Secretary Of State Restricts Voting Machines; Corruption In Local Government; Crackdown On Hiring Illegals; Zagat's Los Angeles Nightlife
Secretary Of State Restricts Voting Machines
With a February presidential primary looming, Secretary of State Debra Bowen decertified voting machines used in 39 counties, including Los Angeles. Some county officials now fear it will be necessary to return to paper ballots which could cause serious delays on election night. Larry talks with Registrar/Recorder for Los Angeles County Conny McCormack, Registrar of Voters for Riverside County Barbara Dunmore, Neal Kelley with the Orange County Registrar of Voters, Rick Hasen Professor of Law at Loyola Law School, and Kareem Crayton Assistant Professor of Law and Political Science at the USC Gould School of Law about the repercussions of this move.
Corruption In Local Government
The Los Angeles Times reported last Saturday about a Los Angeles Housing Authority manager who is accused of directing about $800,000 in contracts to his brothers and three politically connected firms without competitive bidding or after rigged contests. City Councilwoman Janice Hahn called for an audit of the Housing Authority of the city of Los Angeles, citing the Times report last week and separately, City Controller Laura Chick said she had already planned to audit the department to determine what parts of the agency need further scrutiny. This incident follows similar corruption scandals in cities surrounding Los Angeles and raises question about how to root out corruption and the abuse of power in local city governments. Larry Mantle talks with City Controller Laura Chick about how to hold local government officials to a higher standard of ethics and accountability.
Crackdown On Hiring Illegals
In a Bush administration crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Department of Homeland Security is expected to announce new rules for employers who are notified that a worker's name or Social Security number has been flagged by the Social Security Administration. Employers across the country may have to fire workers with questionable Social Security numbers to avoid getting fined $250 to $10,000 per illegal worker and incident. The new rules require employers to fire someone who can't be verified as a legal worker within 60 days. Businesses are already complaining these rules will force them to bear the burden of enforcing a flawed immigration system. Larry Mantle talks with Steven Camarota Director of Research at the Center for Immigration Studies, Laura Foote Reiff with the Business Immigration Group, and Jennifer Chang Staff Attorney with the Immigrants Rights Project at the ACLU about the new enforcement initiative.
Zagat's Los Angeles Nightlife
6,000 locals rated 625 bars, clubs, and lounges in the greater Los Angeles area and the results are compiled in the 2007/2008 Zagat's Los Angeles Nightlife guide. Larry talks with the guide's editor, Gary Baum.