Monday, July 27, 2009

The First Rule of Carpetbagging.....


..is to
remember your new address!

Unintentional comedy is currently out there on display on the campaign trail for CD 2. Businessman and CD 2 Candidate Frank Sheftel relates a humorous story about the competition.

At a recent event - The Shadow Hills Pancake Breakfast - Sheftel and former Paramount Pictures Executive Christine Essel decided, in a gesture of goodwill, to sign each others signature petitions in order to qualify for the ballot for the September election.

Essel, who has been widely derided as a carpetbagger, made a monumental mistake with this seemingly innocent gesture. You see, old habits die hard, and Essel started writing down her REAL address, which is near the Sunset/Doheny area, and not in Council District 2. She quickly realized her mistake and scratched out the old address and put in the new, fake, politically-motivated address. In her defense, she can always claim that she "just moved" or "I forgot" ... but will those excuses hold water with informed and suspicious CD 2 voters?

Paul Krekorian and his staff learned through word of mouth about the embarrassing mistake and contacted Sheftels campaign asking for a copy of the signature petition in question. Campaign Manager David Hernandez told them that they would not be given a copy of the petition. Hernandez added that "as of 8 A.M., the petitions were safely in the hands of the L.A. City Clerks Office", being reviewed for qualification for the September ballot.

It is easy to see why Krekorians campaign wanted a copy of the mistake. Essel might be the only candidate who can spend over a million dollars on her campaign. A photocopy of that signature error, where basically, Essel inadvertently admits that she lives in a different part of the city....could be a real damaging blow to her credibility.

Sheftel saw the mistake as a humorous error by the obvious carpetbagger Essel, but he remains more concerned about the false altruism on display by some of these other candidates. "All of these candidates are saying they care so much about the community, but they are leaving government positions that they just got into to run for the higher paying job at City Council," he said, in what appeared to be a direct shot at Krekorian, Essel and perhaps Galatzan. "They are already in positions to effect change", Sheftel continued, "but they are bailing on their commitments to their communities that put them in office." Speaking more specifically about Krekorian and Galatzan, he added "Both Paul and Tamar are using the City Council seat as a lifeboat from their failing offices.I hope voters send them a strong and loud message.... we recycle trash, not politicians!"

This Mayor Sam contributor is unclear about the specific limits or extent of the public records laws concerning elections, but reporters from the L.A. Times and Daily News might want to trot on down to 555 Ramirez Street and take a peek at the petitions themselves. That is, if they were actually interested in reporting real news.. (which most of the time they are not).

In other news from this Council District 2 campaign trail, candidates Michael McCue and Pete Sanchez were seen out and about in CD 2 this weekend trying to fill up their signature petitions in time to beat the deadline of 5 p.m. today, July 27th, at the City Clerks office.

Candidate and Media Personality David "Zuma Dogg" Saltsburg reports on his blog about the enthusiastic response to his petition signature gathering campaign. He reports that he has obtained over 800 signatures and expects to be on the ballot in September.







Sunday, July 26, 2009

SEIU endorsing Paul Krekorian for CD 2 (Already?)

In a strange yet revealing moment out there on the campaign trail, Community Activist and Media Personality Zuma Dogg (a.k.a. David Saltsburg) obtained some valuable information from people whom he was asking to sign his petition so that he can run for City Council here in Los Angeles.

He was informed by a member of the SEIU (Service Employees International Union) that members of SEIU already have their marching orders. They are marching to the polls in September to vote for Paul Krekorian.

But how can this be? The candidates are still filling up the ballot. The SEIU doesn't even know who all the candidates are going to be, yet.

The truth of the matter? -- They don't care.

The SEIU is a semi-Communist organization that doesn't care about your political ideologies if you are running for office. They want to know exactly what you will do for them. The candidate who promises them the most generous and undeserved benefits package is deemed to be the candidate they support. (The SEIU is almost like the Mafia, in that way.)

This reminds me of when I sent out an email back in January, admonishing the AFL-CIO for their endorsement of Antonio Villaraigosa. The AFL-CIO didn't even bother to find out who the other candidates were or what their positions on the issues were! They didn't care. With Villaraigosa, they knew who buttered their bread and made sure they could pocket the most money. They heartily endorsed him with out even asking a single question of any of the other candidates.

Pseudo-professional organizations that run themselves like this can easily be compared to organized crime groups. They do a great disservice to their members, and harm the reputation of all labor groups.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Lance Armstrong commercial



I thought this was maybe the coolest commercial I've ever seen.

And I'm not even a big Lance Armstrong fan.

But what he has done has been remarkable.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Aces & Angels at the Playboy Mansion


I was invited to attend a charity event at the Playboy Mansion on Saturday, July 11th. It was called Aces and Angels and was hosted by celebrity Kim Kardashian. I really enjoyed visiting the Playboy Mansion. Everything was great and I did very well in the Celebrity Poker Tournament, making it down to the last 16 players (out of over 200) before getting knocked out by World Series of Poker Champion Jeff Madsen.

I got to talk to several celebrities there. Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner stopped by my table and I chatted with him about our similar surnames. 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event runner-up Steve Dannenman was at my table. So was "American Pie" actress Shannon Elizabeth. And actor Billy Burke, who plays the Dad in the "Twilight" vampire movies actually was sitting right next to me for a large part of the tournament. I'm happy to say that I outlasted all of them.



Saturday, July 4, 2009

Why today is a holiday...

Try to remember the importance of what happened today. 56 men stood up against the oppression of the British Empire and voted to give us our own country. These men were a little scared and nervous, because they knew the British government would probably try to kill them for this act of rebellion. They did it anyway...and Thank God they did. American liberty and its economic progress has improved the lives and secured the freedom of hundreds of millions of others around the world. It only took 56 men to change the future of the world.

That is why their names are on streets and buildings all over this country.


Friday, July 3, 2009

"What the ....?"


Mayor Villaraigosa freezes as he spots Zuma Dogg coming towards him with his Zuma Cam.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

There's A New Sheriff in Town!


And he is here to clean up the stench left over from Rocky D.
Start printing up those subpoenas, Nuch !
I predict that you are going to be a very busy man!

"Blah, blah, blah.."



"Blah, blah, blah... greenest city in America...blah, blah,blah.
"Blah, blah blah..... crime is down...blah, blah, blah."

(Hope nobody notices Parks is asleep behind me and Nuch keeps checking his watch)