LA City Council - Next In Line For Investigation?

They're amongst the highest paid city government officials in the nation, the 15 Los Angeles City Council "members" who must be very nervous about what's going on in terms of investigations into the high salaries paid to elected city officials in the City of Bell and other LA County cities.

Today a new voice was added to the many who now question whether councilmen are worth the high salaries they pay themselves. Former Assistant US Attorney Adam Schiff (Rep. D-Pasadena) "called on federal prosecutors to examine political corruption in Los Angeles County" according to the Pasadena News Star.

Schiff's call to arms is intriguing as he wants the US Attorney to conduct the investigation, not LA County District Attorney Steve Cooley, who made international headlines by busting "corruption on steroids" in the City of Bell, as well as prosecuting Los Angeles City Council "member" Richard Alarcon for living outside of his council district.

Perhaps Schiff felt it was incongruous for Cooley to pursue an investigation into the LA City Council's lack of action in the face of very damning evidence against Alarcon? Many are wondering why Alarcon should continue to receive in excess of $170,000 a year while facing charges that appear to be incontestable. Yet the City Council has steadfastly refused to consider suspending Alarcon's "CEO-like" salary while he struggles to find some excuse for not residing in his council district to such an extent that a homeless person was able to move in.

But it is not only Alarcon's pay that Schiff might be concerned about. All 15 Los Angeles council "members" receive over $170,000 a year, but many nevertheless consistently fail to show up for scheduled council meetings. Schiff may be on to something here as there certainly seems to be more than a degree of similarity between the charges in the Bell City case where councilmen received high salaries but rarely showed up for work, and the tardy attitudes of the Los Angeles City 15.

Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich is precluded from investigating and/or prosecuting his clients for taking high salaries and not showing up for work, and perhaps Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley already has enough on his plate. Maybe it's time for the US Attorney to do something to justify his salary and clamp down on the Los Angeles City Council - somebody has to.

Cooley Catches City Crooks - Ask Not For Whom The Bell Tolls ...

It's the talk of the town, if not the nation, "Corruption on steroids" was how LA's DA Steve Cooley described the culture of corruption that had ruled in the City of Bell. With the story well covered, we feature here a slightly different spin on the story published at Los Angeles Dragnet:

LA COUNTY DA STEVE COOLEY ARRESTS 8 IN BELL CITY SCANDAL

Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley Announces Arrest of Bell City Officials

 While Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley today calmly announced the early morning arrests of those believed to be responsible for theft and misappropriation of $5.5M from the blue collar residents of the City of Bell, his democrat rival for Attorney General, Kamala Harris, used her platform as San Francisco DA to proudly announced that she would be prosecuting two people who illegally sold transfer tickets on San Francisco's mass transit system.“This is not a victimless crime,” Harris said in a statement to the San Francisco Examiner.

The 8 Bell City officials include former City Manager Robert Rizzo

 Harris, who holds the current record for having the lowest conviction rate of any major California city (55%) might have been puzzled at the legal theory used by Cooley's Public Integrity Unit to prosecute the 8 who comprise current and former Bell City officials.

For a legal lightweight like Harris, the notion that "misappropriation of public funds" and "conflict of interest" could be crimes must be both challenging and worrying; Harris still has been unable to satisfactorily explain what happened to $3.7M in Federal grant funds that she  received to prosecute 'border crimes' as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Under Harris, San Francisco has steadfastly maintained a "Sanctuary City" position regarding illegal immigration, so the concept of prosecuting 'border crimes' would appear to be an anathema to Ms. Harris.

Perhaps Ms. Harris should seriously think about repaying that $3.7M before Cooley becomes Attorney General as an investigation might conclude that Harris "misappropriated" that federal grant money. At least she'll now understand the legal theory.

The Bell City officials arrested this morning were former City Manager Robert Rizzo, Mayor Oscar Hernandez, council members Teresa Jacobo, Luis Artiga and George Mirabal; former council members George Cole and Victor Bello; and former Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia. All arrested are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty.

Los Angeles Deputy DAs Lash Out At Union

The fur's flying over at the Griffith Park Wayist, a blog associated with environmental issues but increasingly serving the political apetites of Los Angeles voters.

For the second time in as many days the GPW's daily "Another Terrace Morning" (edited by the eponymous 'Mulholland Terrace') has featured a heated exchange between deputy district attorneys at Steve Cooley's office, and the union that claims to represent them. 

Of course, Steve Cooley is currently running for Attorney General and will face San Francisco DA Kamala Harris in November's general election. Cooley is maintaining his lead in the polls and it that might explain why the left leaning 'Mulholland Terrace' thought a few lines about Cooley being 'anti union' might stir the party faithful to rally around Kamala Harris.

Harris, a liberal democrat, has had a few setbacks recently with reports of her Missing Millions of Federal Dollars, allegations of Hypocrisy over Campaign Donations, and having the lowest conviction rate of any California DA's Office. MT probably didn't think he'd get the reaction from so many deputy DAs who, it seems, do not believe this union is representative of their concerns.

Edited highlights of some of the comments posted at the Griffith Park Wayist include:

12.  September 16, 2010 1:39 PM

"As you know only too well, there really is no "DA's Union" just a bunch of washed-up misfits who don't like the fact that they cannot have an assignment next door to their home…" 

"… when everyone found out about Ipsen being a character witness for a convicted sex offender, most "Union" members resigned."

15.  September 16, 2010 6:49 PM

"1:39 p.m., must be a bureacrat, who too easily dismisses legitimate complaints, because the number is not large enough. The others must have been beaten into submission."

