Nobody Noticed the Pledge and Maybe That's a Good Thing

It looks like none of the LA City mayoral candidates decided to take the environmental pledge that a UCLA report seemed to suggest they should.  We previously posted about the pledge at:

http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2012/12/mayoral-campaign-pledges.html

and

http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2012/12/more-on-ucla-studys-request-for-mayoral.html

Our posts noted that the seeming posture of UCLA pushing for political candidates to take particular positions and actions (in this case, creation of a new city agency was among the actions) goes beyond just posing the options that candidates might consider.  Although yours truly did not see the event, in an article describing a recent TV debate among the mayoral candidates appearing in the LA Times, there is no mention of anyone discussing or taking the pledge:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-1217-mayoral-race-20121218,0,5733742.story

Perhaps no one noticed – or maybe wanted to notice – the pledge proposal.  And maybe that’s a Good Thing since it avoids a controversy over the university playing a direct role in municipal politics.

Despite what it may seem to proponents, sometimes it's better not to be seen: