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November 25, 2008

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Paper or pixels?

Last month, Craig Newmark visited The Times for a discussion with editors and members of the paper's editorial board. Below is a partial transcript.

November 18, 2008

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Schwarzenegger talks money, Prop. 8 and Obama

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger visited The Times on Nov. 14. Below is a partial transcript of the discussion he had with editors and reporters.

July 11, 2008

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BoA's Ken Lewis: ‘More pain and time’

Bank of America Chief Executive Ken Lewis stopped by The Times this week to discuss with editors and reporters his company's approach to the housing crisis and its takeover of troubled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. Here are some highlights.

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Fear of tomatoes

Andrew C. von Eschenbach, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, visited the editorial board Wednesday. The FDA is facing an outbreak of salmonella in tomatoes and attempting to upgrade its processes to deal with the changing food market. Here are some highlights.

June 6, 2008

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God and film

While UCLA and USC dominate the market for film schools in this city, there is a third. Loyola Marymount University's school of film and television bills itself as a film school with "storytelling as the centerpiece" and a vision "grounded in humanism, innovation and diversity." The school has both graduate and undergraduate programs and runs a summer workshop for high school students. Teri Schwartz, dean of the film and television school, and Rev. Robert B. Lawton, S.J., president of the university, joined the editorial board to discuss the school and its mission.

June 2, 2008

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Speaking with the new speaker

Karen Bass, California's new Assembly speaker, visited The Times last week to discuss her efforts to fix California's tax structure, negotiate a balanced budget with Republicans and reform foster care in the state. Below is a partial transcript of her remarks to Times reporters and members of the editorial board.

May 15, 2008

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Schwarzenegger on taxes, immigration and more

Hours after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his latest budget revisions Wednesday, he sat down with Times editors and reporters to share his thoughts on taxes, the entertainment business and more. Below are excerpts of his remarks. You can find the audio gallery here.

April 29, 2008

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‘Special Order 40 is not changing one word’

Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton sat down with The Times' editorial board on Monday to discuss several LAPD-related issues. Below are his remarks on the controversy surrounding the department's Special Order 40.

April 24, 2008

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The Armenian question, 2008

Harut Sassounian, publisher of the California Courier and a leading figure in the local Armenian-American community, visited the Times this week to discuss relations with Turkey, genocide recognition and other matters. Here are some highlights.

April 23, 2008

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Villaraigosa's broken bank

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa visited the Times editorial board this week to lay out details of his budget plan. Here are some highlights of that meeting.

April 17, 2008

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This is your country on drugs

Ethan Nadelmann, president of the Drug Policy Alliance, visited the L.A. Times editorial board recently to discuss alternative approaches to America's war on drugs. This is a partial transcript of that discussion.

April 2, 2008

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Genocide, diplomacy and terrorism

Leaders of an umbrella group for Turkish-American groups stopped by The Times recently to discuss the debate over the Armenian genocide, Turkey's membership in the European Union and quashing Kurdish separatism in northern Iraq. Below are highlights from that meeting.

March 11, 2008

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‘Delighted if it didn’t get worse’

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed his plan to close the state's deficit with across-the-board cuts, California Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill saw so many problems that her office took a rare step — it wrote its own budget proposal. Hill stopped by The Times last week to discuss her alternative budget; below is a partial transcript.

February 14, 2008

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Lending and LACMA

Is the controversy over Eli Broad's relationship with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art real, or is it all in the minds of the media? The billionaire LACMA trustee and donor visited the editorial board yesterday with museum director Michael Govan, to discuss views on architecture, L.A.'s position as a cultural capital and the fluid state of the Broad art collection. Some highlights:

January 23, 2008

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Health care in critical condition

Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) stopped by the Los Angeles Times this week to discuss health care reform. Kuehl will hold a hearing today on the Nunez-Perata health care bill, which is supported by Gov. Schwarzenegger. The Assembly has already passed the bill. If Senate also approves it, an initiative providing funding for the new system will be put on an upcoming ballot for voter approval. Kuehl spoke about her skepticism of the bill and support for a single-payer system.

