The Mayor Dribbles Out of Trouble at Staples

Not all the action was on the basketball court during one of the Staples Center matchups between the Lakers and Nets.

In one box, you had Mayor James K. Hahn sitting with Tim Leiweke, an executive of the firm that built Staples and one of the principals seeking city assistance to build a downtown pro football stadium.

Hahn has said he supports the stadium project, but with the city limited to using its powers to condemn land for the project and issuing $100 million in municipal bonds to fund the land purchase, to be repaid by the developers. Leiweke is pressing for the project but warning that his group will back out if local governments don’t rally around it.

Hahn wandered into a dramatic moment during the game. He dropped into another luxury suite to find former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, who fought him in a bitter runoff election for mayor last year, watching the game and talking to former Police Chief Bernard C. Parks, who angrily stepped down recently after Hahn and his Police Commission refused to back him for another term.

Also part of that gathering, hosted by attorney Neil Papiano, was county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who has been critical of the mayor for opposing a fall vote on San Fernando Valley secession.

One observer said there were a few awkward moments after Hahn realized that the luxury box was full of people with whom he had clashed. The mayor, the observer said, seemed to receive an especially chilly response from Parks’ wife, Bobbie. Hahn stayed a few moments, then left to rejoin Leiweke.

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GOP Infighting

The infighting in the state Republican Party continues, with California GOP Chairman Shawn Steel catching flak from four top party leaders who felt he was playing into the Democrats’ hands by being critical of Republicans in an opinion piece in The Times.

Steel’s piece started off criticizing Democrats for holding up qualified conservative judicial appointments. But he went on to put some of the blame on President Bush’s top political operative in California, attorney Gerald L. Parsky, for recommending bipartisan committees to review the appointments.

Shawn called the bipartisan committees a “half-baked” idea that has allowed Democrats to stall appointments.

In a letter to Steel obtained by The Times, California Republican Party board members Bill Jones, Jim Brulte, Dave Cox and Bill Black said they “strongly disapprove” of his actions.

The board members who signed the letter hold some clout. Jones is secretary of state, Brulte is Senate Republican leader, Cox is Assembly Republican leader and Black is the party vice chairman.

“Your opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times was divisive and will work against the unity that is so necessary to our victory in November,” said the letter, dated May 31. “Such public attacks on other Republican leaders demoralize our volunteer base, erode donor confidence in the state party and de-motivate Republican voters.”

The four leaders called on Steel to cease such activity.

“It continues a pattern of behavior that you have previously been asked to curtail,” the letter added ominously--and just a few days later Steel was ousted from the Republican National Committee’s executive board.

Steel stood by his opinion piece.

“I’m never happy when one Republican attacks another and, in this case, my fondest hope is that those who signed the letter defending Mr. Parsky actually read the article,” Steel said.

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Watergate at 30

Today is the 30th anniversary of the Watergate break-in, and where better to commemorate it than the Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda?

The privately funded presidential library sent out a news release offering advance interviews with Executive Director John H. Taylor and access to its galleries and archival material.

For those born after 1974, the break-in at Democratic Party offices in the Washington hotel by Republican operatives with the Committee to Re-elect the President exposed a web of scandals and eventually forced Nixon’s resignation.

The library in recent months has been at the center of a legal dispute between Nixon’s two daughters over a $19-million bequest from longtime family friend Charles “Bebe” Rebozo that they disagreed how to spend.

Taylor got snared in the middle, with an attorney for Tricia Nixon Cox accusing him of Machiavellian maneuvers to take control of the money and complaining that the library didn’t engage in enough “scholarly pursuits.”

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Spinmeister Central

Republican spinmeister Dan Schnur, who once compared supporters of presidential candidate Pat Buchanan to a blond on a barstool (they’d let him buy them drinks but wouldn’t go home with him), has teamed with three other thirtysomething political spokesguys to form a new Sacramento consulting firm.

Joining Schnur in CommandFocus--named for a Lee Atwater-ism--are Rob Stutzman, a senior advisor to the state GOP; Jeff Flint, a senior strategist with the Simon for governor campaign; and Mark Bogetich, who was chief of opposition research for former gubernatorial candidate Secretary of State Bill Jones.

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Potty Training

Lots of bathroom talk at a recent meeting of the Ventura County Board of Supervisors.

Board Chairman John Flynn was fixated on an article he had read about how easily food-borne illness is spread when people don’t wash their hands after using the potty.

So Flynn called for a study on how much it would cost to put signs in every public restroom in the county informing folks that they’d be to blame for spreading intestinal and upper respiratory infections if they failed to lather up.

To bolster his argument, he called in county Public Health Officer Robert Levin, who estimated that there are 150,000 local cases of food-borne illness every year and 50 million nationwide.

“I want to make sure I’m not standing in restrooms counting people go in and out,” Flynn told his colleagues as the audience tittered and groaned.

“But I do notice that many people, maybe 50%, don’t touch the sink.”

The proposal didn’t wash well with Supervisor Judy Mikels, the board’s staunchest less-government-is-better member.

“Oh, come on,” she muttered. “Let’s not police the world.” In the end, however, she and the rest of the board agreed to order the study.

Supervisor Frank Schillo suggested naming the study for his colleague: “We might want to refer to it as John’s john policy.”

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Points Taken:

* Look for Los Angeles Ethics Commissioner David Fleming to step down from the panel later this month so he can play a role in the upcoming campaign for San Fernando Valley secession. The Studio City attorney is prohibited from contributing to or otherwise participating in any city political campaign while he serves on the commission.

* After serving for 18 years in Congress, Rep. Ron Packard could be honored with a post office in Oceanside bearing his name. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) introduced the bill that would name the postal building after his predecessor, who became only the fourth write-in candidate in U.S. history to win a House seat. Packard retired in 2000.

* Valley VOTE executive committee member J. Richard Leyner is one of six people who so far have filed papers with Los Angeles to begin raising money for campaigns for the City Council proposed for the new Valley city. Leyner, past chairman of the United Chambers of Commerce of the San Fernando Valley, filed for the Encino area’s 13th District seat. Jerry England and Gene Venderford have filed for the 3rd District, Ken A. McAlpine has filed for the 5th District and Garrett R. Biggs and Jay H. Rosenzweig have filed for the 8th District seat.

* Was it a resignation letter or a campaign flier? That’s what some in Sacramento wondered about a letter submitted by Elias S. Cortez notifying Gov. Gray Davis of his plan to resign as director of the state Department of Information Technology. “I remain your loyal supporter and wish you continued success, including your reelection this fall,” Cortez wrote, offering his continued assistance in another form.

* Jerry Rubin and his attorney were in federal court last week arguing his lawsuit against the city of Santa Monica for refusing to allow him to use the words “peace activist” as his career designation when he ran for City Council two years ago. Rubin said his civil rights were violated by the city clerk. “I feel it’s unfair for the state elections code to disallow the use of the word activist,” Rubin said. “That’s what I am.”

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Quotable Quote:

“As a mother of four, I know perfection is not an option.”

--Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice), top Democrat on the House intelligence subcommittee on terrorism and homeland security, calling for speedy approval of legislation to create a Department of Homeland Security.

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Tina Daunt, Richard Simon, Mark Barabak, Jean Pasco, Margaret Talev and Massie Ritsch contributed to this column. Columnist Patt Morrison is on assignment.