Robin Kramer

In a stunning announcement, City Hall sources revealed that Marcus Allen told Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa that he will not be accepting the City’s #1 Staff Position.  Despite having assurances that the votes for his confirmation were in place, the Mayor’s office did not do the job that needed to be done to rally support for the compensation package that Allen needed.  It was rumored that Allen required 290k to take what is arguably the toughest job in Los Angeles (with apologies to Police Chief Bill Bratton). This salary was comparable to what CAO’s in smaller cities throughout Southern CA earn and is on par with what County CEO (and former City CAO) Bill Fujioka commands.

Former Fleishman Hilliard Exec Doug Dowie has surfaced and is working at Marathon Communications.

For those who don’t know, Dowie is an ex-Marine and an editor at the Daily News who became one of Los Angeles’ most powerful public relations execs. He led the FH office when it had close ties to former Mayor Jim Hahn’s administration and the firm held some significant contracts with the City and the Dept of Water & Power.

Dowie was accused and subsequently convicted of padding the firm’s bills and FH repaid the City a considerable sum of money.

While LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has been running around the US supporting Hillary Clinton’s about to fail bid for the Democratic nomination, he continues to ignore the City he is supposed to be running. Rumors of major changes in the City Hall family are about to become reality this coming week. City CAO Karen Sisson will be resigning (we’re told on Tuesday) and Chief of Staff Robin Kramer is about to announce her resignation to take a position with a local private University. This leaves Antonio with two major holes to fill with one of them needing Council approval. Does he still have the juice to get his choice for CAO through the Council without a fight?