The most excellent thing that could happen has happened: Rep. Maxine Waters has endorsed Assembly Speaker Emeritus Karen Bass for Congress!! After a weekend pow-wow between the two, Waters announced Monday, “I am endorsing Karen Bass to succeed Congresswoman Diane Watson for the 33rd Congressional District because she has paid her dues and earned her stripes. She will be a great asset to the California delegation and the people of the 33rd District. She has served with distinction in the Assembly and I look forward to working with her in Congress as we tackle the tough issues of health care reform, job creation, education and financial regulatory reforms.” Waters’ endorsement of Bass marks the first time the Black leadership has united so solidly behind one candidate since Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa tried to unseat school board member Marguerite LaMotte. But lo! Yesterday Villaraigosa endorsed Bass, marking the revival of the Black/Latino coalition that elected him and put Mark Ridley-Thomas on the Board of Supervisors.
But I hear there’s a ringer coming into the race who expects to pick up the seat as the result of divisions in the community. He is Dr. Howard Mandell, a wealthy OB/GYN who plans to finance his campaign against Bass with his own money. But we’re together again — Maxine and Mark, Antonio and Marguerite, Danny Bakewell and me and all the others who normally can’t stand each other. Together, we got this.

WE KNEW IT — A 42-page independent audit report on the Board of Supervisors’ behind-the-scenes control of the county’s Regional Planning Department was released on Feb. 24 and its findings are no surprise to anyone who has seen the board’s handiwork. The report, entitled “Investigation of Alleged Intrusion,” details the investigation of Harvey M. Rose Associates into complaints by Bruce McClendon, the former regional planning director, that the board and its deputies and assistants, in violation of the governance ordinance, gave orders to and/or instructed him and his staff on the decisions they were to make and the policies they were to implement. The ordinance forbids the supervisors and their staffs from doing that and specifies that they may only “seek information and/or seek assistance from county officers and employees.” McClendon said he was fired in January 2009 for blowing the whistle on the supervisors’ activities and for trying to enforce the rules against their intrusion.

The auditors investigated eight specific instances of intrusion and the first and biggest instance (12 pages worth) they studied was the Baldwin Hills Community Standards District Ordinance — that volatile PXP oil field issue over which the community fought former Supervisor Yvonne Burke and the board of the United Homeowners Association like barnyard dogs for two years. When the oil field district ordinance was being developed, you may remember, the community railed against Burke’s pro-PXP attitude and position. She ignored the community’s clamor for measures to safeguard the health and property values of the neighborhoods abutting the oil field. She was so dismissive of the community’s concerns and so solidly in support of the oil company, that community combatants and outside observers, such as I, were convinced that somebody had to be getting paid. It didn’t make sense, otherwise. In the end, the oil field operators got more than they asked for from the board and the community got nothing.

According to the audit report, Michael Bohlke, Burke’s assistant chief of staff, was her shot-caller on the oil field mess. McClendon said that even though the community demanded and his office agreed to having fewer oil wells erected in the field, Bohlke instructed him and the Principal Deputy County Counsel Elaine Lemke to substantially increase the number of oil wells which would be allowed in the field. Furthermore, McClendon said Bohlke also instructed them to significantly reduce the amount of the reserve fund PXP would be required to set up with the county. In other words, the oil company was put in a position to make more money and pay less money!
McClendon said when he complained that Bohlke’s orders were contrary to the department’s agreement with the community and suggested that the community be allowed more input into the changes Burke was ordering, Bohlke replied that the department did not have a choice in the matter and then sent an e-mail to department officials, which read: “Enough is Enough...!!!! Somebody got paid a whole lot and we knew it all along. So, where is the district attorney? Oh, I forgot, Steve Cooley likes Burke.

HASTA LA VISTA, JOHN — Good buddy and respected former L.A. Times writer, John Mitchell, is pulling up stakes from Los Angeles, his home for more than 30 years, and moving to Mexico City. His former Times colleague Janet Clayton and Michael Johnson couldn’t let him leave without a proper send-off, so they hosted a Farewell-to-John party in their Hancock Park home the other night. John says he likes Mexico City and has always wanted to live there. I like his attitude, but I will miss him. His children will stay here, so he’ll be around from time to time. (You know, I like Paris and I’ve always...)

THIS AND THAT — The UC San Diego coed who hung that noose in the university’s library and started another racial uproar in that campus is supposed to be in jail, not just suspended from classes. The governor signed the NAACP-backed anti-noose bill into law last year making the display or depiction of a noose anywhere in California illegal this year. Her anonymous apology is not good enough. The girl needs to be locked up. Where is the San Diego district attorney? (Probably with Cooley.)

A “Fight for California’s Future” march and rally will be held Wednesday at 2 p.m. in Col. Allensworth State Park, on Star Route 1 in Earlimart, Ca. The Allensworth march is a leg of the 48-day march from Bakersfield to Sacramento that labor unions and community groups launched Thursday to restore public education and public services for every Californian and to establish a government and economy that serves us all. The Allensworth leg is a special event to celebrate the legacy of Allensworth, the site of the West’s first African-American township, founded in 1908 by Col. Allen Allensworth, who was the highest ranking African-American commissioned officer in the U.S. military when he retired in 1906.

The NAACP has elected a new chairman of the board — Roslyn M. Brock. She has been active in the NAACP practically her whole life and is part of a younger generation taking the leadership reins, along with President and CEO Benjamin Jealous. She replaces Julian Bond.

AND FINALLY — Everybody who is already sick of that Meg Whitman woman and who, if allowed to vote today, would vote for anybody for governor except her, raise your hand. (That’s it. Lift them high!)