CommentsLA WATCHDOG--In her ten years on the Los Angeles City Council (2001-2011), Janice Hahn never met a wage increase, rate increase, or tax increase she did not like. She was also opposed to increased transparency into the operations, finances, and management of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
In 2007, Hahn was a major supporter of the 5 year, 25% wage increase for the City’s civilian workers. While the economics of this deal were questionable even under favorable economic conditions, it turned out to be a disaster when the economy tanked and the City’s finances were turned upside down.
Even with this river of red ink, Hahn was unwilling to support the hard decisions to balance the budget because she did not want to antagonize the leaders of the City’s unions who had snookered Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Council President Eric Garcetti with promises to bargain in good faith if the City’s financial condition changed.
The City eventually balanced the budget, but only after it dumped 1,600 employees onto the DWP payroll (along with $175 million in unfunded pension liabilities) and enticed 2,400 senior employees to retire through the Early Retirement Incentive Program that stuck the City’s underfunded civilian employee pension plan with an additional $600 million liability.
In 2008, Hahn was a sponsor of the Proposition A (the City of Los Angeles Special Gang and Youth Violence Prevention, After-School and Job Training Programs Tax), a $36 parcel tax designed to raise about $30 million a year. But this ballot measure failed to receive the necessary two thirds vote, in large part because the ballot measure did not win the endorsement of the Los Angeles Times.
In 2008 and 2010, Hahn supported two hefty rate increases in our water and power rates while, at the same time, putting on a show where she pretended to sympathize with the downtrodden Ratepayers. After all, she wanted the continued support of DWP’s domineering union, IBEW Local 18, and Union Bo$$ d’Arcy, its politically powerful business manager.
In 2010, she and her partner in crime Richard Alarcon sided with Mayor Villaraigosa in his scheme to have DWP withhold $73.5 million from the City’s General Fund unless the City Council agreed to an even higher rate increase. But this effort failed when the 13 other members of the City Council refused to go along with hare brained stunt that was not in the best interests of the City and the DWP Ratepayers.
In late 2010, Hahn was also one of the opponents of the placing on the ballot the charter amendment to create the Ratepayers Advocate to oversee the operations, finances, and management of the Department. And even after 78% of the voters approved this ballot measure in March of 2011, Hahn continued her efforts to water down the powers of the Ratepayers Advocate because Union Bo$$ d’Arcy’s concern about increased transparency and accountability into the operations and finances of our Department of Water and Power.
While Hahn was on the City Council, Hahn gave lip service to pension reform. But when push came to shove, Hahn was MIA because once again she was unwilling to alienate the leaders of the City’s civilian unions who refused to negotiate in good faith to reform our seriously underfunded pension plans.
The County Board of Supervisors has undergone a significant change as the fiscally responsible Zev Yaroslavsky and Gloria Molina have been replaced by Sheila Kuehl and Hilda Solis, both of whom are not known for their budget balancing prowess. Adding the fiscally irresponsible and inexperienced Janice Hahn to the Board of Supervisors that has a budget of $28 billion and pension liabilities exceeding $50 billion is only asking for trouble, especially if the economy experiences a downturn.
A vote for Janice Hahn will be a vote for budget shenanigans, a vote against pension reform, a vote against transparency, a vote for the self-serving leaders of the County’s public unions, and a vote for increased taxes on the hard working citizens of Los Angeles County.
(Jack Humphreville writes LA Watchdog for CityWatch. He is the President of the DWP Advocacy Committee and a member of the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council. Humphreville is the publisher of the Recycler Classifieds -- www.recycler.com. He can be reached at: [email protected].)
-cw
Los Angeles County Cannot Afford Janice Hahn
