EDITORIAL MISSING THE POINT CARDENAS BLASTS DWP'S COMMUNICATIONS, OVERLOOKS ITS FINANCES.

LOS Angeles City Councilman Tony Cardenas no doubt fancies himself as some kind of populist hero for taking a stand against the Department of Water and Power's plan to raise water rates by 18 percent.

Too bad it was a rather weak-kneed stand at that.

True, Cardenas was alone among members of the City Council's Energy, Commerce and Natural Resources Committee to vote against the measure - fellow members Janice Hahn and Cindy Miscikowski shamefully played along. But Cardenas doesn't want to stop ratepayers from getting ripped off; he just doesn't want them to think they're getting ripped off.

The problem with the DWP's rate hike is that no one knows whether it's warranted. Department officials say they need the funds to pay for homeland security purposes, but they've been reluctant to demonstrate that the money can't be found through cost-cutting measures, which are badly needed in a utility that wastes millions on frivolous promotions.

What's needed - before the DWP even seeks another penny from L.A. residents - is a full accounting and overhaul of how the utility spends its funds, including its questionable contracts, salaries and a host of other issues.

But that's not what Cardenas is seeking.

Cardenas wants to let the DWP go ahead with the first stage of its rate hike - 11 percent this year - and postpone the subsequent 7 percent increase until the utility ``will start to communicate differently with the council and the ratepayers.''

In other words, improve your spin control so that the full rate hike doesn't seem so offensive, then hike away. Apparently Cardenas thinks the DWP's only problem is communications, which is funny, seeing that among the department's other suspicious expenses are $13.3 million a year for PR.

If Cardenas wants to be a populist hero, he wouldn't harp on the DWP's spin control, but its finances. And until the DWP comes clean, he would stand firm against any rate hike.