Council Videos Get a 10 : TV: Politicians and gadflies agree: Tapes of lawmakers in action are the hit of the season. ‘It’s good for anybody who needs an ego trip,’ one observer says.

It’s no “Terminator 2” or “Total Recall.” But then Zev Yaroslavsky is no Arnold Schwarzenegger, either.

The Westside politician is one of the stars of a popular video series that contains far more low comedy than fast action.

The videos of Los Angeles City Council meetings have become surprise hits since officials slicked down their hair, dry-cleaned their suits and aimed robot television cameras at themselves two years ago.

Scores of meeting tapes have been sold from a walk-up window at City Hall. Hundreds of others have been checked out for free viewings in the city clerk’s office and down the street at the city’s central library.

The freebies are favored by City Hall’s colorful gadflies, who enjoy watching themselves as they berate officials during the meetings’ public-comment periods. Land developers are the most frequent paying customers of the tapes, which sell for $25, $35 and $50, depending on the format.

But the shows’ biggest fans are its biggest stars.

Council members can order complimentary copies of tapes showing them delivering their favorite speech or their snappiest retort. Some, such as Councilman Richard Alatorre, order tapes of whole meetings. Most are only looking for snippets, though.

“If I’ve won a big victory that someday I may want to write about in a book or in my memoirs, I’ll try to get a tape of it,” said Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores. “When somebody who’s been very important to the city retires, I try to get them a clip of us giving them a pin.”

Councilwoman Joy Picus has requested copies of discussions of development issues in her district. Councilman Nate Holden has ordered up copies of just about everything.

He keeps some of them to prove to cynics how he voted on controversial issues. “Seeing is believing,” Holden said Friday. “On key items--the hot ones--I can show them.”

Holden also gives away tapes of council commendations. Even a nod from Council President John Ferraro can set the City Hall dubbing machine whirring: When visiting Dorsey High School students were acknowledged during a council meeting, Holden sent them a video.

“It’s good for anybody who needs an ego trip,” said Clare F. Short, a Tarzana developer and Rotary Club leader. He knows. He purchased a videotape of comments made to the council by visitors from Tasmania about a year ago. He spliced the footage into a longer tourist-type videotape of their trip to Los Angeles.

“Their leader speaking before the City Council was the highlight of the tape for the Tasmanians,” Short said.

Interest in the tapes has been high since day one, according to Maurice Gindratt, senior clerk at the City Hall vault where the videos are stored. Although records are incomplete, copies of about 225 meeting tapes were made in the first 18 months. Unknown numbers were temporarily borrowed for free viewing.

The tapes are made from live council broadcasts sent out on Channel 35 to the 14 cable television systems that serve Los Angeles. Four city technicians working in a tiny storeroom upstairs from the council chambers handle the production.

One of them, camera operator Rodney Conner, aims six cameras hung from the council chamber’s walls and ceiling by remote control. Programmed buttons can point them at each council member’s chair; a Nintendo-style joystick is used to move the camera if an official steps out of the preset lens range.

There are no wrinkle-showing close-ups, however. That is because the cameras are too far away from council members to zoom in that tight, said director Juan Valenzuela.

There are no views of the audience booing or of other politicians laughing while a council member is talking, either. A council rule specifically prohibits “reaction shots.”

Production manager Robin Gee said fees paid to the city by cable companies cover the $200,000 yearly cost of televising council sessions and dubbing free tapes for officials.

She said technicians are exploring ways of expanding cable coverage. Among the ideas: televising council press conferences and broadcasting an automated Caltrans freeway congestion map during the early morning rush hour.

No one measures the council’s TV ratings, but officials get plenty of feedback from viewers, Gee said. Council members such as Joel Wachs have been known to give out a council room phone number and ask viewers to call if they are opposed to new taxes the council is discussing. “The phone rings,” Gee said.

Some council members cannot keep from playing to the camera.

The lens was trained on Yaroslavsky on Friday afternoon as he addressed his colleagues about a routine item. Without warning, Councilman Hal Bernson walked over, stepped between him and the camera and ceremoniously helped himself to potato chips from a bag on Yaroslavsky’s desk.

The tape of that moment of mooching will be available Monday at City Hall.

“There’s a great deal of grandstanding for television,” laughed Councilman Marvin Braude after the meeting.