 About
10:15 p.m. Friday, Mr. Mozena
spoke to two of the most politically influential
men in Los Angeles on one of the Los Angeles'
premiere radio stations.
They were former Republican
mayor Richard Riordan, who was substituting
for a regular radio talk show host on Los
Angeles' KABC AM 790 talk radio Friday evening,
and Mr. Eli Broad, president of KB Homes,
a billionaire philanthropist who was Riordan’s
guest.
Mr. Broad is
a Democrat. Both are accomplished businessmen
who have amassed fortunes. Mr. Broad in particular
is a renowned business leader who built two
Fortune 500 companies over a 5-decade career
in business. In 1996, he and Mr. Riordan took
on the task of raising sufficient funds to build
the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert
Hall in Los Angeles, which is scheduled to open
in late 2003.
Mr.
Mozena thanked Mr. Riordan for taking
his call and said he felt honored to be on the
airwaves with two fiscal giants of Los Angeles.
Mr.
Mozena asked both men what they thought
of Post the Finances.
Both seemed to like the idea.
Mr. Broad said he was all in favor of fiscal
transparency but would like to see the cost
of it first. A true businessman.
As
astute businessmen, both Mr. Riordan and Mr.
Broad realize that in order to have a sound
fiscal house you must build on a solid foundation.
In Mr. Mozena’s view,
no one will scrutinize that foundation as closely
as concerned citizens will, once Post
the Finances is operational.
Richard Riordan didn’t become a millionaire
by taking his eyes off the books. And Eli Broad
definitely didn't become a billionaire by allowing
wasteful spending. It is hard to imagine either
of these men running up a $38 billion dollar
deficit, as our current state leaders have done.
If Mr. Broad surfs to this site, he will see
from the letter Mr. Mozena
wrote to Lisa Mangat, legislative analyst for
the State of California, that the cost of implementing
Post the Finances will be low. In that letter,
Mr. Mozena emphasized that
savings made from the elimination of waste and
corruption will more than compensate for the
modest costs of setting the system up.
Having
been involved in Californian government and
politics, both Mr. Broad and Mr. Riordan are
surely aware that in Californian state government
there is more than an average amount of waste,
corruption, and duplicity.
Mr. Mozena looks forward to
the support of both these outstanding men when
the petition drive begins. Maybe they will be
to Post the Finances
what Darrell Issa was to the California recall
election. Then it will truly be a bi-partisan
initiative.
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