6/30/00 11:20 a.m.
Golden State Bailout
Los Angeles's gift to the Democrats.

By Arnold Steinberg, political strategist and author

orporate welfare has become convention welfare.

Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson, one of two Republicans on the15-member city council, voted at the eleventh hour, to give city money, in effect, to Al Gore's campaign. This despite written assurances ("A deal's a deal") from the Democrats not to use taxpayer dollars beyond the $9 million contribution in city services to the convention.

True, Republicans are getting government money for their Philadelphia convention. This is, of course, routinely deplorable, along with the widespread national practice of city subsidies for other conventions, as well as for commercial and stadium developers with political connections. But in Los Angeles, the Democrats and the city signed an agreement specifying no city money. Even the nominally Republican candidate for Mayor, Steve Soboroff, a champion of corporate welfare, now reluctantly, even unenthusiastically, opposes the bailout. It's a wonder that independent and populist candidate for Mayor, councilman Joel Wachs, being handed a campaign issue, does not sue the city to prevent the funds transfer.

The sudden infusion of $4 million in tax dollars erasing the Democratic Convention's deficit allows the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to spend that amount in soft money for Gore, instead of having to allocate or raise that amount for their convention deficit.

At a brunch at his home, Republican Mayor Richard Riordan, calling President Bill Clinton "the greatest leader in the free world," was able to take credit (no pun Intended, see below) for raising $5 million for the convention in "small" contributions of $100,000 each. Oddly, Riordan actually praised Clinton for his failed Mideast policy (note that Hafez Assad, before dying, publicly dissed Clinton despite the American president's relentless and stupid insistence that the Israelis give up the Golan). Riordan also inexplicably praised Clinton for policies backed mainly by Congressional Republicans and opposed by many Congressional Democrats: welfare reform and open trade.

So, what was the media take on the city's bailout of the Dems? Hard Left Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg — not Hal Bernson — was spun as the deciding vote, because Goldberg, in return for her vote, successfully demanded the following:

1) Riordan must write a $1 million personal check to Dems. (That's not so strange: after all, Oliver Stone just gave Rep. James E. Rogan a $1,000 contribution). Impulsively, Riordan had signed a letter of credit before he realized how cheap Clinton's Hollywood backers really are. It turns out they donate their talent, not their money.

2) The city must designate Pershing Square a convention protest area. (That's strange: the LAPD recommended against it.) The LA Times quotes one council aide opposing the subsidy as saying: "Why not just call it Che Guevara Square and get it over with?" Indeed, Goldberg's plan requires her ad hoc committee to review confidential police arrangements to handle demonstrators. Presumably, she can leak intelligence to the troublemakers.

Convention irony:
The LAPD now must spend more to secure and police Pershing Square as well as the original protest area. Worse: Pershing Square anchors the prestigious Biltmore Hotel, luxury office buildings, and the diamond district. The city could be held liable by property owners or their insurance companies for damage.

Convention poetic justice:
The LA police union itself applies for a convention-protest permit. (Item: Riordan says to Clinton: "No words can describe the help you've given Los Angeles." Is this help? Clinton's obsessive-compulsive illegally-appointed-without-Senate confirmation civil-rights chief, Bill Lann Lee, continues to manipulate, with tacit city council support, for a Federal takeover of the LAPD.)

Convention humor:
LA Unified School District teachers will go on strike at convention. (Item: LAUSD streamlines operations: Now, "only" 210 bureaucrats will make over $100,000 annually.) The LAUSD's incompetence was recently highlighted by the completion the new $200 million Belmont High School on toxic land; the school will never open. Footnote for this convention, which will make education a key issue: The Board of Education has been/is composed entirely of Democrats. Speaking of schools: Why would former Governor Pete Wilson become honorary chairman of Gov. Gray Davis's ballot measure to repeal key protections of Howard Jarvis's landmark Proposition 13? Significantly, the Davis measure would allow 55% of voters, not the currently required two-thirds, to raise local property taxes. Fact: The state has a budget surplus of $13 billion, yet Davis wants to BORROW money for schools, then put the payback burden mainly on homeowners. Rewind: Then San Diego Mayor Pete Wilson lost the 1978 Republican primary for Governor mainly because he opposed Proposition 13. The more things change, the more they stay the same.