Ethics panel finds Feuer in “˜conflict of
interest’
Los Angeles Councilman Mike Feuer, a candidate for city
attorney, faces an “inherent conflict of interest” if
elected, since his wife works for a firm suing Los Angeles, a state
ethics panel found.
Feuer is married to Gale Ruderman-Feuer, a senior attorney for
the Natural Resources Defense Council. The environmental policy
group has filed two lawsuits against the city in the past year, one
of which is pending.
But Feuer can recuse himself from discussions regarding
NRDC.
“There are recusal processes, both for public and private
institutions, that would take care of the problem,” said
James King of the Fair Political Practices Commission. King added
Monday that Feuer is willing to recuse himself.
“There is a simple way to handle it if it ever
happened,” Feuer said. “Ideally, the city attorney
should be involved in preventing litigation in the first
place.”
The lawsuits came to light during a Feb. 21 debate between
Feuer, Deputy Mayor Rocky Delgadillo and Deputy District Attorney
Lea D’Agostino. D’Agostino failed to qualify for the
June 5 election and has since endorsed Delgadillo.
California bucking trends it once set
The state that celebrated free love, embraced alternative
lifestyles and beat a path to divorce court may be settling down as
it grows older and becomes more diverse.
The Golden State seems to have moved from trend setter to
traditionalist, according to census figures being released
Wednesday.
Married couples with children increased at twice the national
average, growing by 12.6 percent while the rest of the nation
lagged at 5.5 percent. The nuclear family filled an increasing
share of households, while that percentage dropped nationally.
What remains to be seen is how the influx of immigrants ““
much of the state’s growth in the 1990s was fueled by
Mexicans and Asians ““ is reshaping the typical California
family.”There might even be two Californias in a way,”
said Hans Johnson, a researcher at the Public Policy Institute of
California. “Immigrants may have what are considered more
traditional family living arrangements.”
California natives may more closely mirror national patterns,
but demographers won’t know until more data become available
from the 2000 Census.
“I would say most of the people my age don’t believe
in marriage, they are really cynical about it,” said Kirsten
Morgan, a nursing student in San Francisco who got married a week
ago.
The latest wave of figures confirmed much of what social
scientists already suspected about the state’s burgeoning
population. Housing, for example, failed to keep pace with the
state’s population, which grew by 13.8 percent to 33.9
million, leading to fewer vacancies and more crowded homes.
Riordan angers some community leaders
Angered by Mayor Richard Riordan’s endorsement of a Latino
to succeed him, a group of African American leaders accused the
lame-duck leader Tuesday of trying to divide their community and
demanded an apology for criticisms of minority politicians.
The leaders gathered on the steps of city hall with dozens of
supporters for an event that was as much an attack on Riordan as a
pitch for white mayoral candidate James Hahn, the presumed favorite
among black voters.
“The mayor’s irresponsible, inflammatory, divisive
and polarizing remarks deserve an apology to all of us,” said
Danny Bakewell, director of the black activist organization
Brotherhood Crusade.
Riordan recently endorsed former Assembly Speaker Antonio
Villaraigosa for mayor.
Compiled from Daily Bruin wire reports.