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 [ ARCHIVE ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=16)

#  Greuel’s Audit of City Cell Phones: A Fix or a Fixation?

Written by Ken Draper.

May 13 2011

**![alt](http://www.216.18.22.247/images/stories/May-2011/cw9-38l.png)CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?** - Check your email. Odds are ‘you’ve got mail’ … and another Wendy Greuel audit.

Does Guinness have an audits issued record? A run for mayor can keep one’s calculator sizzling.

LA’s Controller issued her latest assessment of things financial this week. This one a tsk tsk on million dollar out of control cell phone use among her brethren at City Hall. She says ending waste and implementing her stipend plan could save the taxpayers more than $2 million.

Speaking of waste, Mark Lacter, in LA Observed, thinks maybe this recent audit has taken up time that could be better spent on higher ticket issues.

In a column headed “City Controller’s Fixation with Cell Phone Use,” Lacter says “ … it’s disappointing to see so much attention being paid to such a lower-tier matter—I mean, the city is in the middle of a financial meltdown and they’re talking about maybe saving a few bucks by using Verizon instead of AT&T? Just seems like a lot of political flag waving.” (Read the whole piece [here](http://www.laobserved.com/biz/2011/05/city_controllers_fix.php).)

Meanwhile, over at [The City Maven](http://www.thecitymaven.com/2011/05/11/controller-game-of-telephone-costs-los-angeles-1-million/), Alice Walton has a full report … plus the Controller’s audit.

Check for yourself. Make up your own mind. Just don’t call anyone at City Hall. No one’s picking up these days.

*(Ken Draper is the editor of CityWatch. He can be reached at [216.18.22.247](http://216.18.22.247)) -cw*

 **CityWatch
Vol 9 Issue 38
Pub: May 13, 2011**

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