CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
June 13, 2013 | By Catherine Saillant, Los Angeles Times
Mayor-elect Eric Garcetti is preaching a gospel of civic rebirth in appearances across Los Angeles while gently lowering expectations about how much City Hall, and he himself, can do to bring about change. In a city of 4 million, "I can't be everywhere, I won't be everywhere and do a good job," Garcetti told a crowd of about 250 at Cal State Northridge on Wednesday, one in a series of "Back to Basics" forums in the weeks before he replaces outgoing Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on July 1. FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version of this article said that Pat Pope voted for Wendy Greuel.
WORLD
June 13, 2013 | By Ramin Mostaghim, Alexandra Sandels and Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times
TEHRAN - Millions of Iranians headed to the polls early Friday to choose a new president in balloting that has taken on a competitive edge as a single moderate contender faces off against a splintered array of hard-line hopefuls. Friday's election is the first since the disputed 2009 balloting that gave President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second term amid allegations of vote-rigging, triggering massive street protests and a police crackdown. Authorities have vowed that the tumultuous scene of four years ago will not be repeated, and security is expected to be tight.
OPINION
June 12, 2013 | By The Times editorial board
Often, by the end of an election, the weaknesses of the existing campaign finance laws have become evident, and the need to update them has been made clear by the ways those weaknesses have been exploited. That is certainly the case with Los Angeles' most recent city elections. Some of the problems are not fixable locally. The explosive rise of independent expenditures, for instance, is constitutionally protected. The Supreme Court has held that the 1st Amendment protects the right of individuals, unions and corporations to spend unlimited sums on a political race, so long as the spending is not made directly to (or coordinated with)
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
June 12, 2013 | By Rick Rojas, Los Angeles Times
Almost a year after Orange County's largest city was rocked by street protests, civic leaders again have decided to hold off asking voters whether the structure of future council elections should be altered in an effort to diversify representation. Anaheim has seen a dramatic ethnic shift in recent years, and now about 52% of the city's 336,000 residents are Latino, though only a few Latinos have ever won council seats. The city is the largest municipality in California without council districts.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
June 11, 2013 | By Robert Faturechi and Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times
Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell announced Tuesday evening that he will not be challenging Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca in next year's election. McDonnell, a well-respected former Los Angeles police official, had been considering running for several months. If he had, he would have been the most formidable opponent to challenge Baca since Baca became sheriff about 15 years ago. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, McDonnell said he made his decision over the weekend, after considering how much time it would take to compete for campaign donations against an incumbent.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
June 5, 2013 | George Skelton, Capitol Journal
SACRAMENTO - Bill Lockyer should have been governor. He would have been good for California - and great for people in my line of work. The state treasurer - who announced Monday that he'll retire next year from elective office after four decades in Sacramento - has always been a politician who could deal and get things done. He's also candid and, especially earlier in his career, prone to shoot off his mouth. "I resent your mindless blather," Lockyer once told a female state senator, a fellow Democrat, while chairing a committee.