Fact-Checking Janice Hahn

• This woman is a major economic embarassment to anyone living in L.A. Why on earth would anyone with a brain vote for this airhead?

• Noel, let us not for get that the Dizzie Blond from 200 Spring Street also helped run the city of Los Angeles $525,000,000.00 in to the red, or failed to block any money that subsidized Hollywood and Highland, Supports criminals (illegal immagrants) and knows nothing about any issues. As a voter I know that she is a woman, but from her track record it shows that she is not a very bright one. I as an independant would rather vote for Sarah Palin than for this waste of space and I feel that she is an embarasment to her father!

• From Noel Weiss: We need to fact check the 'fact checker' here. The LA Weekly reader needs to know that the LA Weekly is unabashedly so pro-Newsom that it really can't pretend to be objective. The use of the term 'fact check' in this context is really deceptive. The Weekly's criticism of Janice Hahn is so perversely pointed and shallow . . . . as to forfeit any indicia of intelligent thought. . . . pointed because it is so obviously biased, and shallow because it is so petty and manipulative. Can we expect an equally balanced 'fact check' of Newsom's career or ad from the LA Weekly? No. . . Why? Because (a) it hasn't happened, and (b)it's just three days before the election. So the intent is to hit Janice, and pacify and protect Newsom. What is the criticism of Janice, exactly? Is it that Janice Hahn is really a career polician? If so, that is not accruate. Janice Hahn has not spent her career in politics. . . she has done many other things. She has experienced the ebbs and flows of life, including having to raise three kids (who came out great) as a single mom. Emerging from those those struggles (faced by so many Californians) has made Janice Hahn stronger. Janice, like so many of us, has successfully confronted the need and the struggle of making ends meet, particularly when the income and expenses did not match. This is something Newsom can't match. His rich parents put him in business. . . He's hardly the entrepreneur he says he is. . . but the Weekly just accepts the pablam Newsom foists on the public. Janice Hahn absolutely does have a political pedigree (as does Newsom) that she is proud of. But to engage in manipulative 'psycho-babble' by saying that Janice Hahn really hates herself or that she really hasn't done anything significant is really a cheap shot. . . . and a pure bit of slick propaganda. . . all carried out by the Weekly in support of the 'wonderful' and 'charismatic' Newsom. What is the Weekly saying here? That Janice Hahn in touting her father at the same time she is bashing career politicians is being hypocritical? Is that really a substantive criticism? Is it intelligent criticism? Is it fair criticism? Jancie is proud of her father. Nothing wrong with that, is there? The fact that Kenny Hahn was a career politician (from 1945-1997) does not mean that in today's world having people make a 'career' out of politics is still a good thing. Janice Hahn has served 9 years on the LA City Council (hardly a career). She has done some incredible things for the people in that capacity - things that Newsom has not even attempted, while succeeding in other progressive areas Newsom has yet to attempt. When the great recession hit, the workers at hotels surrounding LAX have an extra $17 Million in their pocket because of one person . . . . Janice Hahn. . . . who got a 'Living Wage' Ordinance enacted in 2006 against one of the most powerful business in the Country. . . a legislative feat equivalent to a Picasso painting. Then there is the issue of tenants' rights where Janice Hahn helped (when no one else would) procure a a meaningful increase in tenant relocation fees during the last speculative boom. Newsom, on the other hand, has fought against meaningful reforms in tenants' rights. . . . something which goes against his 'I'm for the little guy' phony image. It was Janice Hahn who caused to be inserted the concept of TOPA (Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act) in the LA Housing Element (TOPA gives tenants, as a collective) the right of first refusal to purchase the property. It is a strategy that can empower the people and preserve needed middle-class and lower middle-class housing. Newsom has done little for tenants when he has been called upon to do so, and has opposed tenant empowerment ideas. Janice was there for the tenants at Lincoln Place when she didn't have to spend one ounce of time on the issue. But she did because it was the right thing to do. Janice's successful fight for programs, people, and principles (some not popular) demonstrate her courage, commitment, competence, and coherence. Whether it