TIPOFF GOVERNOR SEEKING LOCAL HELP IN GETTING OK ON BUDGET.

Byline: RICK ORLOV

Maybe it's a case of state senators not taking his calls -- or turning a deaf ear to his pleas -- but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger turned to local officials last week in an effort to get a vote on the state budget.

While the governor toured the state to emphasize the impact of the budget stalemate, his office called on local officials -- particularly Republicans -- to get on the bandwagon and try to convince GOP lawmakers to vote on the spending plan.

Among them were Los Angeles City Councilmen Greig Smith and Dennis Zine. While the council is nonpartisan, the two are seen as among the most fiscally conservative.

"They didn't ask the councilman to make any calls to legislators but to issue a statement on the impact locally," said Mitch Englander, chief deputy to Smith.

"One example of the impact is we have three (improvement) projects for Balboa Boulevard that might not get done because of the holdup in the budget."

In the meantime, the GOP is quietly laughing at threats to hold up new legislation, since they are the minority in both houses and it is primarily Democrats who are proposing new laws.

The City Council's decision last week to require Home Depot to prepare an environmental review before moving into Sunland-Tujunga was a near-perfect example of the adage, "Enemy of my enemy is my friend."

The council, hardly known for getting in the way of business development, stood up against the big-box retailer mostly out of growing resentment over the firm's refusal to mitigate problems it creates.

"They were their own worst enemy," said one council member, who asked not to be identified. "They could have tried to deal with the community here and they refused to do so.

"We have tried to deal with them on other sites with the problems of day laborers or trash and they refuse to accept responsibility. Now, they have to deal with us."

While a commission reviewing the neighborhood council system tries to figure out who should be a stakeholder and allowed to take part in council decisions, a survey found that most participants are older, white and richer than most of the neighborhoods they represent.

Homeowners make up 72 percent of the boards, with only 12 percent renters.

The Los Angeles Police Department had the most contact with the neighborhood groups, followed by the departments of Water and Power, Public Works, Recreation and Parks, City Attorney and Planning.

The newsletter CityWatch quoted activist Keith Bright as saying the survey is useful "in knowing who we are and how far we are from what some of us thought neighborhood councils might become."

One disappointment among political observers has been that neighborhood councils have not churned out candidates for public office who have been able to develop any kind of political base.

Taking a cue from Iowa, the Sacramento County Republican Party is planning its own straw poll of GOP presidential candidates but with one big difference: It won't cost anything to cast a ballot.

Craig MacGlashan, chair of the Sacramento group, said it is the first time the group has tried to conduct a straw poll, with votes to be cast at the GOP's booth at the State Fair that runs through Sept. 3.

The much touted Iowa straw poll resulted in a win for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who spent an estimated $2 million as part of his campaign -- about $35 a vote.

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com

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