EDITORIAL FALSE ADVERTISING COUNCIL'S TAINTED TERM-LIMITS PROPOSITION RELIES ON LIES AND HALF-TRUTHS.LOS Angeles City Council  The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles, California, United States. members know that they've got an
uphill battle Uphill Battle was an metalcore band with elements of grindcore and noisecore. The group was based out of Santa Barbara, California, USA. HistoryUphill Battle got some recognition releasing their self-titled record on Relapse Records. convincing voters to give them an extra term in office. That must be why they've resorted to lying in campaign mailers. Proposition R, the dishonest ads say, is a solution to City Hall's dirty politics, rather than an example of them. Indeed, to hear Proposition R supporters tell it, putting half-baked restrictions on lobbyists alone will clean up the sleazy slea·zy adj. slea·zi·er, slea·zi·est 1. a. Shabby, dirty, and vulgar; tawdry: "sleazy storefronts with torn industrial carpeting and dirt on the walls" practices of the city's politicians and end the pay-to-play corruption that infects City Hall. The proposition's backers go so far as to claim that limiting council members to three four-year terms will make sure ``that no one can serve for life.'' This is patently false; council members are limited to two terms right now so they can't serve for life. It gets worse. The mailers also invoke the recent scandals surrounding the Fleishman- Hillard public relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most firm's overcharging of the Department of Water and Power, indicating this couldn't have happened under Proposition R. Again, not true. The change in ethics reform doesn't address this type of contracting, just lobbyists. And ethics experts say that the so-called reforms actually would weaken current ethics laws designed to limit lobbyists' influence. That's why City Controller Laura Chick asked for her name -- used without permission -- to be taken off the mailers, and decided to come out strongly against Proposition R. It's a sad commentary on the state of politics today that such reputable people as former Mayor Dick Riordan, the head of L.A.'s League of Women Voters League of Women Voters, voluntary public service organization of U.S. citizens. Organized in 1920 in Chicago as an outgrowth of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, it had as its original nucleus the leaders of the latter organization. and political science professor Raphael Sonenshein Raphael J. Sonenshein (born 1949) is a professor of political science at California State University, Fullerton. Teaching at the college since 1982, Sonenshein holds a bachelor's in public policy from Princeton University and a doctorate in political science from Yale University. not only endorse this proposition but defend the advertisements trampling on the truth. They all know better, and the best Sonenshein can do is argue the ads don't seem ``way out of line'' compared to the level of deceit practiced in some elections today. What a recommendation! If the council truly wanted to clean up city politics, a better reform might be one that requires truth in political advertising. But that's unlikely to happen, considering that the truth isn't on the side of these politicians. In this case, a true advertisement would expose the dishonesty dis·hon·es·ty n. pl. dis·hon·es·ties 1. Lack of honesty or integrity; improbity. 2. A dishonest act or statement. Noun 1. behind Proposition R, showing that it's nothing more than a con by those who want to hold on to their fat paychecks and cushy cush·y adj. cush·i·er, cush·i·est Informal Making few demands; comfortable: a cushy job. [Origin unknown. jobs. And that's no lie. CAPTION(S): box Box: Daily News Endorsements To Date |
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