California AB1634 Sponsors Visit Senators Today; Levine To Visit on Monday

News from Sacramento. "Sponsors" of California Assembly Bill 1634 met
with the Senate Local Government Committee today, 23 April. Lloyd
Levine will be meeting with the Senate committee on Monday, 28 April.

Judie Mancuso, campaign director and Social Compassion in Legislation
principal, has had a busy week. In addition to being the primary
sponsor of AB1634, she found time to pen a letter that Bob Barker
could send out to his faithful and produce a website spoof about
PetPAC. Obviously, it is of no consequence to those California
Taxpayers For Safe & Healthy Pets to willfully infringe on PetPAC's
copyright. A busy week for her indeed and a fine example of
multi-tasking, eh?

Another sponsor of AB1634 is the City of Los Angeles. Possibly Ed
"soon-to-be-looking-for-another-job" Boks (Los Angeles Animal Services
infamy) was Ms. Mancuso's Capitol companion today. One would think
that Boks has more pressing things to do in the City of Angels. While
animal rights activists are nipping at his heels and bellowing about
the problems in his "state of the art" shelters, animals continue
dying needlessly.

Los Angeles Animal Services employees signed a "letter of
no-confidence in Ed Boks" earlier this year. What does that say?
Well, how about LAAS employees are refusing to continue Boks'
warehousing practices. When he is not warehousing Fluffy & Fido, he
allows dying animals to die on their own rather than humanely
euthanizing them. In this way, he can exclude these animals from his
euthanasia stats.

He pits aggressive dogs in "cage matches" similar to the world
wrestling federation. Goal? Only one gets out alive. Who knew Boks
was a proponent of dogfighting? Quick. Someone call that dog
fighting expert, JP Goodwin, at the Humane Society of the United
States. And, let's not forget that, when Boks is not refusing to
intake animals, he is ordering his employees to place critically ill
puppies with healthy puppies. Object? Death by disease.

According to his employees, Boks apparently lacks good managerial
skills and leadership qualities. He was able, however, to sell a bill
of goods to Mayor V who obviously didn't check Boks' track record (or
his resume) in Arizona and New York. Boks fluffed his feathers and
beat his chest proudly telling the good Mayor that he alone would
solve the shelter woes of Los Angeles and, for whatever reason, Mayor
V bought it hook, line, and sinker.

Boks immediately began wiggling and jiggling some numbers. Shortly
after his arrival, he belched out a statistic or two to give the
"appearance" that he was doing a fabulous job. The reality is that
you can only cook the books so long. (I can't take credit for the
"cook the books" comment. That comment was made by one of his former
"insider" employees who once thought Boks "walked on water" but now
knows where every skeleton is hiding and every body is buried.)

Unhappy that his faithful employees are shedding light on the reality
of shelter life in the City of Los Angeles, Boks grumbles that the
shelter failure is NOT his fault. He has placed this dubious
distinction on his employees. According to him, his employees are the
"real" reason why Los Angeles is not a no-kill city. In actuality,
however, it appears to me that his employees no longer want to play in
any reindeer games with him. Can anyone say "the cat is out of the
bag"?

The "solution" to the current shelter problems has been decided by
Mayor Villaraigosa and Ed Boks this week. Increase the cost to adopt
a shelter animal. Decrease the hours of operation.

Ah, strategic planning at its finest! I am certain those long-awaited
amendments are just around the corner.

Brat Zinsmaster