The NFL just isn't that into L.A.

As Ed Roski and the city of Industry continue their courtship dance with the National Football League, Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times recounts the many, many broken hearts the league has left across Southern California:

The NFL's goal has been to extract the most favorable deal for itself, regardless of the public costs. It has been offered public land for free or at a cut rate, tax abatements, concessions — in the latest round, the Legislature even abrogated a major state law to facilitate a stadium that isn't built to host a team that we don't have and to meet a deadline that doesn't exist.

Can't anyone here learn a lesson? For all that the NFL says it really wants to be back in the Los Angeles market, it finds it quite advantageous to leave this market wide open. Why? Because it's a permanent threat to every other NFL community that dares to think about driving a hard bargain with its pro team.

Appointinated

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has named Southern California mall developer and generous donor Rick Caruso to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission, the Sacramento Bee reports. Caruso had flirted with the idea of running for mayor of L.A.

Also, Schwarzenegger appointed former Capitol reporter Bill Ainsworth, who took a buyout at the San Diego Union-Tribune in September, as deputy director of communications for the California State Lottery. The gig pays $91,000 a year.