Almost lost in the debate between Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman over the use of the word "whore" is what it means for the new activism of the Los Angeles Police Protective League on state issues.

And, as far as PPL officials are concerned, the controversy has led to an unintended benefit.

The league long has been a major force in local politics and while it is spending $1.2 million on state races - a drop in the bucket compared to the $140 million spent by Whitman alone - the debate over the whore issue helped raise the union's profile.

It was a PPL official who received the voice mail message from Jerry Brown and released it to the media. On the tape, it appears Brown failed to properly hang up the phone before an aide started talking about campaign strategy and suggested an ad calling Whitman a "whore" for catering her views on pensions to win public safety union endorsements.

"I don't think it happened by design," said league political adviser Don Novey. "But everyone now knows the league is there."

Novey insisted the pension issue was not a major factor in the decision to endorse Whitman, since the governor has no control over local pensions.

"We truly were looking at who we think will be the best governor for the state," Novey said. "We interviewed both candidates and Whitman knocked it out of the park."

Novey has made the league more active politically, although with mixed results.

The normally cautious league put $400,000 in the City Council race between Christine Essel and Paul Krekorian. Krekorian, who won, used the donation against Essel by tying her to employee unions.

The union found more success with the race for city attorney, when it threw $800,000 in support for Carmen Trutanich as well as when it spent $250,000 on behalf of Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas - an expenditure that drew criticism from some as a waste of resources.

Well, for this week, at least, City Council President Eric Garcetti got the attention of his colleagues on the importance of being on time for their three-days-a-week meetings.

Garcetti canceled the meeting last Tuesday when, after 15 minutes, the council failed to get the 10 members needed for a quorum.

On Wednesday, the council met on time, while several council members offered explanations for their tardiness and promised to do better.

On Friday, the council was only five minutes late.

Being council president is a job once compared to trying to herd cats.

The council once was required to meet every day, a practice eased up with some changes in the City Charter in the 1970s. Then-Councilman Ernani Bernardi had his own take on the reduction in the number of meetings.

"I worry more about when the council meets and what it will do, than when we don't meet," Bernardi said.

The Los Angeles City Ethics Commission begins the interview process today to find a successor to LeeAnn Pelham, who has served as executive director for 10 years and is now being termed out.

Commission President Helen Zukin and Commissioner Marlene Canter have been assigned to interview the nine candidates.

Pelham helped bring a sense of order to the commission, which had seen three directors in five years. It has been an active department under her, bringing a number of complaints against city officials and developing new policies limiting gifts and contributions.

Pelham said she is sorry her term is over, but is looking forward to a chance to reflect and recharge.

"I do love these issues," Pelham said. "I have been involved in this (campaign reform) issues for 19 years.

"I think the public has been lucky with the commissioners we have had. Each commission has had a different emphasis, but all were committed to doing the job."

The five-member panel has a constant turnover because members are limited to one five-year term.

Campaign Ad Watch: Heading into the final weeks of the Nov. 2 state election, the television advertising is going all out.

Last week, the Nielsen Corp. reported that all the candidates for governor and senator were flooding the airwaves with commercials.

The campaign for Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman continued to dominate with 3,727 commercials in the state. Democrat Jerry Brown was not far behind with 2,864 spots.

And, that is not counting the independent expenditures on behalf of the two candidates, particularly the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's spots on behalf of Whitman and attacking Brown.

In the U.S. Senate race, Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer has been outspending Republican Carly Fiorina. Boxer had 1,482 commercials on the air compared to 1,178 for Fiorina.

The Los Angeles area received the bulk of those ads, with 2,774 in the governor's race and 1,202 in the Senate race.