is (1)the environment (changing the hours at the Port when trucks make their runs; getting dollars for schools near the Harbor to mitigate the pollution impacts of economic activities. . . efforts for which Janice has been praised by business, labor, and environmentalists); or (2) Janice's efforts on housing issues and tenants' rights, or (3) Janice's gang mitigation efforts through the Watts Gang Task Force (which Police Chief Charlie Beck and former Police Chief Bill Bratton said has saved lives), Janice Hahn has been there for the people, and most particularly 'the little guy and gal'. It is a shame that the LA Weekly chose not to provide a balanced prsentation of both candidates. . . Having chosen instead to fawn over Newsom and propagate against Janice Hahn. The LA Weekly would have better served the public if it had used its persuasive powers to induce it's candidate Newsom to debate Janice Hahn. . . not a joint press conferece 'debate', but a real 'Lincoln-Dougls' style debate where Newsom can't continue to hide behind the false sheen and the artifical 'sizzle' he purveys. Are we going to see the Weekly chastise Jerry Brown (a career politician) on the same basis as it critizes Janice Hahn? The Weekly will say it does not have to because Brown is not presenting himself to the public as a 'non-career' politician. Instead, he will present himself as a 'fresh face' with news ideas molded out of his life experience (as a career politician). Don't you see how completely illogical, contrived, and shallow this so-called 'criticism' of Janice Hahn really is? Janice's ad really appears intended to convey a message that she possesses the experience and the competence for the LG job because of a balanced career and by virtue of her having grown up in a political family. But unlike her father, Janice has not made a career out of politics. She raised (as a single mom) three kids. Her life experience has included her having worked as a teacher and then in the corporate world in various capacities. Janice's 'career', in the end, was the same as that of any parent. . . trying to make things better and secure for her kids and the next generation (her grandkids). If the Weekly told the reader that it had made a conscious choice to become a propaganda piece for Newsom, and then posted this so-called (and mislabeled) 'objective' criticism, then at least the reader whould be positioned to understand where the Weekly is coming from and better evaluate what is being written here. But this pretense of objectivity is itself a bit of a 'lie'; and it undermines the overall reputation of the Weekly, going forward. The Weekly's efforts to be a kind of 'rebel' media outlet. . . giving the people information not otherwise obtainable at the Times or the Daily News has sadly been compromised. We need some serious change in this State. The real 'career politicans' in Sacramento, the ones responsible for presiding over the 'mess' all support Newsom. With Newsom we will get more of the same. . . phony promises, patronizing platitudes, and meager results. Newsom failed as a candidate for Governor and was induced by the powerful political interests in this state to get into the race because Jance Hahn is just too independent for their taste; and the threat of the real change Janice represents to the status quo is something to which they take strong exception. What is so sadly ironic about your having been taken in by the 'slick' and 'smooth' Newsom is that the true 'outsider' is Janice Hahn not Gavin Newsom. . . the real force for change is Janice Hahn, not Gavin Newsom; the person of whom the special interests and established Sacramento politicans are most fearful is Janice Hahn, not Gavin Newsom. When their 'buddy', State Sen. Dean Florez floundered, despite his big war chest (funded in significant measure by Indian gaming interests), the special interests and Sacramento insiders were so concerned they recruited Newsom for a job about which he knew nothing and completely laughed off. . . . The 'charm' and phony slick media offensive then began. I would grant you that it would appear that Newsom succeeded in winning the media manipulation race. . . which just demonstrates why the media (including now the Weekly) has completely let down the public. But that does not take away from the fact that best Lt. Governor for California's future is Janice Hahn, not Gavin Newsom. We get bad results out of elections because of circumstances such as this where journalists compromise their principles and objectivity and succumb to the pressures of the moment. As the LA Weekly loses and sacrifices its jounalistic integrity, we all lose. The Weekly has really blown it with this year's LG Race. Very sad. Noel Weiss

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