Field trip to Washington

A bunch of local honchos, including L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa, School Superintendent Brewer and L.A. Chamber Prez Gary Toebbin, are headed to D.C. next week to plead/demand/suggest that the feds fork over some additional money to Socal for more schools, cops and mass transit. It's not exactly news that L.A. has gotten the short end of the stick in the Republican Congress when it comes to federal money, so maybe the Democrats will be more responsive. Actually, the short-changing is statewide; in 2004, California taxpayers received only 79 cents in federal expenditures for every dollar in federal taxes. That compares with 93 cents in 1992. See the problem? Here's the list of folks making the trip.