Porn Condom Battle Erupts in City Hall as Councilman Rosendahl Attempts to Block City Attorney From Stopping Voters From Deciding

FotoPhrog

City Hall is fighting for you.

When you mix porn, City Hall, and a City Council and City Attorney's office that don't seem to like each other, let alone work together, you have the makings of a juicy story.

This week L.A. City Council members Bill Rosendahl and Paul Koretz filed a motion (PDF) urging the body to "take immediate action" to stop the City Attorney in its attempt at blocking a voter initiative that would, if approved, require the enforcement of condom use at L.A.-permitted porn shoots.

En garde!

The motion by liberal politicians Rosendahl and Koretz sounds as pissed off as it could sound within the confines of bureaucratic legalese.

It faults the City Attorney's office (headed by Republican Carmen Trutanich) for bringing the initiative and its backer, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, to court without letting the council know about it first:

Trutanich.

The City Attorney has determined that the proposed ballot measure is preempted by California law, and, without prior approval from this Council, has sued to remove the measure from the ballot ... The filing of this litigation was unknown to members of the Council until after the posting of the agenda for today's meeting

The motion notes that Cal-OSHA, the state workplace safety watchdog, has said the city can, if it wants, enforce condoms on-set. The City Attorney's office itself once opined in a memo that, in fact, the LAPD could become prophylactic police if the city so desired.

Strangely, then, the City Attorney's office is now saying L.A. doesn't have the power to do this and shouldn't even let the people speak on the matter. It's strange to us because, isn't the guy on the right (Trutanich) supposed to be anti-porn, and the people on the left pro?

(A co-worker: So Trutanich is on the side of straight, raw, unprotected porn? Lulz. Rolls on ground. Yep. Sort of.).

In this case, the industry doesn't want condoms. It says if they're enforced they'll go out of state and underground, where things will be less safe. Trutanich's move, indirectly at least, would play into the laissez-faire (libertarian?) stance of the porn magnates.

The liberals, perhaps unexpectedly, would play against them. Or, at least, they're playing the nanny-state card.

Rosendahl has been a longtime supporter of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and its efforts to get the adult industry to use condoms. Like we said, juicy story. (Read our cover piece about the issue here).

Rosendahl and Koretz write:

It is critical that we do everything we can to stop the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases - including the spread of HIV in the adult film industry ... It is critical, therefore, that the Council act immediately to review this litigation prior to the Clerk issuing any opinion on the validity of the signatures on the ballot measure.

However, the duo's motion is on-hold, writes the Los Angeles Times, until the City Clerk can validate that enough signatures have indeed been submitted to get this thing on the ballot.

We'll be watching -- with both hands on the keyboard (promise).

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]