Lawmakers Start to Ask: What’s the Matter With Kids Today?

Expect lawmakers in Sacramento next year to churn out plenty of legislation aimed at reforming the state’s juvenile justice system.

The indicators are pretty clear. Last month, Assembly members Robert Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) and Dion Aroner (D-Berkeley) held a joint committee hearing in Van Nuys to take testimony on ways to keep youngsters in school and out of jail.

During the hearing at Birmingham High School, testimony was taken from nearly 30 experts, such as judges and academics, who talked about the need to intervene early in the lives of children who appear to be going astray.

As if that were not enough, state Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Pasadena) has scheduled a Juvenile Justice Summit in Pasadena to do pretty much the same thing that Hertzberg and Aroner did last month.

The Nov. 13 summit will hear from writer Edward Humes, author of a noted book on juvenile courts; Michael Nash, presiding judge of Los Angeles Juvenile Court; and Father Gregory Boyle, director of Jobs for Youth and Homeboy Industries.

Hertzberg, Aroner and Schiff all say they expect testimony to promote ideas for legislation to fix the much-maligned juvenile justice system.

According to a Schiff aide, the reason for the two hearings on the same topic is simple: “This is a summit, that was a committee meeting.”

That’s Entertainment

Anyone with a touch of insomnia Wednesday night might have tuned in to Mayor Richard Riordan on the “Tonight Show”--and were either lulled to sleep or jolted even more uncomfortably awake by the mayor’s stab at a singing career.

Not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times Riordan broke into song while sitting next to the show’s host, Jay Leno. The two bantered back and forth during a sketch called “Who Said It?” in which Riordan would recite a famous quotation and Leno would tell the audience who “really” said it.

The kicker was that four of the quotations came from popular songs, including music by the Police and the Everly Brothers. Riordan gamely tackled them, but with decidedly mixed results. After he crooned, “Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I’m 64?” Leno responded: “I have never heard a Beatles song screwed up quite so bad. I didn’t even recognize it as a Beatles song.” (And for the record, Riordan is 67.)

Both men found openings to take jabs at the Los Angeles City Council, Riordan’s frequent sparring partner.

“Who hasn’t heard these words sung by Bing Crosby?” Riordan asked, then intoned: “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas.”

“The real author of those words: Mike Hernandez,” Leno joked, referring to the councilman who recently pleaded guilty to cocaine possession--and whom Riordan has called on to resign from office.

Later, when Leno claimed that the ditsy band the Spice Girls coined the phrase “ignorance is bliss,” Riordan quipped: “You’re sure it wasn’t the L.A. City Council, huh?”

In all, the mayor, who looked uncomfortable as he yukked it up for the camera, served up 11 famous quotations.

Here, for an even dozen, is another: “Keep your day job.”

For Pete’s Sake

Don’t look now, but guess who’s become a fan of Republican Gov. Pete Wilson.

Answer: Brad Sherman, Democratic congressman from Sherman Oaks.

Wilson and Sherman attended a glittering luncheon Sunday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel for visiting Chinese President Jiang Zemin, who was making the final stop of his U.S. tour before going home to Beijing.

The honors fell to Wilson to introduce the leader of the world’s most populous country. In his introduction, the governor made pointed references to the contentious issue of human rights by telling Jiang that “individual freedom is the best prescription” for China’s success.

With that, the audience, at least in the form of Sherman, burst into brief applause.

“I think the two people applauding were Matt Fong and Brad Sherman,” Sherman said of himself and the state treasurer.

In fact, Sherman, a freshman congressman who sits on the House International Relations Committee, was so impressed with Wilson’s address that he wrote the governor on Wednesday to request a copy.

“That was one of the best speeches that the governor has ever given,” Sherman said. “I don’t send fan letters often to Pete Wilson.”

But if human rights are so important, what was Sherman doing at the lunch to begin with?

“I’m there as part of the U.S. government,” he said. “I’m not there demonstrating support.”

Let the Games Begin

Sparks are already starting to fly among contenders for the state Senate seat held by Herschel Rosenthal (D-Van Nuys), hinting at what may be next year’s most bruising campaign.

The race is likely to get even more heated since perennial candidate Ollie McCaulley announced last week that he is joining Councilman Richard Alarcon, former Assemblyman Richard Katz and Rosenthal in the battle.

Rosenthal’s candidacy, however, depends on the ruling of a federal appeals court on California’s term-limits law. If the law is upheld, then Rosenthal, who has held his post since 1982, would be forced to drop out of the race.

Most of the early friction appears to have been generated by Katz and Alarcon, who have had a long, friendly relationship. That has clearly changed.

The most recent strife began last week after Alarcon became the latest lawmaker to call for the resignation of Councilman Mike Hernandez in the wake of Hernandez’s guilty plea to felony cocaine possession.

Soon afterward, Katz’s campaign staff made a point of telling reporters that Katz had called for Hernandez’s resignation more than a month before Alarcon took a stand.

Then, Katz issued a news release that contended Alarcon had adopted a Katz idea when Alarcon called for the creation of a separate San Fernando Valley transit zone to plan transit systems for the area. In the statement, Katz noted that he called for such a zone about a month earlier.

Alarcon scoffs at Katz’s suggestion that he is simply piggybacking on his friend and rival’s ideas.

“I’m amazed that Richard Katz is taking credit for the transportation zone,” Alarcon said. “The discussion for some sort of transit zone in the Valley has been around for 10 years.”

He added: “Talk is cheap. Action is much more important to me.”

As for Alarcon’s call for Hernandez to resign, Alarcon said he was convinced long ago that Hernandez should resign but only went public last month when it became clear that Hernandez was not going to step down voluntarily.

Meanwhile, McCaulley, a Sylmar businessman, took a shot at both Katz and Alarcon in a release announcing his own candidacy. He accused Katz of ignoring his constituents while in Sacramento for 16 years. He also chided Alarcon for seeking the Senate seat only one year after being elected to a four-year term on the City Council.

So far, Rosenthal has refrained from taking shots at anyone, perhaps because he is still waiting to see if the courts will give him the green light to enter the race.

Then again, he may just be pacing himself.

Arms Twisting

Those were fighting words let forth by Councilman Richard Alarcon at this week’s meeting of the council’s Public Safety Committee.

Once again, the panel found itself wrangling over whether to arm the city’s park rangers, a long-running debate with no resolution in sight. And once again, Alarcon, a supporter of guns for rangers, could hardly believe the controversy surrounding the issue.

“Northridge mall is better protected than about 100 parks in the city of Los Angeles, with armed security and a police substation,” he said in disbelief. “It’s really sad that we don’t prioritize our parks but are spending thousands of dollars to protect people while they’re shopping.”

Then, in what sounded like a fundamental misunderstanding of what the San Fernando Valley is all about, he added: “We need to get our priorities in order.”

Moon Unit Zappa would have screamed.

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QUOTABLE: “They are seldom in this community, running into people at the local supermarket or parks. They have to reach out to as many people as the mayor does.”

--Assemblyman Tony Cardenas, who is sponsoring legislation to change the way community college trustees are elected to make them accountable to the neighborhoods in which the campuses are located