Sarah Palin: Governor of San Francisco?

John McCain’s Vice Presidential running mate, Alaska’s Sarah Palin, went from mayor of a town of 8,500 to governor of a state with 670,000.

Dallas Morning News blogger Colleen McCain Nelson tries to put this into perspective:

Her entire state has about as many people as Memphis, Tennessee, the country’s 17th-largest city.

So, 16 U.S. mayors — including Dallas’ very own Republican, Tom Leppert — have more constituents than Sarah Palin. Of course, she has her own mayoral pedigree, in Wasilla, Alaska, population 8,500.

To put it in California’s perspective, Alaska’s population of 670,000 is:

• About the population of Bakersfield and Anaheim combined.
• 1/6th the size of the City of Los Angeles (4,045,000), 1/2 the size of San Diego (1,336,000), and smaller than the cities of San Jose (989,000) or San Francisco (824,000).
• Less than Los Angeles City Council Districts 4, 5, and 13 combined.
• Approximately 1/3rd less than the number of Los Angeles residents who marched in the 2006 “Great American Boycott.”

Alas, maybe Eric Garcetti could have been on Obama’s shortlist along with Hillary…

Attend “Government 101″ with LA Mayor V and Council Prez Eric G.

Learn how to make your city work for you at the Government 101 workshop being held tomorrow by LA City Council President Eric Garcetti.

Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti will join Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in hosting Government 101, a workshop that trains local residents to access city resources and become effective advocates for their communities.  The morning training will include a tutorial on the City of Los Angeles’s legislative process and information on how residents can influence the process.

Ironically, the Mayor’s involvement in this citizen-empowerment workshop comes one day after CityWatch posted an editorial claiming Villaraigosa had declared himself “the decider:”

The desire to promote grass-roots democracy, and to respect the experience and creativity of those in the neighborhood council system, has taken a back seat to the mayor’s political needs.

Garcetti running for D.A… of Gotham?

LAist’s Jeremy Oberstein drops the dime on a website calling for Eric Garcetti to run for mayor of Los Angeles, but the City Council prez himself who points out the official website pushing for “Garcetti for D.A.” And there appears to be some supprort. Among the endorsements:

The Gotham Fraternal Order of Police says, “Garcetti has the
experience, and partners with police to stop crime.”

The Gotham Police Union says “Roger Garcetti has the integrity,
the toughness, and the judgement to lead and win the war against crime.”

The Italian Heritage Society of Gotham says, “Roger Garcetti’s
dedication and loyalty make him the candidate to trust.”

Oh, yeah, this is for Roger Garcetti, not Eric, who asks, “My long-lost cousin in Gotham?”

Indeed, the site if part of the viral campaign for The Dark Knight.

I can’t help but think that if in this DC, ie alternate, universe, if Garcetti is running for DA, then Janice Hahn really must be in cahoots with the gang element. But which City Council members would look good wearing masks and capes?

Garcetti grocery shopping with Mitt Romney

Over the Memorial Day weekend City Council President Eric Garcetti was visiting friends in Utah when he had the ultimate “star sighting…” by Utah standards anyway. Via Facebook, Garcetti wrote that he “saw Mitt Romney pushing a shopping cart in Albertson’s yesterday in Park City.”

On a related note, Mitt Romney sighting by SoCal residents may become more commonplace as word broke last week that the former Massachusetts governor is purchasing an ocean front home in La Jolla. It seems that in spite of his flip-flop on the issue, he can’t seem to keep away from states that legalize gay marriage.

LA City Council prez urges City Clerk to make gay marriage licenses available immediately

Shortly after the California Supreme Court overruled a ban on gay marriages, City Council President Eric Garcetti posted the following on his blog:

The California Supreme Court came down on the side of equality and justice today. I’m proud that this opinion puts our state at the forefront of protecting and advancing human rights for all people.

I urge the Los Angeles County Clerk to immediately make marriage licenses available to same-sex couples.

Unless the court reconsiders their decision, as opponents will press them to do, “same-sex couples could start getting married in 30 days, the time it typically takes for the justices’ opinions to become final.”

After that, expect a lot of out of state visitors to show up at clerks offices statewide:

Unlike Massachusetts, California has no residency requirement for obtaining a marriage license, meaning gays from around the country are likely to flock to the state to be wed, said Jennifer Pizer, a gay-rights attorney who worked on the case. [Associated Press]

Opponents are also pushing for an amendment for a gay marriage ban in the state constitution to be put up for vote in November. I don’t want to give them any hints or anything, but they’d probably be better served to wait for an election that is less likely to be attended by liberals in such high numbers. That said, I look forward to the ballot initiative being squashed once and for all.

Of possible interest: How to get a marriage license in California.

Garcetti’s LA City Government 101

As referenced in my interview with Eric Garcetti, last year the City Council President was on LA City View breaking down how city government works, including how bills are passed, and how the Mayor has less influence than Council itself.

Its a straightforward breakdown on how things work – a great Cliff Notes version, anyway – and good info for any LA resident wondering how to pass legislation, or how the hell some crazy laws came to be.

Click to watch (will open in a new window).

Unfortunately, like most government run websites, LA City View is sloppy to navigate and, worse, there is no direct link to archived videos. Alas, to watch as intended you’ll need to click here, then in the bottom right part of the City View page scroll down til you see Eric Garcetti’s name and click on it.

Exclusive: Eric Garcetti on being an Obama super delegate

In addition to his duties as L.A. City Council President, Eric Garcetti is has also been campaigning for Barack Obama for almost a year. He told me, “I signed on April 29th of last year. The reason I remember the date it was the 15th anniversay of the LA riots. He gave a great speech at the AME church and then we rode around in his car for a half hour and talked through his campaign and what role I might play.”

As one of Obama’s five California chairpeople, Garcetti is advising the Presidential candidate on national, policy, and Latino issues. Garcetti is also one of California’s 65 Democratic super-delegates, making his vote at this summer’s Democratic convention an influential one in determining the whether Obama or Clinton will win the party nomination.

In the following interview, I talked with Garcetti about how he became a super-delegate, why he’s supporting Obama, and his own political aspirations… (photo by a35mmlife, used under Creative Commons)

How did you become a superdelegate?

I was already a superdelegate before (the state primary). So I’ve been going to those national meetings, and as such was an automatic superdelegate. It had nothing to do with who is running.

I am vice chair (and will become the chair later this year) of the Democratic Municipal Officials, representing all of the locally elected Democratic officials in the country. Its the local equivalent of the Democratic Governor’s Association. We’re the largest group of elected Democrats of any association in the country, and we get 3 superdelegates as part of the party rules: our chair, our vice chair, and then one DNC rep.

Have you received any called from the Clinton campaign to change your support?

I have not since I became formally affiliated. There a lot of people who I know are affiliated (with Obama) but still get phone calls, but I haven’t gotten any. I’ve made some calls to other superdelegates for sure.

I did sit down and had a great meeting with Senator Clinton about a month before meeting with Senator Obama. We sat down in her Senate office for about a half hour last March and had a very good conversation. But I’ve known him longer and had an ongoing relationship with him.

Who for Mayor?

Busted Tees is selling this shirt, referencing a character and plot line from the Baltimore set HBO series “The Wire.”

But I doubt I’m the only Angeleno who did a double take, as the name is strikingly similar to the President of L.A.’s City Council. Besides, “Eric Garcetti for Mayor” doesn’t seem too far fetched.