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Relatives & Friends Get Lucrative Jobs in State Politics
It's not just in Hollywood where it's about who you know and the connections you have, it easily translates over to local and state politics. The LA Times investigated who gets paid for jobs appointed by politicians and found that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's daughter, Marisela Villar, is paid $68,000 annually as a field representative for Karen Bass to to arrange community meetings and handle constituents' calls. The hardest working city council field deputies who go to work in the morning and come home late at night after community meetings are hardly paid at all, some in the $30,000 range and if they are very lucky, maybe in the low $60s. The paper's list goes on including this interesting one: "Yolie Flores Aguilar, a longtime friend and political ally of some powerful California Democrats, last year supplemented her income as vice president of the Los Angeles school board with more than $32,000 as a consultant assigned to a state Senate committee that, during her tenure, did not meet or release any reports."
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
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