Perhaps it was inevitable that L.A. City Controller Laura Chick’s latest audit would turn into a political football, especially with three weeks to go until the mayoral runoff.

Chick issued blistering criticism of the city’s Information Technology Agency, saying that it intentionally skirted city contracting policies in awarding master agreement contracts and that it consistently failed to document how other contracts were awarded to ensure the best use of public dollars.

What the audit didn’t say was that Chick last month endorsed City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa for mayor and that she released an audit critical of the Hahn administration three weeks before the mayoral runoff.

Of course the Hahn administration wasted no time in pointing this out.

“Laura Chick has turned into a political attack dog for Villaraigosa,” said budget director Doane Liu. “There can be no other explanation for such strong language in an audit where more than 90 percent of the recommendations for reform have already been implemented. It’s a shame that she’s chosen to politicize this.”

Chick vehemently disputed this characterization. “If I’m an attack dog, it’s on behalf of the taxpayers of Los Angeles. That’s what motivates me,” she said.

She also took issue with the Hahn camp’s emphasis on the timing of the audit, saying she releases audits when they are complete, not when the political timing is best.

“My audits are released when they are done in polished, finished drafts. That’s the way it’s supposed to be done according to the ‘Yellow Book’ of national government auditing guidelines.

“And another thing, I’m not going to stop my audits because there is an election. If you listen to those people complaining about timing, what do they want me to do? Not release any audits for two months before the primary and two months before the general election because it might be considered political?”

Chick didn’t help her cause when in response to a question at a press conference announcing the release of this audit, she said she would be releasing sometime in May a summary of findings about the city’s contracting process. She didn’t say it would be before the election, but the Hahn camp saw this as evidence of letting her political leanings dictate her audit releases.

During the primary, Chick prepared a white paper summarizing problems in city contracting and held a briefing for all four of Hahn’s challengers. The move drew criticism for appearing to cross the line into political activism against the mayor. Chick later acknowledged that she had made a mistake.

Schwarzenegger Losing Support

As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger stakes out more partisan Republican positions in pursuing his government overhaul agenda, he appears to be losing support among Republicans.

Up through early this year, the governor repeatedly scored approval ratings at or near 90 percent among Republicans in statewide surveys.

He received an 88 percent approval rating in one poll just after proposing changes to redistricting, merit pay for teachers, stricter budgetary spending controls and conversion of public pensions to 401(k)-style defined contribution plans all popular proposals among core Republicans.

But last week a poll from the Rose Institute for State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College found that only 76 percent of registered Republicans surveyed said they thought Schwarzenegger was doing a good job. (The decline isn’t as steep as the 20 percent drop among Democratic voters.)

The erosion of Republican support is the result of recent setbacks, including Schwarzenegger’s retreat from pension reform, said Doug Johnson, consulting fellow with the Rose Institute.

“People are worried he’s becoming one of ‘them,’ meaning Sacramento politicians,” Johnson said.

News Rack Crackdown


After a three-year battle with newspaper publishers, the city of Los Angeles is about to get tough on the proliferation of news racks.

Later this month, city officials are slated to begin removing scores of racks in Studio City as the first in a series of targeted crackdowns resulting from passage of a new city ordinance.

The focus of this first sweep will be on a two-block area of Ventura Boulevard near Laurel Canyon Boulevard.

“My neighbors have counted 159 news racks within that two-block stretch,” said City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel. “I know residents want their newspapers, but they also want clean, vibrant neighborhoods.”

After Studio City, officials plan to remove racks in Hollywood, Downtown, Westwood, the airport area and San Pedro over the next several months.

Citywide, there are an estimated 25,000 news racks. For years, residents and some merchant groups in several of the most affected communities have complained about blight caused by clusters of news racks.

After three years of negotiations, the city reached a compromise with publishers, resulting in an ordinance that gives newspaper publishers seven years to conform to a uniform color code.

The ordinance that passed last December allows a maximum of 16 news racks per block. Meanwhile, each news rack must be permitted and registered with the city. Permit notices went out last month to all known newspaper publishers owning news racks in the city; a $21.69 fee per news rack has been set to fund the enforcement.

*Staff reporter Howard Fine can be reached by phone at (323) 549-5225, ext. 227, or by e-mail at

[email protected]

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