's events, complete with pictures that more or less synced with what I saw and heard while I was there. No sensationalism, true, but a nice, crowd's-eye view.

Yes, there were a lot of people, yes it had its goofy moments, and no, there was no riot, no Chicago '68-style head bashing, no calls for La Revolucion issued to the proletariat. It was interesting to see so many people give up Opening Day and some nice weather in San Francisco to show up and talk to the Governor the only way they're allowed to, and it was amazing to see so many of our first responders out in force.

He also had a link to another site which had a lot of links to coverage as well. Since it's Friday, and I don't feel like re-inventing the wheel, just click over there and see what he's got.

In contrast, Bob Brigham at the Swing State Project posts a very different account, a tale rife with images of brave clashes with The Man and The System, the People igniting La Revolucion, etc.

It all sounds really nice, but unfortunately, the embellishments start to take on a life of their own and don't sync with what many other people saw, nor with anything I observed. It's one of those things that super-liberal people who spend all day behind a computer can get excited about - but also at odds with a lot of what really went on, which ends up being a lot more interesting.

I've met Bob before and he is a good guy, well intentioned, and all, and I am sure that in all the excitement it was easy to embellish a little while talking to a friend on a cell phone to "report" the events. But as usual, the ideological embellishments, be they from right or left, detract from the facts, which was much more interesting than an attempt to once again Bring Back the Freakin' 60's, as some people insist on doing.

Although, in the case of Bob's blog, I can kind of see what he's doing - it's a sort of Hunter S Thompson "reveal the truth in the embellishments" kind of writing, which has its place.

Blogs are fun to write, and occasionally fun to read. At the same time, we need to realize that not all blogs are the stand-alone grassroots efforts they represent themselves to be, nor are they all free of pre-paid opinions, nor do all of them care whether what they write is true or not.

That's fine - it's all part of freedom to let everyone have their say - but it's part of the responsibility of the rest of us to make sure we don't let ourselves be so insulated from contrary thought we start reading our own personal Pravdas for our respective ideological biases.

PS: I want to take a moment to address a particularly egregious example of lying by a political hack - in this case the total fabrications that spew out of the mouth of the Doofinator's spokeman, Rob Stutzman.

I am now issuing a formal challenge to Rob Stutzman - prove on paper that the vast majority of protestors at Tuesday's event were paid, and I'll buy you a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon and have it delivered to your office. If you can't do so, then you owe me a case of Schlitz. The distributor in Sacramento carries it - I expect to get my delivery soon. Thanks!

© 2003-2006 Greg Dewar | All Rights Reserved | Originally Published at www.schadelmann.com

Posted by Greg Dewar at 1:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Isn't it funny how Republicans talk tough, but when it comes right down to it, they are the biggest wimps and scaredy-cats in politics today?

Here you have a President, for example, who apparently won a national election, and has one-party control over the House and Senate to rubber-stamp anything he wants to do. Yet, apparently, every time he's had a so-called "town meeting" on Social Security, a lot of time and tax money is spent keeping the crowds 100% friendly to the president.

Got a question or concern about Social Security? Great. Just don't be expected to ask any questions or make any suggestions to the President's tax-funded "discussion."

You'll be kicked out by a member of The Party, or a member of the internal security forces for that. Yes, we may be promoting democracy in Iraq, but we just can't have anyone daring question The President or The Party on issues - that would be "messy."

Either the President is so under-confident about his proposals and so scared of a few little questions that dare challenge his views, he feels the need to put up the walls, or his handlers feel he's so out of whack they have to "protect" him. I don't know which one is worse.

Come on, George? One hippie with a question about your plans is enough to bring down the US Government? Please.

Likewise, self-styled "tough guy" (he may not be one but he played on on TV) Governor Doofinator is tooling around the state with the gimmicky rallies, and so called "Kitchen Cabinet" meetings to "listen to the people of Cal-ee-fornia."

Except, of course, that the people in these "meetings" are hand-picked by local Chambers of Commerce, and are 100% pro-Arnold in their questions. The press is never allowed to talk to the Great Doofinator, and no one with any dissenting views is allowed to ask the Governor questions, and make him defend his proposals without a script.

Funny, I thought Gov. Doofinator said he was going to be a "people's governor" and listen to us, not special interest cash. Instead, he's spending most of his time raising millions of dollars from wealth special interests, and won't talk to anyone that doesn't already agree with him in advance.

The only way anyone can even try and talk back to the governor is in the form of a street protest. Funny thing, that. We dumped Davis because he was a "coin-op" Governor who didn't listen to you unless you had a few dollars. Now we have a Governor who won't listen to you unless you have bundles of cash, and won't listen to you unless you tell him what he wants to hear, and agree with him 100%. Nice!

Now, unlike some bloggers around town (whose names we'll not mention) who seem to think that sitting in front of a computer and being rude and snarky to other bloggers somehow accomplishes something, I plan on doing something a little more relevant, and put my

Today, April 5th, a coalition of good folks who don't like being stepped on anymore by Doofinator's Special Interest Mob, are going to be holding a rally in downtown San Francisco at the Ritz Carlton this afternoon, starting at 4:30. I've decided to lend a hand to the organizers of the event.

It is unfortunate that the Governor feels it's better to spend more time out of the Capitol, raising money from out-of-state special interests, instead of using his alleged independence to tell the apparatchniks on both parties to stick it and deal directly with everyone, fair and square. Since he has chosen that route, however, others are now responding with something he may understand - a loud, and organized crowd of folks who have this crazy notion that pensions for our cops and firefighters are worth defending.

I will report on the proceedings from my side of the lines later on as time allows. Until then, if you want to talk to your President or Governor, bring your checkbook and be sure to leave any disagreements at the door, or you won't be let in!

© 2003-2006 Greg Dewar | All Rights Reserved | Originally Published at www.schadelmann.com

Posted by Greg Dewar at 9:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)