In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure dome decree.Where Alph the Sacred River Ran is actually not one of the named destinations of Mayor Richard Riordan’s current Asian safari. But there aren’t too many other Far Eastern places the city’s 80-person official trade task force – enough people to found a colony – is skipping.Tokyo, Nagoya, Seoul, Pusan, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Taipei: That’s quite a two-week itinerary. $470,000: That’s quite a sum for the city to be laying out of pocket for this formidable excursion. The mayor and his many private-side camp followers are paying their own way, to be sure. But a commuter-jetload of city wonks – including top harbor and airport managers – is on the tab. It all adds up; you wondered in passing why the wealthy Riordan didn’t just fund the entire thing.You might have expected some local debate, perhaps even controversy. The entire project was run up the City Council’s flagpole last week, however, and all but one member stood on their desk and saluted. This wasn’t the way it played the last time such a mayoral-departmental excursion was reviewed. During the 1993 sunset of the Tom Bradley administration, the roster of a similar mystery tour was slashed by some 60 percent. Skeptics asked whether that excursion didn’t include some last-minute rewards for certain durable Bradley loyalists. At that time, the word junket was bandied among council members. Some even said “joy ride.”
Source: Mayor Overboard | L.A. Weekly