Convention Bureau Draws Its Repeat Visitor: Trouble

Los Angeles politicians are back on the defensive, and taxpayers’ advocates are steamed again over spending by the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau.

This time it’s over the agency using city funds to secure a luxury box suite at Staples Center for this year’s Grammy Awards.

The expenditure, disclosed last week in papers filed with the city Ethics Commission, was defended by bureau officials and Councilwoman Jan Perry, one of the VIPs who watched the show from the Staples Center box.

The defenders said it was part of an attempt to keep the Grammys in Los Angeles and attract other events to the city convention center.

“It promotes business for the city,” Perry said.

Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., was unmoved.

“It’s obscene they are spending tax dollars for that when the city is continually complaining that it doesn’t have enough money for basic city services,” Coupal said.

Already facing a city audit for lavish travel and entertainment expenses, bureau officials said they were approached by the Staples Center owners about helping to keep the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles in the face of a bid by New York City to lure away the big event.

The bureau dipped into its city contract funds, money that comes from the hotel bed tax, and gave $75,000 to the L.A. Grammy Host Committee, according to bureau VP Michael Collins.

It just happened that each sponsor was given access to a luxury suite at the Staples Center for the awards show in February.

Collins and Perry were joined in the box by bureau President George Kirkland and Board Chairman Alan Rothenberg. Also present were bureau salespeople and convention planners for Oracle Corp. and Siggraph “to give them one more reason to love L.A.,” Collins said.

“For what it’s worth, the sponsorship was done because we were asked by Staples to support the host committee’s work to make the case for a multiyear deal with the Grammys, not because we got tickets to an iconic moment,” Collins said. “We would, as a practical matter, get access to this event anyway.” Grammy Awards officials later announced that next year’s show will be held in New York City.

Perry Gets Stuck With Bill

Not only did the Grammys stiff L.A., but Councilwoman Perry got stuck with the bill.

Elected officials cannot accept such gifts over $100, so Perry reported last week that after receiving a Grammy ticket, valued at $389, she subsequently paid back most of the cost to Visitors Bureau.

After the state Fair Political Practices Commission originally said Grammy tickets did not have a market value and so where not gifts, Mayor James K. Hahn accepted three tickets, worth $350 each, directly from the Grammy Awards, to sit in regular seats at the show.

The commission later found that the market value of tickets could be determined, so Hahn wrote a personal check to pay back $950 -- the difference between the value of the tickets and the $100 gift threshold.

Hahn skipped television’s Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium last month after the Ethics Commission warned the tickets exceeded gift limits.

Event Was Attended by People and Reporters

While last week’s debate between gubernatorial contenders Gray Davis and Bill Simon Jr. had its heated moments, not all of the name calling and belittling occurred in front of the audience.

At a news conference after the debate at the Los Angeles Times, a reporter asked Davis about his handling of the energy crisis.

Responded the governor: “Listen, this is just a huge game of gotcha. Not one question was asked of me or any other candidate running for governor in 1998 about electricity. Not one. Not by a human being, much less a reporter.”

The room, packed with reporters, erupted in groans and guffaws.

“I don’t mean to be disparaging,” Davis said, drawing another wave of laughter.

Cooley Noticeable by His Absence

The Los Angeles Daily Journal released its annual list of the 100 most influential attorneys in California, and the tally caused a stir in the Civic Center over who was left off.

In addition to the usual suspects from the private sector, those making the list included City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, Gov. Gray Davis, Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn and Hahn consigliere William Wardlaw, who also held serious sway during the administration of former Mayor Richard Riordan.

But although Wardlaw made the list, Riordan did not. Neither did criminal defense attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr.

Still more amazing to some Civic Center notables was the absence of Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley.

You would figure if the L.A. city attorney made the list, the top prosecutor in the largest county in the state would be there, too.

