He calls Hahn 'underrated'

In a Q-and-A with the Downtown News, outgoing chairman George Kieffer of the L.A. Chamber of Commerce praises Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ("I think we have a very pro-business governor") and defends Mayor Jim Hahn (he's a supporter and used to chair Hahn's campaigns):

Q: How do you think Mayor Hahn's administration has done to improve business in the city?

A: I think the mayor has historically been underrated and underestimated on his performance. It will be the first administration where tax reform has taken place, and the number of police officers has gone up. Not to where he wanted, but it has gone up. I think he's succeeded, to some extent, in decentralizing government through the area planning commissions and support at the new neighborhood councils. So I think there are a lot of things in the mechanics of government that have been greatly improved that are often overlooked in the media.

Kieffer explains the chamber's decision to push the elimination of term limits on elected officials, and calls the decision not to build the Wilshire subway from downtown to the ocean at Santa Monica "one of the great policy mistakes in the last 30 years....It would have made a whole world of difference in our traffic today."