Richard Katz

Richard Katz, a bulldog in pinstripes, was growling. The assemblyman had spotted men wandering around zombie-like at a drug-rehabilitation program in his northeast San Fernando Valley district. When Katz contacted the state agency that licensed the program, an official promised to send an inspector in several days. "You got some choices here, pal," Katz replied.

The state attorney general has concluded that the mayor of Anaheim and members of the Los Angeles County and Orange County transportation boards may not serve simultaneously on California's High-Speed Rail Authority board. The formal opinion, issued Wednesday, was prompted by a controversy over the multiple public hats worn by Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle and Los Angeles County transportation official Richard Katz. The opinion says that serving in leadership positions at local agencies that are coordinating routes and station development for the proposed $43-billion bullet train is legally "incompatible" with an appointment to the rail board under state law. In addition, an official is deemed to have forfeited his or her first public office upon assuming a second, impermissible office, the state lawyers said.

Former Assemblyman Richard Katz ended months of speculation about his career plans Friday by saying he wants to run for the state Senate seat currently occupied by Herschel Rosenthal (D-Los Angeles). The Clinton administration recently asked Katz to become head of the Federal Highway Administration, but the influential Democratic legislator who once served as his party's Assembly leader declined. "The idea of living in the East Coast was just not attractive to me," he said.

Los Angeles transportation official Richard Katz is stepping down from the state panel overseeing development of California's $43-billion high-speed rail system. Katz, who also serves on the boards of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Metrolink commuter rail system, said Tuesday that he submitted his resignation to the governor and will leave his state post Dec. 1. Katz and California High-Speed Rail Authority Chairman Curt Pringle have been the focus of a state attorney general's review to determine if the state and local positions they hold are legally "incompatible" because of the potentially overlapping interests on rights-of-way, station locations and other matters.

One of Los Angeles County's costliest Assembly contests was in the San Fernando Valley's 39th District, where incumbent Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda) held off the challenge of Republican Robert F. Thoreson, a Los Angeles police auto theft detective.

One is a rising star who has taken the state Assembly by storm, shooting to the top of the freshman class with his judicial style and unswerving conservatism, and aiming for a seat in the U.S. Congress. The other is an established veteran, a staunch liberal who works the media and the chamber with ease and savvy, in the twilight of a legislative career that is about to be ended by term limits.

Flush with nearly $500 million from a state traffic relief fund, local transit officials have a great opportunity to improve life for San Fernando Valley commuters, a leader of a new group pushing Valley transit improvements said Wednesday. But Richard Katz said progress can be made only if area activists keep the pressure on state and local transportation bureaucracies. Katz said his group, which includes Valley business interests, has already paid dividends.

Two former San Fernando Valley legislators, forced from the Assembly by term limits, have been named to well-paying posts on separate state commissions. Former Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) will make as much as a member of the California Medical Commission--$75,600 a year--as he did as a lawmaker. And former Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills) will earn $38,094 annually for sitting on the California Narcotic Addict Evaluation Authority.

A judge Thursday threw out a libel suit by former Assemblyman Richard Katz that alleged state Sen. Richard Polanco smeared him with an untruthful campaign mailer that cost him a close election. Katz--who lost a bitterly fought 20th Senate District primary to Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon by just 29 votes in June--immediately vowed to appeal, maintaining that the mailer was simply too dirty to let pass.

With the deluge of this week's storms, the Los Angeles River is looking and acting like, of all things, a river. The normally pallid concrete channel, described by city water engineer William Mulholland at the turn of the century as a "limpid little stream," is raging, churning, roaring and tumbling. Usually the butt of jokes, the city's namesake waterway is suddenly commanding respect--and generating some political controversy as well.

Two prominent California High-Speed Rail Authority leaders who are already under scrutiny for holding potentially "incompatible" public offices have received tens of thousands of dollars in consulting fees from firms with financial interests in the $43-billion project. Rail board chairman and Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, a public affairs consultant, has been an advisor to a major construction supplier that owns property along proposed bullet train routes, records and interviews show.

Amid budget talks last week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders tried to ease restrictions in a state conflict-of-interest law so that two prominent officials from Anaheim and Los Angeles could remain on the board of the California high-speed rail project. Their attempt to retain Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle and Richard Katz, a member of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority board, would have been tacked onto the state budget bill. However, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento)

Los Angeles Times Community activists from Orange County sent complaints to the state attorney general this week, alleging that two prominent transportation leaders from Los Angeles and Anaheim have conflicts of interest because they sit on the board of the California high speed rail project while holding other public offices. Tony Bushala, a Fullerton businessman, and Denis Fitzgerald, a mayoral candidate in Anaheim, are seeking an investigation of Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, the chairman of the California High Speed Rail Authority board, and Richard Katz, a Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority board member.

First of all, I hope Roger Clemens is not guilty. Having said that, I hope Clemens is not trying to pull what O.J. Simpson and Floyd Landis perceived to have already accomplished. Simpson and Landis seemed to have planned to deny any guilt at any cost with the hopes of dragging their accusations through the media. Then once we all tire of their stories, they will be given some leniency in the eyes of the public and the judicial system. Jon Umeda Monterey Park -- While watching Roger Clemens' unconvincing performance on "60 Minutes," I was at the very least heartened by the fact that while legal conviction requires proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, rejection by the Hall of Fame doesn't.

Being a UCLA alum, I was thrilled to hear that the university has finally decided to renovate Pauley Pavilion. Attending a game last month, I had to wait 30 minutes in line to get to the bathroom and then found out why. There was only one toilet. I have often heard Coach Howland say Bruins fans should not care about the polls and who's No. 1 or No. 2 during the season. What matters is who's on top at the end of March Madness. I have to tell Coach Howland that there was plenty of January Madness from the people waiting in line on that day, very concerned about No. 1 and No. 2. RICHARD KATZ Los Angeles

The Metropolitan Water District board meets today to select a new chief executive as Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and his deputies lobby hard to give the job to Richard Katz, a close ally. Normally a subcommittee would talk to the candidates, but this time the finalists will get their first interviews by the full board when a special meeting of the 37-member body convenes with Katz and four others, said Chairman Wesley Bannister. "There has been no interview process," Bannister said.

The co-chair of the San Fernando Valley secession drive has been spending up to four days a week in Sacramento on state business, causing some breakup advocates to worry that their campaign lacks full-time leadership. Richard Katz, in addition to his volunteer post on the Valley Independence Committee, serves on the State Water Resources Control Board and advises Gov. Gray Davis on energy issues.

Gov. Pete Wilson has vetoed a bill that would have set aside $1 million for 14 anti-gang pilot programs, including one in Van Nuys, drawing criticism Thursday from Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar). Wilson on Wednesday vetoed legislation by Katz to extend for a fourth year an anti-gang project funded with confiscated drug money. Katz said Wilson's veto would not immediately shut down the Gang Risk Intervention Prevention Program, but it "puts these programs at risk."

The co-chair of the San Fernando Valley secession drive has been spending up to four days a week in Sacramento on state business, causing some breakup advocates to worry that their campaign lacks full-time leadership. Richard Katz, in addition to his volunteer post on the Valley Independence Committee, serves on the State Water Resources Control Board and advises Gov. Gray Davis on energy issues.

Flush with nearly $500 million from a state traffic relief fund, local transit officials have a great opportunity to improve life for San Fernando Valley commuters, a leader of a new group pushing Valley transit improvements said Wednesday. But Richard Katz said progress can be made only if area activists keep the pressure on state and local transportation bureaucracies. Katz said his group, which includes Valley business interests, has already paid dividends.