Wachs Says Hiring of Comedian Is No Laughing Matter

Is there a new, wacky Joel Wachs on the horizon?

The councilman-who-would-be-mayor may be getting a slightly different image, thanks to his recent hiring of an aide who helped create a legendary counterculture comedy troupe.

He is Peter Bergman, a founding member of Firesign Theatre, the troupe that brought the public such albums as “How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You’re Not Anywhere at All?” and “Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers.”

“He’s very creative, very smart,” said Wachs, who is counting on Bergman to help liven up city issues and make them more interesting to the public.

Wachs said Bergman will work on one of the councilman’s top priorities--to create a system of neighborhood councils throughout Los Angeles and link the city’s many communities together with computer technology for the sharing of information.

The idea of communities working together is not a new one to Bergman.

In the 1960s he was a resident of the Farm, a San Fernando Valley artists’ community that was also home to singer John Sebastian and members of the Modern Folk Quartet.

That experience can be applied to the creation of neighborhood councils aimed at bringing residents together to tackle local problems, Bergman said.

“I’ve always noticed that when people live within reach of each other, they have a tendency to share tasks, share information,” Bergman said. “I feel much happier when I live in a compound or a neighborhood, no matter how wired [by computer] I might be.”

Bergman has his serious public-policy side too. He graduated from Yale and has taught economics.

But, does the decision to hire a comedian mean we will soon see a more wacky Wachs?

No. The councilman plans to leave the one-liners to Mayor Richard Riordan.

“You can’t be something you aren’t,” said Greg Nelson, Wachs’ top aide.

POST TIME: Rep. James E. Rogan (R-Glendale) is scheduled Saturday to gather with volunteers in Glendale to officially kick off his reelection campaign.

This will not be a normal campaign for a third term in the House.

Not since Rogan won the adulation of Republicans and ire of Democrats for his prominent role in the unsuccessful impeachment proceeding against President Clinton.

That this will be a contest of national interest is clear from Rogan’s early lead in fund-raising over Democratic challenger Adam Schiff, a state senator from Burbank.

Rogan has collected about $2.5 million, compared with about $1.1 million raised by Schiff. The incumbent has about $1 million in the bank.

Much of the money is coming from Republicans living outside California who are rallying behind Rogan, who has been targeted by Democrats.

“It’s a combination of people who don’t like Clinton and those who respect Jim for standing up for the law at his own political peril,” said Jason Roe, a spokesman for Rogan.

And the general election is still 10 months away.

SLOWDOWN SHOWDOWN: City Councilman Hal Bernson of Granada Hills has waited patiently during the last three months as the city Planning Commission mulled a complex package of charter changes that include creation of a system of regional planning commissions.

But his patience is at an end.

On Tuesday, Bernson announced that he has asked the city attorney’s office for an opinion about whether the City Council can take up the charter changes, even if the Planning Commission has not made a recommendation.

“He is just concerned that they weren’t moving the changes along, and the deadline [for council action] is looming,” said Greig Smith, Bernson’s top aide.

Bernson is chairman of the council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee, which must make its own recommendations in time for the council to adopt the changes by July 1.

Planning officials said Wednesday that the threat was unnecessary. The Planning Commission is scheduled to take up the charter changes at its Jan. 13 meeting. Commissioner Robert Scott, a San Fernando Valley attorney, said some of the delay can be attributed to a disagreement over the number of regional planning commissions.

City Planner Con Howe has proposed six commissions, including one for the north San Fernando Valley and one for the south Valley.

But Scott said that he and others would like to see many more commissions created, believing the smaller the area covered by each commission, the better residents will be able to have a say in local planning issues.

Bernson’s threat to have the council grab the issue from the commission is “highly unusual,” according to one city planner.

But ironic too, some noted.

After all, the purpose of the new City Charter is to give the public, through its planning commissioners, more say in how the city handles planning matters.