CITY HALL BLOG'S AUTHORS IDENTIFIED SITE SPURRED INSIDER GUESSING GAME.Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer One of the mysteries of City Hall insiders was solved Thursday when some of the main contributors to an anonymous Internet blog site known as Mayor Sam's Sister City were identified. Michael Higby, Brian Hay and Michael Trujillo - none of whom who have any direct contact with City Hall other than their interest in politics - made the decision to go public as efforts to uncover their identities increased in recent weeks. The often controversial Web site, started late last year, has become widely known among city officials and insiders as contributors posted commentary, rumor, pictures and stories in a daily digest of events in and around City Hall and city politics. The blog contributors said Thursday that they decided to reveal their identities because they had heard a newspaper article with the information was about to be published. ``I was getting close to going public anyway,'' said Higby, who took on the site's ``Mayor Sam'' persona persona /per·so·na/ (per-so´nah) [L.] in jungian psychology, the personality mask or facade presented by a person to the outside world, as opposed to the anima, the inner being. per·so·na n. , modeled after former Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Mayor Sam Yorty. ``I'm not afraid to be identified. Besides, now maybe I can meet some other bloggers and make this a real thing.'' Higby, 40, of Sherman Oaks is the least politically active of those involved with the blog. While he has volunteered for some campaigns, he said his interests are his real estate business and humor humor, according to ancient theory, any of four bodily fluids that determined man's health and temperament. Hippocrates postulated that an imbalance among the humors (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) resulted in pain and disease, and that good health was . It was Hay and Trujillo who provided the main political intrigue Intrigue See also Conspiracy. Borgias 15th-century family who stopped at nothing to gain power. [Ital. Hist.: Plumb, 59] Ems dispatch Bismarck’s purposely provocative memo on Spanish succession; sparked Franco-Prussian war (1870). for the site. Hay, who works for former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg and oversaw o·ver·saw v. Past tense of oversee. his computer operations during his mayoral campaign, said he became active with the blog after Hertzberg's defeat in the primary election. Trujillo, who works for actor Rob Reiner Robert "Rob" Reiner (born March 6, 1945) is an American actor, director, producer, writer, children's advocate and political activist. As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence as Archie Bunker's and Edith Baines-Bunker's son-in-law, Michael "Meathead" Stivic, on on political initiatives, was a supporter of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Antonio Ramon Villaraigosa (born Antonio (Tony) Ramon Villar, Jr. on January 23, 1953) is the mayor of Los Angeles, California. He is the first Latino mayor of Los Angeles since Cristobal Aguilar in 1872. during the campaign and served as an unpaid volunteer. A spokesman for Reiner said he was not aware of Trujillo's involvement in the blog. Trujillo has been active in city politics since high school, when former Mayor Richard Riordan Richard J. Riordan (born May 1, 1930) is a Republican politician from California, U.S. who served as the California Secretary of Education from 2003–2005 and as Mayor of Los Angeles from 1993–2001. Riordan ran for Governor of California unsuccessfully in 2002. named him as a commissioner to the Children, Youth and Their Families Commission. Trujillo said he was involved only briefly with the blog and was one of several people who took on the role of the site's ``Chief Parker'' over the course of its existence. The Mayor Sam blog began after a similar effort - called the Fourth Floor Blog - was shut down by its anonymous operator amid fear of being identified. ``I liked the Fourth Floor Blog and was sorry when it stopped,'' Higby said. ``I thought taking on the identity of a 1950s politician was funny. Sometimes I would say stuff as Mayor Sam that I didn't agree with. It was just funny.'' Hay said he is not sure what will happen next with the blog. ``I guess it depends on the response we get,'' Hay said. Rick Orlov, (213) 978-0390 rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com |
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