Bill Rosendahl's Questions About the AEG Stadium Linked To Majestic Lobbyist John Ek

By Gene Maddaus Wed., Apr. 20 2011 at 4:36 PM

Bill Rosendahl

Updated below: Mike Bonin, Rosendahl's chief of staff, responds.

Councilman Bill Rosendahl made headlines last month with his long list of questions about the AEG football stadium proposal for downtown.

Rosendahl got into arcane details of the project's financing, its potential to interfere with conventions, the parking, and a host of other concerns. All told, it ran to 38 queries, all of which are still awaiting answers from the city's experts.

The L.A Weekly recently obtained another list of 44 questions, which appears to be the basis for many of Rosendahl's questions. According to the source who provided the list, it was distributed to council staff by John Ek, who at the time was lobbying on behalf of Majestic Realty --- AEG's arch-rival in the quest to bring an NFL team to L.A.

The lists are not identical, but a side-by-side comparison shows that many questions are pretty similar:

Majestic: "Will the stadium developer agree to never sell/refinance the project until the bonds are paid off?"
Rosendahl: "Will the developer agree to never sell/refinance the project until the bonds are paid off?

Majestic: "The L.A. Auto Show controls the entire convention center nearly the whole month of November; will we have Football or the L.A. Auto Show?"
Rosendahl: "The L.A. Auto Show occupies the entire Convention Center nearly the whole month of November which is football season. How will the two co-exist?"

Majestic: "Given the passing of Prop. 26, would a 'ticket tax' require voter approval?"
Rosendahl: "Does the new Proposition 26 require that the proposed ticket tax be approved by voters?"

Rosendahl's office has denied that his questions were supplied or at least inspired by Majestic's lobbyist. "We have not talked to Majestic," said his spokesman, Tony Arranaga.

Asked to explain the similarity between the two lists, Arranaga said that it could be a coincidence. He did not offer any other explanation.

Ek -- who is the subject of these week's L.A. Weekly cover story, "Mr. Juice: How Lobbyist John Ek Gets His Way at City Hall" -- has not returned phone calls. He has cited a policy of not talking to the press.

A Majestic rep said the list did not come directly from Majestic, but did not know whether Ek had supplied such a list to council members on Majestic's behalf. Ek is no longer employed by Majestic.

"These are legitimate and valid questions that any elected official would ask, especially when taxpayer dollars and public land is being discussed," the Majestic representative said.

According to the source who provided the list, it was distributed shortly before the council's first vote on the AEG project, in early February. That's about a month before Rosendahl issued his public list of questions about the AEG project.

If Rosendahl's office offers any further explanation, we'll report it here. Update: A more detailed statement from Mike Bonin, Rosendahl's chief of staff:

We did not have any conversations or communications at all with Magestic or any member of the Ek & Ek staff regarding the questions the councilman has asked about the AEG proposal.
Since the councilman began focusing on this issue, he and his staff have asked for and received potential questions from scores of people - constituents, current city employees, former city employees, people familiar with the Staples deal in the 90s, people who are knowledgeable about municipal finance and business, and even reporters. People have suggested questions at City Hall, at public events, and at the local farmer's markets.
People outside and inside of city government are interested and engaged in this issue, and the councilman wants to be a conduit for their concerns and questions. Frankly, we can't see why or how the source of the questions matter. We'll entertain and ask questions from anyone - constituents, community leaders, labor officials, businesspeople and bloggers. Like journalists, we think questions are good -- and from the feedback we're getting, Los Angeles agrees; people are thrilled Bill is asking them.

Rosendahl's 38 questions are here. The list of 44 questions is below:

AEGquestions

Tags:

AEG, Bill Rosendahl, John Ek, John Semcken, Majestic Realty

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beenth87

Way to stick up for your pal, David

jm12

I had the feeling that something was fishy about Bill Rosencrook's sudden concern for the public.

David Ewing

I don't get why it's a surprise that Rosendahl's list of concerns is similar to Majestic's, or why that invalidates either list.

You'd expect Majestic to come up with the most comprehensive list they could put together to fight off a competitor. So why wouldn't you also expect that such a list would reflect the concerns of many others? Rosendahl was trying to raise concerns that his Council colleagues have overlooked in their blind rush to shower blessings on a project for which AEG has asked the City to take huge financial risks and to give them special building privileges. Should he have ignored the questions raised by Majestic? Would the public have been better served if he had eliminated questions because they were also Majestic’s list?

Hell, I don’t care if he lifted questions verbatim from Majestic’s P.R.

This stadium will have enormous impacts not only on traffic and City finances, but on the shape and character of the city for decades to come. The potential benefits are obvious, but the dangers have been willfully ignored by City leaders. Instead have been cheerleading in lockstep with AEG since the first moment the public heard of the project.

Rosendahl did show independence by refusing to go along with the parade without raising any questions. For those with long memories, a similar parade led to the deregulation of our state’s energy market. The idea was so popular at the time that no one raised the necessary questions and it passed by acclaim without a single dissenting vote in either branch of the legislature. Remember how that ended up? It was championed by another company that could do no wrong. Remember Enron? How many billions did that cost our state, our businesses and our people? We’re still trying to dig our way out of that hole.

So I think your article has the wrong headline. It should read, “NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED.”

Anonymous

everyone knows rosendahl is a joke. he has no spine.

David Ewing

On the other hand, it takes such guts to post anonymous comments.

David Ewing

On the other hand, it takes such guts to post anonymous comments.

David Ewing

I accidentally posted in response to Rick, when I meant to post in response to "Anonymous," above. Sorry, Rick, my bad.

Rick Abrams

When the council voes together more than 99% of the time, none of them have a spine.

99%+ agreement suggests a City Conspiracy rather than a City Council.

Just as McCourt ran the Dodgers into the ground, the corrupt and incompetent City Council is running the City into the dirt.

Robert

I don't care where the questions came from but I will say that I'm glad Rosendahl seems to be the only one asking them. Rosendahl has been asking the questions for months now and the other city council members most likely want to rubber stamp this horrible deal. There is no doubt the tax payers are going to foot the bill in some way. I just read a story where AEG could get the parcel from the City. THis deal is a huge red flag and everyone needs to email their council rep to tell them vote no on it. A new NFL stadium would be better off being built in the City of Industry. Can you imagine the Raider gangsters taking over the AEG football stadium. Look how they took over the Dodgers, the violence after the Laker's win at Staples. No, we don't need another team in LA

Daniel Gery

@Robert:

Gangsters will attend games downtown but not in Industry? Will there be gangster checkpoints at the Majestic site? I'm confused. Are you saying that gangsters don't drive to the burbs? Or that they don't exist east of downtown? And why Raider gangsters? Or is that just a stereotype for Latinos/Blacks?

There is no doubt that the tax payers are going to foot the bill in some way? Based on what evidence exactly?

Seems to me you're confusing personal prejudices with facts. Of course, you don't care where the questions came from. You've already made up your mind.

Losangeles1

So much for Rosendahl and his so called "independance". The guy is a complete phoney and fraud. If you watch him on any issue, he usually makes sure to be on all sides at one time or another. The Westside needs change.

Rick Abrams

Who cares where he got the questions if they are wise questions? This is not a High School history quiz.