January 21, 2008

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Guns, strikes, cuts and term limits

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger visited the L.A. Times last week to discuss his new budget plan and review the condition of California. Some clips and highlights:

January 16, 2008

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Free trade unbound

The Los Angeles Times editorial board met recently with U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab. Here are some highlights of the discussion:

January 11, 2008

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An American university in Beirut

Not all things American are met with hostility in the Middle East — quite the contrary, actually, when it comes to education. Dr. Joseph G. Jabbra, president of the Lebanese American University, stopped by The Times last week to discuss his Beirut-based school's role in the region — and how universities that offer a distinctly American education could transform the Middle East.

January 2, 2008

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China, helicopters and genocide

Leaders of The Save Darfur Coalition met with The Times' editorial board last month to discuss the situation on the ground in Sudan — and what the world should (but isn't) doing about it. Here's a partial transcript of remarks by Amir Osman, the group's international outreach coordinator, and retired U.S. Ambassador Lawrence Rossin.

December 20, 2007

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"These are not normal times"

Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson visited the editorial board to discuss the sub-prime crisis, and the Department of the Treasury's responses to it. The department is organizing a voluntary loan-modification program designed to stave off the growing rate of defaults and foreclosures.

December 14, 2007

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From gridiron to gangs

Jim Brown, NFL Hall of Fame running back and longtime gang counselor and advocate, met with The Times editorial board this week to talk about ways of easing gang problems in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Despite a nagging cold and cough, Brown discussed his latest fundraising efforts, highlighted his organization's efforts to restore peace inside Los Angeles jails when they were hit with race riots, and assessed the work of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Police Chief William Bratton, Sheriff Lee Baca and others. Here's a partial transcript.

December 10, 2007

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Khalilzad’s cautious optimism

A native of Afghanistan and veteran analyst and foreign service official, Zalmay Khalilzad is the United States ambassador to the United Nations, appointed to that position by President Bush. He was in Los Angeles last week to address the World Affairs Council. Jim Newton, editor of The Times' editorial pages, and Marjorie Miller, The Times' foreign editor, visited Khalilzad at the Century City hotel where he was staying, and spoke about Iran and Iraq, as well as America's standing at the United Nations and the world.

December 7, 2007

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Optimus sub-prime

Just before the Bush Administration announced its new mortgage-market plan, we got a visit from some activists who follow the issue closely and are proposing their own reform proposals. Paul Leonard, director of the Center for Responsible Lending, Kevin Stein, associate director of California Reinvestment Coalition, and Norma Paz Garcia, senior attorney at the west coast office of Consumers Union, are floating a range of proposals aimed at providing relief to borrowers on the verge of default.

December 6, 2007

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Sir Nigel Sheinwald speaks

British Ambassador Designate to the United States Sir Nigel Sheinwald stopped in to talk with the editorial board. Some highlights:

December 4, 2007

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Nurses say no to Arnoldcare and Medifab

As Gov. Schwarzenegger and State Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez insist their respective insurance-mandate health care plans are still alive, the California Nurses Association is actively fighting both plans in favor of a single-payer system similar to Canada's. Michael Lighty, the association's director of public policy, Donna Gerber, director of government relations, and Charles Idelson, director of communications, visited the editorial board recently to discuss their concerns. Some highlights:

November 30, 2007

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The view from AJC

David A. Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee, visited the editorial board yesterday to discuss various issues in the Middle East. Harris has recently returned from a tour of several Arab countries. Some highlights:

November 28, 2007

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Readin', writin' and relationships

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell stopped by the editorial board this week to discuss his office's new push for Career Tech curricula in California public schools. The superintendent's office has also focused recently on the lagging performance of minority students in the Golden State and recently hosted a summit in Sacramento on the achievement gap. Some highlights:

November 23, 2007

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Republican health care ideas

State Sen. George Runner (R-Lancaster) visited the editorial board recently to discuss Republican ideas on health care. With the Democrats in control of both houses of the state legislature and the Republican governor frequently at odds with his own party, Runner talked about alternative plans and Gov. Schwarzenegger's health care reform proposal. Some highlights:

November 21, 2007

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Should schools be blown up?

