FIND MORE EIDC CHECKS LATELY, JIM?

Byline: Kimit Muston Local View

I do so want to believe Mayor James K. Hahn. It's just that I'm not sure when I'm supposed to believe him and when I'm not supposed to believe him because sometimes you have to not believe him in order to believe him.

Confusing, ain't it?

Now, I could believe the mayor solicited the Entertainment Industry Development Corp. for a $10,000 donation for his anti-secession campaign. That's what Kam Kuwata said when first questioned about the donation, and he's the guy Hahn placed in charge of his anti-secession campaign, so he should know, right?

Or I could believe Hahn solicited $25,000 from the EIDC for his anti- secession war chest because that is what Kam Kuwata said about a week later.

And how did City Hall explain the unanticipated inflation of this particular twice-told tale? Well, it seems the reason for the $15,000 increase was because, to quote Kuwata, ``There was another check.''

Now, I want to repeat that quote because I think it may become one of my favorite political quotes of the year, maybe the decade. Let us share it together. ``There was another check.''

Let it roll over your tongue as you note it is an explanation that explains nothing. ``There was another check.''

Note the deceptive iambic simplicity of the phrase, the seemingly guileless admission of guilt, without being an actual admission. The words almost sing to you. ``There was another check.''

Who are these guys? I've heard about the gang that couldn't shoot straight but I've never heard of a gang who couldn't cash a check straight.

Did they lose the other check? Did their mom find it in their pants while she was doing their laundry?

Did Jimmy forget how much or how often he asked the EIDC for money?

The coda to this little mea culpa couplet came when the mayor announced, once again through Kuwata, that he was returning the money, all $25,000 of it.

The mayor is giving back the cash because, says Kam Kuwata, ``It was becoming a distraction. We wanted to talk about the real issues.''

Well, you may not believe this Kam, but the money is the real issue; the money and the belief that it was yours for the taking as long as you could talk your way out of it if you got caught.

It's like the argument the EIDC isn't a government agency. The EIDC was formed by the county and the city governments. It took over government functions. Good Lord, it's hard to find an elected official south of Tehachapi who wasn't on the EIDC board, although somebody forgot to tell most of them.

And, to top it all off, the president of the executive board of the EIDC is none other than the mayor of Los Angeles himself, Jimmy Hahn, who evidently thinks there are lots of private companies with a majority of elected officials controlling their boards.

It's the kind of frustrating idiotic argument that insults your intelligence.

To make it City Hall must either think the public is really stupid or be really stupid themselves. Either way, its not good for City Hall's image.

That image is now getting a wax job. The story of the EIDC would never have come to light except for District Attorney Steve Cooley's criminal investigation, which has now prompted the MIA EIDC board members to reappear, and they are now climbing over each other ``re-organizing,'' which is a code word for CYA - and it's not a Christian Youth organization.

There must be lots of ``other checks'' still outstanding, and many of them must be political contributions from the EIDC to the very people who were supposed to be in charge of the EIDC - politicians like Hahn.

There is a chance that with a lot of effort and a little luck Cooley may actually get to the bottom of the EIDC - or City Hall could perform its usual cover up.

Remember that the EIDC is just one of some 30 to 50 city agencies spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars every year under a cloak of obscurity, with laughable oversight, vague lines of responsibility and little accountability.

The only hope taxpayers have, other than secession, is that D.A. Cooley is ambitious enough to push this investigation all the way to Sacramento.

If he cleans up City Hall I'd vote for him for governor. As many times as they let me.