Beutner

If the Los Angeles mayoral election were held tomorrow, three candidates would be elbowing for the lead: City Councilman Eric Garcetti, City Controller Wendy Greuel and County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. That comes from a new poll, conducted by the Center for the Study of Los Angeles and based on interviews of 1,600 city residents. The results of the survey will be formally released this week. There are reasons not to give those results too much weight. It's almost a year until voters will cast ballots; not all the candidates who may run have entered; money is still being amassed; messages for the campaign have yet to be refined, debates held and advertisements aired.

When Austin Beutner entered the mayor's race last year, it looked like the wealthy former investment banker and onetime city jobs czar might give the Los Angeles business community its best chance in years at regaining influence at City Hall. His abrupt exit from the campaign this week after struggles with fundraising and a poor showing in the polls highlights the decline of political power that was once wielded by the city's business elite. That weakening comes as the business sector's traditional rivals - organized labor and environmental activists - are enjoying increasing influence.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday appointed First Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner as interim head of the Department of Water and Power, an agency buffeted by controversy this past month over a proposed electricity rate hike and budgeting practices. Villaraigosa said Beutner's primary task would be to salve the lingering animosity toward the DWP from ratepayers and the City Council. "I've tasked Austin to immediately perform a top-to-bottom financial and operational review of the department, to lead a new era of accountable management and transparency, and to immediately implement business and ratepayer-friendly reforms," Villaraigosa said.

Austin Beutner's early departure from the Los Angeles mayor's race in one sense does not change much: The businessman had yet to make an impression with voters, so they will not likely miss him. And yet Beutner's absence means the race now lacks a certain type of candidate - the City Hall critic with genuine civic experience - and creates the opportunity for the remaining candidates to begin defining themselves more clearly. So far, there's not much to work with in that regard.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has turned to the former head of an equity firm to spearhead the mayor's renewed job creation effort and push to make the city a more attractive, less bureaucratic locale for business. Austin Beutner, founder of the boutique private equity firm Evercore Partners and former partner at the Blackstone Group, will serve as Villaraigosa's deputy mayor of economic development and oversee the Port of Los Angeles and the Department of Water and Power, two major economic catalysts for Los Angeles.

Using some of his harshest words yet, a top aide to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa accused the City Council on Thursday of lacking a strategy for eliminating a $404-million budget shortfall. First Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner, who is weighing a possible run for mayor in 2013, told an audience at the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce that private businesses would not give themselves so little time to eliminate such a large shortfall. Villaraigosa will present his budget in April.

The man chosen by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to be the city's "jobs czar" three months ago is in talks to take on an additional assignment: running the Department of Water and Power. Villaraigosa is considering naming First Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner as the DWP's interim general manager while the search continues for a permanent top executive, sources said Sunday. The DWP's current interim executive, S. David Freeman, is scheduled to step down within weeks. He has been promoting the mayor's package of residential electric rate hikes, which range from 9% to 28% depending on a household's location and power usage.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa plans to name First Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner as the interim head of the controversial Department of Water and Power, mayoral aides said Sunday. Beutner, a former investment banker who was hired by the mayor to bring business to Los Angeles, will continue to oversee 13 city agencies after he becomes interim general manager. He replaces S. David Freeman, who stepped down last Monday after holding the job for six months. The Times reported last week that Beutner, who makes $1 a year, was planning to take the job. During a bitter feud over a Villaraigosa-backed rate increase, City Council members accused DWP officials of lying and threatened to exert control over the utility's budget and its board, changes that would require voter approval.

Nearly a year after he became one of two top advisors to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Chief Deputy Mayor Jay Carson said Thursday he would resign Sept. 30. Carson, 33, joined the mayor in September 2009, just as he elevated "gang czar" Jeff Carr to the job of chief of staff and set out to refocus his office in his second and final term. A former press secretary to presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, Carson had a hand in a major shakeup of Villaraigosa's staff, including the departure of some officials originally hired by the mayor.

California's small-business owners worry about the economy, regulatory burdens and taxes, but they're also concerned about the deteriorating quality of public education and crumbling roads and other public works. Those are the findings of an annual survey of 1,067 small-business executives just released by Small Business California, an advocacy group. Employers -- just over half of them with 19 workers or less -- have trouble finding capable staff and then have trouble navigating clogged freeways, said Scott Hauge, a San Francisco insurance broker who is Small Business California's founder and president.

Austin Beutner, the wealthy former investment banker who struggled to gain traction in his yearlong campaign for Los Angeles mayor, dropped out of the race Tuesday. In an email to supporters, Beutner said he wants to spend more time with his wife and four young children. And in an unusual move, he pledged to pay back every person who contributed to his campaign. His exit comes after months of fundraising struggles, churn among his campaign staff and a recent poll that showed him capturing a dismal 2% of the likely vote in next year's election to replace Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who will be termed out. Beutner says money wasn't a factor in his decision, and said he had been prepared to pump his personal wealth into the campaign to accrue name recognition.

If the Los Angeles mayoral election were held tomorrow, three candidates would be elbowing for the lead: City Councilman Eric Garcetti, City Controller Wendy Greuel and County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. That comes from a new poll, conducted by the Center for the Study of Los Angeles and based on interviews of 1,600 city residents. The results of the survey will be formally released this week. There are reasons not to give those results too much weight. It's almost a year until voters will cast ballots; not all the candidates who may run have entered; money is still being amassed; messages for the campaign have yet to be refined, debates held and advertisements aired.

California's small-business owners worry about the economy, regulatory burdens and taxes, but they're also concerned about the deteriorating quality of public education and crumbling roads and other public works. Those are the findings of an annual survey of 1,067 small-business executives just released by Small Business California, an advocacy group. Employers -- just over half of them with 19 workers or less -- have trouble finding capable staff and then have trouble navigating clogged freeways, said Scott Hauge, a San Francisco insurance broker who is Small Business California's founder and president.

It strikes me that anyone who'd want to be the next mayor of Los Angeles ought to have his head examined, so Dr. Lopez has decided to begin seeing patients. Think about it. Services have withered, streets look like they've been chewed up by IEDs, budget shortfalls could become catastrophic, and the City Council always has an assortment of second-stringers who can't be counted on to lead or get out of the way. What kind of twisted person would want to wake up to that every day?

Two high-level political consultants have left the campaign of Los Angeles mayoral candidate Austin Beutner just days after he gave a major policy speech attacking City Hall. Sean Clegg said he and Ace Smith, both from San Francisco-based SCN Strategies, resigned over "strategic differences. " Beutner said the parting was mutual. Beutner spent 15 months as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's "jobs czar," ran the Department of Water and Power on an interim basis and tried to make the city more business-friendly.

Los Angeles mayoral candidate Austin Beutner took aim at "the barnyard called City Hall" on Thursday in a speech intended to outline his economic vision for the city — and distance himself from the lawmakers now governing it. Beutner, a former investment banker who served as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's "jobs czar" for 15 months, said city leaders, and particularly the City Council, have dragged their feet on key infrastructure projects, including...

Over lunch at a downtown hotel last month, the business executives who'd gathered to hear from Los Angeles City Councilwoman Jan Perry were keen on talking about the upcoming election ? not so much the one on March 8 or even the 2012 presidential race, but the 2013 contest for mayor. Though the election is two years away, the race officially begins Saturday when potential candidates, including Perry, can file paperwork to raise money. With at least seven Los Angeles heavyweights considering a run to replace Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who is boxed out by term limits, the race is drawing comparisons to the 1993 contest, when two dozen candidates lined up to take over from retiring Mayor Tom Bradley.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Friday tapped a close friend and advisor to likely mayoral candidate Austin Beutner as the newest executive to lead his administration. Gaye Williams, 54, of Manhattan Beach, will fill the post July 25, replacing chief of staff Jeff Carr, who abruptly announced his departure on Wednesday. The hiring creates an unusual dynamic in the run-up to the March 2013 mayoral election. Williams, a Republican, was a $120,000-a-year aide to Beutner when he was Villaraigosa's "jobs czar.