Cooley has been in the spotlight recently after his investigators raided the offices of the Entertainment Industry Development Corp. as part of a probe into possible spending irregularities. He also has launched corruption probes in smaller cities in the county.

Daily Journal Editor Katrina Dewey said Cooley fell just short of getting enough votes from peers in the legal community to make the list.

“A lot of them are still on the fence on whether he is going to do anything on important issues in the county, such as the Catholic Church and Belmont,” Dewey said.

Riordan, she added, appears to have suffered from “dashed expectations” after failing to win the Republican primary this spring.

Cooley did not take the omission personally, according to Joe Scott, his chief spokesman.

“He laughed about it,” Scott said. “I don’t think it [the list] has any significance at all. I’m very suspicious of these self-serving annual surveys.”

Good News for Asteroids Watchers

Paging Bruce Willis. U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher decided to honor the late astronaut Charles “Pete” Conrad by creating a national award in his name for amateur astronomers who discover asteroids whizzing perilously close to Earth, a la “Armageddon.”

Lest anyone believe that such a scenario is just fanciful science fiction, Rohrabacher said, “I’ve got bad news for them.” An asteroid the size of an 18-story building passed closer to the Earth than the moon in March, he said.

The bill creating the Charles Pete Conrad Astronomy Award passed easily on the House floor. Conrad, who in 1969 became the third man to set foot on the moon, died in a motorcycle accident in 1999 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Points Taken

* Christopher Cox: Orange County congressman and Santa’s Helper. The Republican from Newport Beach recently discovered that while U.S. Customs law imposes no import tax on toys, it levies an 8% import tax on all telescopes -- even low-power devices that are used as toys. So he drafted legislation to reclassify the low-power telescopes that kids use as toys, so that they will be free from the special tax. “I was shocked to find out that Uncle Sam -- who, like Santa, doesn’t tax toys -- was slapping customs duties on toy telescopes,” Cox said.

* How realistic is the television drama “West Wing?” So realistic that the National Education Assn. issued a statement after one recent episode, saying: “We agree with President Bartlet that we must come together as a country and ‘do better’ on behalf of America’s children and America’s public schools. The president can be sure that the members of the NEA will do our share to make public schools great for every child.” Bartlet is played by actor Martin Sheen.

* W.C. Fields joked about the joys of acting with kids and animals, but Irvine City Council candidate Chuck DeVore decided to make the best of it after repeated flubs while filming a 30-second cable TV commercial with his wife, Diane; daughters Jennie, 11, and Amy, 6; and their Belgian Malinois, Moxie. His “Outtakes” began running last week showing Moxie repeatedly howling -- and not -- completely off cue. “I figured I’d show my funny side,” DeVore said.

* He may not be running for governor -- this year -- but actor Arnold Schwarzenegger is busy enough on the political circuit. He is all over television touting Proposition 49, his measure to promote after-school programs. Last week, he was the guest of honor at a Bruce McPherson for lieutenant governor fund-raiser in Santa Ana. That same day he appeared at a pro-Proposition 49 rally at Staples Center. And on Tuesday, he’ll headline the fifth annual dinner for the Los Angeles County Lincoln Clubs.

* Was Hillary Clinton right after all? A familiar-sounding group recently sent out fliers to get protesters to attend a Los Angeles event featuring Gov. Gray Davis and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. The group sending out the invitations, according to the flier: “The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.”

You Can Quote Me

“Telling people that politicians raise money is like telling people that dogs drink out of toilet bowls. I’m sure they’re shocked, shocked.”

--Garry South, Gov. Gray Davis’ chief campaign strategist.

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LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION: San Fernando Valley mayoral candidate Bruce Boyer says he has gotten a lot of compliments from motorists for his sign at one Valley intersection that protests the city’s use of automatic cameras, such as the one to the right of the sign, to catch red-light runners.

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Mark Barabak, Michael Finnegan and Jean O. Pasco contributed to this column. Regular columnist Patt Morrison is on vacation.