EDITORIAL WAG THE DOG (FOOD) VILLARAIGOSA VETOES $2.7 MILLION PAYOFF TO FIREFIGHTER.

MAYOR Antonio Villaraigosa has done what few other of Los Angeles' elected officials have done in recent years: He has stood up for taxpayers.

Villaraigosa knows that as guardian of the municipal trust, he must put the public's welfare above politics (or at least appear to do so), even though nearly everyone else at City Hall would rather throw away the public's money than stand up for the public interest.

He took just such a stand for the public Monday by vetoing the City Council's craven and ridiculous approval of the city attorney's proposed $2.7 million payoff to Tennie Pierce, the city firefighter who was the target of a juvenile hazing incident.

With only members Dennis Zine and later Bill Rosendahl questioning the deal, the City Council -- acting on the recommendation of City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo's office -- agreed to make Pierce a millionaire because his colleagues prepared spaghetti mixed with dog food as a prank.

Now Pierce is an African-American, but none of the evidence suggests this was a racial incident. It was playful hazing, a practice that has been tolerated for ages in the Fire Department. And Pierce himself was caught in pictures engaging in similar politically incorrect acts toward gays and Jews.

Fun stuff, all right, that should have led to a housecleaning of the department a long time ago.

But it was accepted practice until Monday when Villaraigosa not only vetoed the deal but banned hazing.

This was no small act of courage in a town where everyone's so afraid of being perceived as racially insensitive that they would rather hand over millions than examine the claims. Which is apparently what the City Council did when it approved the settlement to Pierce, who was targeted after he joked about being the ``big dog'' during a volleyball game.

Being the butt of a cruel joke isn't fun, and certainly isn't appropriate for the workplace. But it's not worthy of a cent in harm, especially when the victim himself engaged in similar hazing pranks.

The whole incident begs the question: Just what is going on at the city's fire stations between calls for service? It makes taxpayers wonder if perhaps the city's well-paid firefighting force has too much time on its hands -- and fills it with sophomoric antics more fitting to a schoolyard.

Even more importantly, this story casts grave doubt on the competence of the City Attorney's Office and the City Council. This is the largest employee payout in city history, and it was approved without questioning the facts, without addressing the problem in the Fire Department, without any concern for the public's money.

This incident illustrates more than even the dishonest Measure R campaign that the city's elected officials' main motivation is to keep their hold on the gravy train.

The council and the city attorney fell down in their responsibility to protect the taxpayer's money. Fortunately for the public, the mayor was there to stand up.