Garcetti flies home for budget talks
In his other life, he's known as Ensign Lt. Eric Garcetti. But, as City Council President Eric Garcetti, he cut short some of his annual Naval Reserve training on Monday to return to City Hall to work on the city's proposed $7.01 billion budget.
Garcetti has been working he phones for the past week trying to work out a compromise on the spending plan among his council colleagues and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
The budget hearings began shortly after 10 a.m. with union leaders from the police, fire, librarian and other unions complaining about the spending plan as it is now crafted.
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About The
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Los Angeles Daily News City Hall reporter Rick Orlov writes about politics on the local, state and national stage.
I'm a City employee and Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force Reserves who last year deployed as the commander for the world's busiest Aeromedical Evacuation hub at Ramstein AB, Germany. I managed over 80 physicians, nurses, and a variety of other medical professionals who put their lives on hold (and on the line) to perform the very honorable mission of moving our wounded warriors on nightly missions from Iraq and Afghanistan to more definitive medical care in Germany.
If Lt. Garcetti worked for me and reported he needed to be released from duty to return home to take care of a problem at his place of employment, I doubt that I would have given his request a second thought as I had him escorted from my office.
So how does Lt. Garcetti walk away from his annual Reserve Training to head home for a crisis at his place of employment? This tells me that either his assignment in the Navy is of such little consequence, his absence won't be noticed or he's grandstanding at the expense those who proudly wear a uniform, to show he can dodge one commitment to return to his City position.
LA Sinecure