The smallest surprise of the day was Dick Riordan’s withdrawal of his reasonable-sounding pension reform plan for Los Angeles city workers, present and future, and John Walsh, Our Man at City Hall, reports the back story this afternoon:
“It was Eli Broad who killed Riordan's initiative.
“He already put up the most money to get it on the ballot.
“Broad made his decision to pull the plug in light of Labor's overwhelming defeat of Prop. 32.
“The signature-gatherers were having a lot of difficulty getting people to sign.
“The ballot box effort against the unions was going to cost a lot more than the original estimate. Eli didn't want to get stuck bankrolling a losing cause.”
They Didn’t Like or Look Like Each Other
Two contrary images were pitted on the City Hall stage:
On the softer side was Mr. Riordan, almost startlingly fragile the last time I saw him a few months ago. The ex-mayor was the antithesis of his robust self at City Hall in the ‘90s. He turned 82 years old last May, and as I watched him so-o-o-o gingerly descend the steps in an auditorium, it was even money whether he or the floor would reach bottom first.
Growling in the other corner, wherever signature-gatherers landed, was a collection of frowning, threatening, intimidating union hefties who would make elephants perspire. Their unshaven message:
I dare you to write your name.
John Schwada, the former mayor’s spokesperson, told the newspaper this afternoon:
“We are reviewing all of our options” regarding alternative plans.
Almost 400,000 verifiable signatures must be turned in by Dec. 28. That tall threshold doubtless makes today’s decision the closing act.
