Questionnaires

With the trial fast approaching for four Los Angeles police officers accused of beating Rodney G. King, defense lawyers and prosecutors spent Thursday wrangling over the final wording of a questionnaire for potential jurors--a task that experts say may be crucial to the outcome of the case. The questionnaire is designed, in part, to determine what the jurors know about the highly publicized case and whether they can be objective.

During Nirbhay Singh's eight years as lead consultant for California's psychiatric hospitals, state officials hired his relatives, then urged the facilities to use a little-known therapy and psychological questionnaire they had devised, state records and interviews show. To fill out Singh's consulting team, the Department of Mental Health in 2006 hired his wife, Judy Singh, whose background is in reading comprehension and adult literacy. Over 41/2 years, she earned more than $340,000, primarily training staff members in a therapy she helped develop, state records show.

Special interests have developed a forceful approach to safeguard their campaign investments in Congress: In growing numbers they are asking candidates to stipulate their policy positions, in writing, to be eligible for contributions. "We ask some rather pointed questions and expect some rather pointed answers," said David Rehr, who handles contributions for the National Beer Wholesalers Assn. and champions the tactic that has raised eyebrows and opposition.

We've all heard that government paperwork is a drag on productivity and a backdoor tax on the economy. Here's a case where it may actually be helping to improve people's lives. The paperwork at issue is a questionnaire of up to 38 pages nursing homes now have to fill out for every resident upon admission. The form has to be filled out again periodically during the resident's stay, and again upon the resident's discharge, no matter whether he or she is being sent home to live with family, or sent to a hospital by ambulance in the middle of the night.

In the May 3 Condo Q&A column, a reader who once served as treasurer of her condo association noted that she had received questionnaires from real estate agents and lenders requesting information about the association before the sale or refinancing of a unit. But the current board of directors, the reader reported, decided that responding to the questionnaires is beyond the scope of its duties. Asked whether the board has the right to refuse to respond, columnist Jan Hickenbottom replied it did not. That is incorrect.

An interim survey of several Los Angeles County communities to test methods for the 1990 census has been cut in half because so few residents returned questionnaires, it was announced Wednesday--much to the dismay of several hundred who had been hired to do the job. Also angered by the U.S. Census Bureau's cutback were officials of Compton, one of the cities eliminated.

Special-interest groups have a long history of stifling public debate and dragging down public servants, but in this election year they have stooped to a new low. Candidates for public office are now bombarded by questionnaires and stern evening phone calls from groups that are busy cataloguing us according to mind-set. The questionnaires only provide the opportunity for yes or no answers on extremely complex issues, and, most often, the issues don't relate to the office that is being sought by the candidate.

In his article "Beilenson Is Among House's Top Spenders On Mailings" (May 2), Alan C. Miller states that Congressman Anthony C. Beilenson's spending of $166,439 on his publicly funded mail last year has raised questions about whether mail is being used to bolster his political prospects. As one of his constituents who had received this mail before Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) was placed in a more competitive district, I disagree with this implication. His letters have always been either informational or in the form of questionnaires on important issues, which he uses to help guide him in making decisions.

Your Editorial ("Excluded From the Jury Box," March 29) does not go far enough. Under today's conditions why should either the attorney for the prosecution or the defense have the right to challenge prospective jurors? The objective of the trial is to obtain justice, but that is not the objective of the attorney. Why not have the judicial branch prepare questionnaires on matters of interest to justice and have the clerk of the court see that one is filled out by each prospective juror to be handed to the judge who is responsible for selecting the jury.

Eight Democratic presidential contenders seeking support from the 1.9-million-member National Education Assn. agreed with the teachers group on most educational issues--ranging from increasing federal aid to schools to opposing tuition tax credits--in questionnaires released here Tuesday.

A Pentagon survey about gays and lesbians serving in the armed forces was criticized as biased Friday by gay veterans organizations, which predicted that it would produce skewed results on the potential effect of lifting the ban on homosexuals serving openly in the military. Most of the criticism focused on a handful of questions in the lengthy survey related to whether unit readiness would suffer and the extent of concerns among service members about sharing housing, bath facilities and attending social functions with gay and lesbian personnel.

So you think you can do a better job than the mayor or the City Council in solving Los Angeles' budget crisis? With revenue declining and the city facing a $433-million gap next year, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and city officials are giving you a chance to do just that. In a short survey posted on the city's home page, you can choose which programs should be cut in each department.

Nearly one year after the indictment of former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona, some 650 prospective jurors are expected to file into the Santa Ana federal courthouse today in the first step in choosing a jury for his upcoming corruption trial. Despite speculation in Orange County law enforcement circles that the case would end in a plea bargain before trial, all indications this week are that testimony would begin Oct. 28 as scheduled.

The 650 people who are called as possible jurors in the federal corruption trial of former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona will be asked everything from their reading habits to their feelings about politicians and people who have extramarital affairs. U.S. Dist. Judge Andrew J. Guilford and lawyers for Carona and the government agreed Monday on a 12-page questionnaire that will be given to prospective jurors in the case. Attorneys for both sides will use the questionnaires -- to be issued Oct. 3 -- to help narrow the field to 12 jurors.

Nine women and three men, none of them African American, were selected as jurors in O.J. Simpson's kidnapping and armed robbery trial Thursday, prompting the defense to complain of racial bias. Lawyers for Simpson and his codefendant, who is also black, charged that African Americans were being systematically excluded after the prosecution removed the lone black panelist who had been in contention for the jury. The defense renewed those accusations after prosecutors used another challenge to dismiss an African American from the pool of alternates.

With plummeting CD sales making new business models imperative, some major record labels are offering more of their most prized content free of charge -- though not free of hassle. In one of the bolder experiments to date, SpiralFrog.com, a service scheduled to open today, will let Web surfers download songs by U2, Timbaland, Amy Winehouse and other Universal Music Group artists free.

Nine women and three men, none of them African American, were selected as jurors in O.J. Simpson's kidnapping and armed robbery trial Thursday, prompting the defense to complain of racial bias. Lawyers for Simpson and his codefendant, who is also black, charged that African Americans were being systematically excluded after the prosecution removed the lone black panelist who had been in contention for the jury. The defense renewed those accusations after prosecutors used another challenge to dismiss an African American from the pool of alternates.

I finished my 10 days of jury duty downtown at about the same time as Molly Selvin did in Santa Monica ("Sentenced to 10 Days of Jury Duty," July 15) and shared with her all of its boredom, inconvenience, discomfort and frustration. I swore to join my fellow Californians (94% in some counties, according to a story you recently ran) and toss future jury-service questionnaires. Her story concluded on an inside page opposite the obituaries, where my eye was drawn to that of Jan Karski.

First comes online love, then comes interactive marriage. That's the plan for dating site EHarmony.com Inc., which today launches an Internet service aimed at strengthening marriages. "We call it a marriage wellness service," said company founder and pitchman Neil Clark Warren, 71, whose ebullient manner and upbeat commercials have been parodied by Jay Leno and on "Saturday Night Live."

Asked to describe the constitutional issues she had worked on during her legal career, Supreme Court nominee Harriet E. Miers had relatively little to say on the questionnaire she sent to the Senate this week. And what she did say left many constitutional experts shaking their heads. At one point, Miers described her service on the Dallas City Council in 1989.