Admiral David Brewer, superintendent of the L.A. Unified School District, dropped by the editorial board the other day to discuss, among other things, the problems of English-language learners and his own on-again-off-again plan to create a mini-district for low-performing schools. Some highlights:

November 13, 2007

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L.A. environmental standpoint

With water politics roiling the state and the city, Mark Gold, president of the advocacy group Heal the Bay, visited the editorial board recently to talk about his group's concerns and ambitions. Heal the Bay, which was formed in 1985 to address pollution in the Santa Monica Bay, has widened its focus to include all the safety and health of all Southern California coastal waters and watersheds. Some highlights:

November 8, 2007

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LAPD chief takes time for overtime

William J. Bratton, chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, stopped by the editorial board offices this week to discuss his second-term agenda. Some highlights:

November 7, 2007

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Egypt's race between education and catastrophe

The editorial board was joined recently by officials from the American University of Cairo. President David D. Arnold, along vice-presidents Nanci Martin and Kenneth Manotti, expanded on the university's role in a turbulent and increasingly anti-American Egypt. The university is expanding its facilities to grow from a current population of about 5,000 students to about 6,300, and it has been in operation for nearly a century. Some highlights:

November 6, 2007

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DWP explains electric shock

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is proposing a series of steep rate hikes over the next few years. The utility, which provides water and electricity to 3.8 million residences and businesses, wants three electrical rate hikes — 2.9% on Jan. 1, 2.9% on July 1 and 2.7% on July 1, 2009 — and two consecutive water rate hikes of 3.1%. The agency would also restructure rates to charge a higher rate to households that use significantly more power. As City Council members and L.A. residents digest the proposal, and an argument brews over special rate structures in the Valley, officials have been making their case. Recently, DWP acting General Manager Robert Rozanski and spokesman Joe Ramallo stopped by the editorial board to discuss the utility's plans.

November 5, 2007

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Drugs: The 'root cause' of homelessness?

Policing skid row remains one of the most controversial topics in Los Angeles, with the White House's homeless czar joining with the American Civil Liberties Union in arguing that L.A. can't arrest its way out of the homelessness problem, while beleaguered law enforcement looks for ever-more creative measures to bar former criminals from even showing up in the area.

November 1, 2007

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Don't mandate high healthcare costs

Legislators in Sacramento convened Wednesday to resume discussions of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's universal healthcare plan. That plan is built around the notion that an individual mandate requiring every Californian to purchase insurance is the key to rescuing the state's healthcare system. Consumer advocates worry that such a requirement might prove unmanageable for many middle-class residents who'll just miss the cutoff to receive state-subsidized coverage (350% of the poverty level, or an income of $36,000 for a single person).

October 31, 2007

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Ruminations of a (former) gun lobbyist

Richard Feldman spent much of the 1980s and 1990s lobbying for gun owners and manufacturers, working first as a regional political director for and consultant to the National Rifle Association, then as executive director of the American Shooting Sports Council. But he had a bitter falling out with top NRA lobbyists when the ASSC -- which represented manufacturers and retailers -- struck a deal with the Clinton administration to voluntarily add child-safety locks to their products. Now he's promoting a juicy tell-all book -- "Ricochet: Confessions of a Gun Lobbyist" -- replete with details on how the gun lobby works. He stopped by the Times today to chat about his experiences and his thoughts on the right way to combat gun violence (hint: it's not more stringent gun control laws). Here are some edited excerpts from his conversation with Jon Healey and Tim Cavanaugh.

October 30, 2007

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Bombing North Korea in Syria?

John Bolton, the controversial and spectacularly mustachioed former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has a new book out, with the curiously embattled title of "Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations ." At an Oct. 30 meeting with The Times' editorial board, he said that the book shows how "in September and October of 2004, [Colin] Powell tried to reverse the policy on Iran to be more accommodating to the Europeans, and I was able to stop that, along with some other people. Only to find out when [Condoleezza] Rice came in, she went and changed the policy anyway even though at the time she agreed with my assessment that Powell had been moving in the wrong direction."

October 25, 2007

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The battle of Boyle Heights

Maria Cabildo and Evangeline Ordaz-Molina, president and vice-president, respectively, of the East L.A. Community Corporation, visited the editorial board this week to discuss their group's work in Boyle Heights and Unincorporated East Los Angeles. The area is attracting considerable developer interest, with hotly debated projects in the works for the Sears Town Center at Soto St. and Olympic Blvd. and many sites along the Gold Line corridor, among others. Here's a portion of our conversation:

October 19, 2007

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'There are no Christians to the east of us'

Serzh Sargsyan, the prime minister of Armenia (and a former defense minister and interior minister before that), came by the editorial board Oct. 19 to discuss the Armenian genocide resolution, democratization in Armenia, and military tensions in the Caucasus region. Sargsyan spoke through a (very good) translator, which means that the transcription will inevitably sound a bit second-languagey at times. Some highlights:

October 18, 2007

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Land of the LOST

Fred Smith, founder and president of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, is one of those evil, evil men who takes funds from giant multinational corporations and uses them to roll back government regulation. He's also a walking encyclopedia, lively conversationalist and legendary party-thrower in the zany world of DC-based think tanks.

October 17, 2007

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School struggle on the east side

Maria Brenes, executive director of InnerCity Struggle, stopped by the editorial offices recently to discuss the crisis in Los Angeles schools. InnerCity Struggle, which advocates on behalf of students and communities in Boyle Heights, East L.A., El Sereno and Lincoln Heights, was part of the coalition that worked for inclusion of A-through-G curricula in L.A. schools. Brenes was joine by two of her group's youth organizers: Nancy Meza, a 2005 graduate of Roosevelt High School, and Jonathan Perez, a 2005 graduate of Garfield High School.

October 16, 2007

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411 from BoA on ARM SNAFU

Liam McGee, president of global consumer and small business banking at Bank of America Corp., visited the editorial board Tuesday, to discuss the bank's approach to mortgages and other consumer products. Bank of America, along with Citigroup Inc. and JP Morgan Chase & Co., is currently floating an idea to create an $80 billion fund that would create liquidity in higher-quality commercial paper securities.

October 15, 2007

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Leiweke and the have-nots

Tim Leiweke has his finger in more pies than most Angelenos. Among many other things, his company -- AEG, with the initials standing for Anschutz Entertainment Group -- owns the Los Angeles Kings and is developing the $2.5 billion L.A. Live entertainment/hotel/office-space complex around the Staples Center, which it also owns. The company has benefited from some subsidies and beneficial political connections, which occasionally lands it in at least mildly warm water.

October 12, 2007

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At the dispatch box with David Cameron

David Cameron, the leader of Britain's Conservative Party, visited the editorial board Friday to discuss the U.K. role in the Iraq war, the relationship with the United State's and his own party's future. Cameron recently scored a series of political victories. Britain's Labor Party Prime Minister Gordon Brown stumbled with some lackluster policy initiatives Cameron claims to have invented and was forced to cancel a scheduled election due to sinking public opinion poll numbers.

