First of two parts
[img]1792|right|Jim Clarke||no_popup[/img]Jim Clarke came to the City Council two years ago with a dramatically different professional background from his four new colleagues.
As a senior aide to Sacramento and Washington legislators, ad to Mayor Villaraigosa in downtown Los Angeles, he understood the nuanced and subtle workings of local, state and federal governments.
He was brimmingly prepared for a question that has been bandied about City Hall this week —
When hometown legislators such as U.S. Rep.Karen Bass (D-Culver City), state Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas and state Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Culver City) are up for re-election, how do you know whether they have been effective and deserve to be returned to office?
“The federal government has done away with earmarks,” Mr. Clarke said this morning. “For that reason, you can’t really judge on the ability of a member of Congress to deliver funding for projects into your district.
“That used to be one of the ways of evaluating how responsive they were in bringing back the pork.”
Reaching for a new yardstick, “what we tend to do now is look at legislative issues, issues of interest to Culver City,” Mr. Clarke said. “A lot of times, it is not just legislation. It is, can they play a role in setting up a meeting with either a federal agency or a state agency we are dealing with?
“On redevelopment issues, I have found that Holly’s office was very helpful in setting up meetings with the (state) Dept. of Finance and helping coordinate those meetings.
“It is more than just, ‘did they vote the right way?’ That is important, too.”
(To be continued)
