Work harder, Ace
Funny how Ace Smith thinks he can nuke Rick Caruso by saying, “George Bush” in a scary voice. As if to suggest what—Caruso has a secret plot to invade Bell Gardens, oust the city manager and build a mall?
Ace Smith has a tax hike to sell you
Savvy
And it’s weird — you almost get the sense he cares.
Here’s an opportunity to create a comprehensive plan to get traffic moving again in Los Angeles County and [Measure R] captures every part of the county.
About you.
It’s not just a bunch of huge projects.
And your commute.
We’re going forward. The time has come to do this. This is about making a case to voters.
Steve Hymon interviewed Smith — former Clinton and Villaraigosa campaign manager — about his new job selling you a tax increase to build trains:
Smith emphasized several times that one of the important aspects of Measure R is that it would return money to cities for smaller projects such as pothole repair and traffic-light synchronization. It’s very clear that that is going to be a big part of the message the campaign for Measure R will hammer home.
As for the politics, Smith’s selection in my view reaffirms what a big deal this campaign is for Villaraigosa. At this point, Villaraigosa’s reelection next March doesn’t appear to be very competitive — Smith is running that campaign too — but there remains the chance that Villaraigosa runs for governor in 2010.
There are already a pile of names being thrown around for that job, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, to name just three. It’s beyond obvious that if Villaraigosa gets into the race, he will need some big-time accomplishments to tout, of which securing $30 billion in sales-tax revenues for transportation — the Achilles heel of L.A. County — would be a big one.
OK, so there’s no news here — Ace and Tony need paychecks, taxpayers bend over — but it is interesting to follow the ongoing word game; in breaking the Smith story last week, Rick Orlov accurately described the proposal as a “half-percent” sales tax increase. Hymon and Zach Behrens, on the other hand, choose “half-cent” and “half-penny” respectively.