October 10, 2007

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Baca: 'The system is the consciousness'

Sheriff Lee Baca came by the editorial board Wednesday to talk up his soon-to-open Gang Emergency Operations Center (GEOC), which, beginning as soon as January, will attempt to harmonize and computerize the disparate threads of L.A. city and county efforts to reduce the size and scope of gang activity. Along the way he had some sharp words for the L.A. Unified School District. Some highlights:

October 8, 2007

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Jesse Jackson: For Obama, but maybe also Clinton

The Rev. Jesse Jackson visited the editorial board Monday to talk about poverty, schools, the Jena Six and more. Given Jackson's scratchy relationship with Barack Obama -- whom he has nonetheless endorsed, vowing that "any attempt to dilute my support for Sen. Obama will not succeed" -- we were curious to hear his views on presidential politics.

October 5, 2007

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No time for gobbledygook

San Francisco's Mayor Gavin Newsom visited the editorial board to discuss his plan to provide care for every uninsured person in the city by the bay. Is it a bold new solution to the health care crisis or public policy disaster waiting to happen? Some highlights...

October 4, 2007

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Philip Mangano

Philip Mangano is the exeuctive director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. You can call him "Homeless Czar" for short. Steve Lopez called him for a recent column about ticketing homeless jaywalkers on L.A.'s skid row, and Mangano called the practice "shameful," arguing that "the punitive approach has never worked anywhere in our country."

October 2, 2007

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Should only the poor get tax exemptions?

What's a charity and what's just a tax writeoff? Why should donations to fabulously wealthy organizations be tax deductible? Should Congress be taking more interest in who gets tax-exempt donation status? Diana Aviv, president and CEO of Independent Sector, an advocacy group representing approximately 600 non-profit organizations, stopped by the editorial board Monday to discuss these and related questions. Some highlights:

September 27, 2007

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Neighborhood noise

The Neighborhood Council Review Commission has released its recommendations for reforming L.A.'s seven-year-old system of neighborhood councils, and members of the commission visited the editorial board Thursday to discuss their recommendations. Led by executive director Raphael Sonenshein, commission members including chair Rev. Altagracia Perez, vice-chair Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker and vice-chair Jason Lyon discussed their recommendations [pdf] for changing the neighborhood council governance, which include having the city government assist in paperwork, giving the city clerk oversight of neighborhood council elections, establishing a Sunshine Law and expanding "stakeholder status" in councils. Is this the beginning of a new model of city governance or just a new exercise in non-binding process? Read on and decide:

September 21, 2007

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Drug war takes a flying LEAP

Jack Cole, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, visited the editorial board Thursday, along with L.A. Chamber of Commerce chairman David Fleming, for a discussion of his group's plan to end America's war on drugs. Some highlights:

September 20, 2007

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Gov. Schwarzenegger on immigration and more

California's most famous post-partisan came by the Editorial Board on Wednesday to talk up his water infrastructure proposals, healthcare reform and ideas for fixing an "irresponsible" budget process. We steered the conversation to immigration, gay marriage and more. Some selected excerpts:

September 18, 2007

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Mearsheimer and Walt and the Israel question

John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt dropped by the boardroom Tuesday to discuss their new book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. The book expands on an article Mearsheimer and Walt published in The London Review of Books last year. That piece set off an ongoing controversy as opponents flamed the authors and Mearsheimer and Walt hit back. Read on to see if they got a warmer welcome from the Los Angeles Times.

September 18, 2007

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Mel Karmazin's case for getting Sirius

Radio Hall of Famer Mel Karmazin, co-founder of Infinity Broadcasting, former Viacom COO and now CEO of Sirius Satellite Radio, stopped in to see the editorial board Monday. Sirius is in the midst of a troubled negotiation to merge with XM, its only rival in the satellite-radio space. The merger, which would leave Karmazin in charge of the combined company, has been intensely scrutinized by the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice and has raised questions ranging from antitrust to content decency. (The ed board has opined that the Houses of Howard and Oprah, respectively, should be allowed to unite.) Sirius now has 7.1 million subscribers to XM's 8 million, and part of the two companies' argument is that their combined power will provide strong competition for terrestrial radio stations. Some highlights from Karmazin's talk: