Candidates

SHABQADAR, Pakistan - When Masoom Shah hits the campaign trail these days, he brings a 9-millimeter Glock pistol and a team of up to 50 bodyguards. Instead of appearing before large crowds, he meets small clusters of voters at guesthouses where everyone is frisked before they enter. He limits his speeches to 30 minutes and then quickly slips out of the room. And at the end of the day, he returns home and prays. "I say to God, 'Thank you, another peaceful day has passed,'" said Shah, 45, a member of Pakistan's secular, anti-Taliban Awami National Party, or ANP, and a provincial assembly candidate in the country's volatile northwest.

Shortly after lawyers for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power employees' union filed a lawsuit to delay release of their members' names and current salaries, both mayoral candidates called on the agency to make the information public as soon as possible. The candidates - City Controller Wendy Greuel and City Councilman Eric Garcetti - also began blaming each other for DWP employee pay that averaged $99,381 in 2011, according to the most recent publicly available data. That was more than 50% higher than the average pay for other city workers, and about 25% higher than employees at comparable public and private utilities, records show.

Mayoral rivals Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti squared off over the role of outside spending in Los Angeles elections during a debate Monday night in Westwood. Speaking before an audience of several hundred at Sinai Temple, Garcetti attacked Greuel for not agreeing to sign a pledge that would have required the candidates to give charities the equivalent of half of the money spent on their behalf by independent groups that can accept unlimited contributions. Garcetti called the $3.5 million spent on Greuel's behalf by the union representing Department of Water and Power workers "a brand-new record to buy this race.

It's fun for mayoral candidates to imagine eliminating potholes or building new trains to link the Valley to the Westside. It's not hard to support a spiffed-up LAX (really, what's hard to believe is that it's taken this long) or legions of new police officers making Los Angeles safe. What you don't often hear from these candidates, however, is a thoughtful vision for the Port of Los Angeles. The port can seem far away, but it's crucial to the city's life. Every year, more than $250 billion worth of cargo passes through its 7,500 acres of docks and cranes.

In 1989, then-Los Angeles Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky unveiled an audacious plan to boost the city police force by more than 25% to 10,000 officers. He couldn't have imagined that city leaders would chase that goal for nearly a quarter of a century until, at the start of this year, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced that he had pushed the LAPD over the long-elusive benchmark. The two candidates vying to replace Villaraigosa in the May 21 election - City Controller Wendy Greuel and Councilman Eric Garcetti - have embraced the mayor's achievement, crediting the LAPD buildup in large measure for the city's lowest crime rates since the 1950s.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - At least 12 people were killed and 43 injured Sunday in bomb blasts targeting a candidate's convoy and the election offices of two others in northwestern Pakistan. They were the latest in a series of terrorist strikes that have cast a shadow over parliamentary voting scheduled for mid-May. In recent weeks, Pakistan has been rocked by bombings directed primarily at candidates and backers of three liberal, secular parties, including President Asif Ali Zardari's Pakistan People's Party, which has led the civilian government for the last five years.

On May 21, Angelenos will have the opportunity to elect a new mayor, along with a city attorney, city controller and several City Council members. The importance of this election cannot be overstated. It is generally well known that City Hall shapes tax, regulatory and land-use policies and provides oversight and appointment powers over numerous commissions, departments, agencies and the civil workforce. What many may not know is that it also owns economic assets that are responsible for a large portion of the region's workforce and overall economic horsepower: LAX, the Port of Los Angeles, the Convention Center and the Department of Water and Power.

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg donated $350,000 to the Los Angeles school board campaign this week, records show. Bloomberg's contribution, which was filed Tuesday, will enlarge the already sizable war chest of the Coalition for School Reform, a political action committee led by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The goal of the coalition is to back candidates who will support the policies of L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy and pledge to keep him on the job. Before the March primary, Bloomberg contributed $1 million for the three board races - the largest contribution ever made in an L.A. school board campaign.

The leadership of the Los Angeles teachers union is roiled over whether its officials made a private deal with a Board of Education candidate whom critics view as an ally of anti-labor forces. The dispute centers on an alleged understanding worked out between candidate Antonio Sanchez and Gregg Solkovits, a union vice president. According to people with knowledge of the matter, Solkovits has said that Sanchez, if he wins, would let United Teachers Los Angeles choose his chief of staff.

DALLAS - A day of festivities leading up to Thursday's dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library cast attention back to his tumultuous presidency and ahead - perhaps - to the next presidential contest. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was hired to speak in Dallas to the National Multi Housing Council, a group of apartment firms. The Wednesday dinner was closed, and officials did not disclose how much Clinton was paid. Earlier, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush spoke before wealthy Republican donors - and also students, teachers and office workers - at an event sponsored by the nonpartisan World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth.