THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE:

Mayor Allan Mansoor decided to take a voluntary 5% pay cut late Tuesday night, amounting to $47.60 per month that will take effect immediately.

The rest of the City Council members unanimously voted to take the same cut, but it will not go into effect until after the next election in 2010.

The move comes one week after the council approved a 10-point plan calling for 22 city employees (mostly from the police and fire departments) to be laid off and for the rest to take 5% pay cuts as part of a strategy for dealing with a projected $19 million shortfall in next year’s budget.

The four other council members rejected another motion by Mansoor that would have stopped automatic increases in City Council health benefits and force the council to vote for any future increases.

City Council members make a salary of about $11,000 a year and get about $18,000 in health benefits, which increases automatically every year.

During past meetings, Councilwoman Katrina Foley has criticized the mayor’s proposal as political grandstanding.

Such a modest cut in the secondary incomes of council members does not match the hundreds of dollars a month that the council is asking its employees to take, Foley said, and the suggestion just belittles their sacrifices.

Mansoor said the gesture was meant to show good faith and a willingness to share in the city’s financial hardships.

Mayor Pro Tem Wendy Leece said that if and when the city’s employees agree to take the 5% pay cut that the council has asked of them, she would be willing to cut her salary by 5% too. Councilman Eric Bever asked Mansoor to make the pay increases contingent on city employees agreeing to pay cuts saying, “the idea was to show a spirit of unity with our staff.”

“Well, I’m trying to show a spirit of leadership,” Mansoor said, rejecting Bever’s idea.

DEVORE’S NUCLEAR BILL HAS MELTDOWN

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore’s fifth attempt to resurrect nuclear power in California died this week in committee.

Assembly Bill 1035 would have created a one-time exemption from state law to build a new nuclear thermal power plant, ending a 33-year moratorium on the construction of new plants.

DeVore has been a vocal advocate of nuclear power. The assemblyman claims nuclear power would help the state reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“I’m disappointed that some of the committee members chose to ignore the needs of California’s residents by limiting their access to reliable energy supplies,” DeVore said in a written statement. “California’s landmark 2006 global warming law, AB 32, requires massive reductions in emissions over the next decade, but the laws of physics and economics dictate that this effort is doomed to failure without modern nuclear power.”

The bill garnered the opposition of the Sierra Club, the Southern California Federation of Scientists and the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility, among other groups.

Only two nuclear power plants continue to operate in California: PG&E;’s Diablo Canyon plant and the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, owned by Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas and Electric.

Reporter ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at [email protected]. Reporter BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at [email protected].