Just in Case ‘HIStory’ Had Somehow Passed You By. . .

As if anyone needed a reminder that Michael Jackson’s new album has been released:

Two giant, silver-blue cutouts of the King of Pop were placed atop Tower Music in West Hollywood last week. The towering figures, placed shoulder to shoulder, represent two renderings of Jackson.

Each, by the way, comes with its own shadowing.

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COME FLY WITH . . . : Some get their kicks in a plane, especially when the flights are sponsored by outside groups. But recent financial disclosure forms show that Democratic Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson, whose district includes Malibu, was one of the few members of Congress from Southern California to keep his feet on the ground last year.

By contrast, Rep. Henry A. Waxman, (D-Los Angeles) chalked up seven trips that took him to such places as West Palm Beach, the Virgin Islands and Australia. And Waxman’s political blood brother, Democrat Howard Berman, joined Waxman at an Aspen Institute foreign affairs conference in the Virgin Islands. Berman also traveled to Mexico City with the Congressional Human Rights Foundation.

The federal disclosure forms are part of an annual exercise aimed at rooting out conflict of interest. They include data on lawmakers’ financial holdings, outside income, securities transactions, debts and gifts.

They showed, for example, that Beilenson is living comfortably with assets of somewhere around half a million dollars. Waxman reported more than $187,000 in holdings. Berman did not list any assets last year above his $133,600 congressional salary.

Among the other highlights was the section on outside income.

Waxman, who played a key role in last year’s health care reform debate, led the pack among honorariums received from outside groups. Lawmakers must report such speaking fees even though the law now forces them to direct that money to charity.

Waxman received $10,000 in payments from such groups as the American Academy of Actuaries, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and the National Assn. of Retail Druggists. The money was doled out to the United Jewish Welfare Fund, Jewish Family Services, Gay and Lesbian Services and other charities.