'Standardizing' the mayor

Former L.A. Times Magazine staff writer David DeVoss, who freelances for Smithsonian and elsewhere, dishes on Mayor Hahn and L.A. city government in the latest Weekly Standard:

Tall, slim, and handsome, James Hahn, 53, could play a mayor on TV if he weren't one in real life. The son of a South Los Angeles pol beloved for opening municipal government jobs to blacks, Hahn rode his pedigree, prior service as city attorney, and unswerving loyalty to the Democratic party to City Hall three years ago. At his inauguration Hahn vowed to create a service-oriented, user-friendly city attuned to the needs of its neighborhoods.

Today, however, Hahn's administration is in shambles. A month seldom passes when the city controller doesn't discover some new instance of fiscal mismanagement in L.A.'s wildly politicized departments, all monitored by 350 commissioners handpicked by Hahn and the City Council. The U.S. attorney, the L.A. district attorney, and a local grand jury all are investigating the city's opaque procedures for awarding municipal contracts. Four deputy mayors already have resigned, along with ...

The rest is, alas, only for paying customers of the Weekly Standard. Possible context: DeVoss showed up in July 2002 as a signer of the "San Fernando Valley Declaration of Independence" that secession boosters used at to promote the breakaway election campaign. My old Secession Watch site (and all of AmericasSuburb.com) is temporarily offline, so no link; they shall return.