16.  September 16, 2010 6:49 PM

"Hey 6:49pm, you can call 1:39pm a bureaucrat all you like, but you cannot deny the truth about the so-called "DA's Union. It was a disaster, a flop of biblical proportions, and all because it was led by a loser who thinks it's OK to have a convicted sex offender in his home, it's OK to lend the sex offender the keys to his car, it's OK for a prosecutor to become a defense witness and call a convicted sex offender "one of my closest friends" when his closest friend is on trial for his third sex offense. "

"Ipsen and his misfits think they're something special. They're not. They've screwed up just about everything they promised to fix and that's why nobody at the DA's Office wants anything to do with them."

"If 1,000 lawyers really felt there was a problem with the way the DA's Office was run, you would hear it loud and clear - the ACLU would be all over it like a cheap suit. But you don't hear anything like that. You just get Ipsen and his miserable misfits complaining that they have to drive too far to their courthouse. Wah Wah Wah. Get a life."

1. September 18, 2010 11:48 PM

"MT, you are being used by Ipsen, just like he used and abused the trust of so many at the DA's Office who did not realize that all he was doing was promoting his own agenda at their expense."

"Ipsen abused his position of trust to form a union that had only two purposes; a platform to attack Cooley in a futile effort to make himself look like a viable candidate in his run for DA, and when that failed, to attack Cooley at every opportunity as a sore loser."

"The vast majority of deputies now realize that better pay, easy promotion and assignment preference are unrealistic and it was deceptive and dishonest to promise those things amid an economic climate where in the private sector, law firms are firing and not hiring. 

In the public sector, its not much better. We've seen the City Attorney's office "let go" of a lot of good people, and also be forced take a 10% pay cut through enforced furloughs. 

That has not happened at the DA's Office, and that's because of Cooley's relationship with the Board of Supervisors. But Seligman is still selling false hopes of "pay parity" with Orange County or Santa Cruz. Bullshit!"

"Ipsen and the union are basically nothing more than a bunch of self-serving whiners who don't like the fact that they have a long drive to work. They don't like their assignments because they see them as either too far or simply beneath them. They see themselves as better than everyone else in the office, instead of being part of a team that does the job you pay us to do."

2. September 19, 2010 1:19 AM

"In his very slanted defense of Cooley and ad hominem personal attacks on Ipsen, previous commenter lets drop that "Cooley has selected his successor." WAIT, isn't the DA at least NOMINALLY "elected?""

3. September 19, 2010 9:32 AM

"The response belies a lack of knowledge of procedure or a disingenuous attempt to mislead readers. "

" ... as to Cooley's choice of successor, yes, the DA is an elected position. However where the elected DA leaves office before the end of his term, the Board of Supervisors appoints an interim DA."

"What's really telling about the response, is the lack of denial as to the union of 8 being a bunch of whining cry babies who think they are so special that they shouldn't have to drive so far to assignments that aren't very interesting to them. That's at the core of what's wrong with this union. It seems to only exist for the benefit of these malcontents, and not for the 1,000 deputies they claim to represent."

4. September 19, 2010 11:14 AM

"It's amusing that while the DA's union is being dismissed as merely a group of 8 malcontents, Cooley the Compelled felt "compelled" enough to warn Rob Dver not to join…"

5. September 19, 2010 2:37 PM

"You find it 'amusing' that poor Rob Dver was sucked into Ipsen's web of deceit and fabrication? It's not funny."

"Rob is a decent person who thought he could be a calming influence on Ipsen. Had Rob known all about Ipsen I think he would have realized that someone like Ipsen cannot be trusted." 

"Dver may not have know that the Supreme Court described Ipsen as having 'manipulated the evidence "intentionally and without good-faith justification."' That was in 2005 after a death penalty case that Ipsen tried was overturned because of what many consider prosecutorial misconduct by Ipsen. Unfortunately, Dver was manipulated just as the evidence in Ipsen's overturned death penalty case."

6. September 19, 2010 3:13 PM

"2:37pm has it right. This so-called "union" doesn't have anyone on it who doesn't have some personal gripe with their assignment. They are pathetic whiners who think they're something sooooo special, but they're not."

"I'm glad someone has had the guts to stand up to the stream of negative misinformation that this union of misfits keeps on putting out."

7. September 19, 2010 4:16 PM

"Cooley sucks. Kamala Harris, go go, go. Rid California of ugly people."

8. September 19, 2010 4:35 PM

"I agree with 2:37 and 3:13 - nobody voted for Hyatt Seligman. Who the fuck is he to claim to represent anyone but his own self interest. I've been a deputy da for 5 years and I'm glad to work for this office even if we don't make as much money as Orange County or Santa Bumfuck or wherever. That's not why we do this job. If we wanted to make 'big money' we could all become defense attorneys, but we don't."

"There were a few decent people in the union before Ipsen turned it into his personal campaign machine"

"Now all that's left are a bunch of misfits, failure and malcontents who think they're going to throw us under the bus to advance themselves."

"I hope that when the new guy gets in, he fires them all and takes it to court. He'll win. Nobody has any sympathy for these people who complain about the job the rest of us gladly do. I drive 35 miles to work every day, and sure it would be nice to be closer to home, but I'm not complaining. That goes with the territory we have to cover. Good luck to whoever started this discussion, it's time these things were said."

9. September 19, 2010 5:45 PM

"And another thing, here's the 411 on Ipsen's performance as a deputy DA:

http://www.metnews.com/articles/2005/ipse041305.htm

Violating Due Process no wonder he made such a mess of his union."

The comments can be read in their entirety by using the following links:

Griffith Park Wayist, September 16, 2010 - Another Terrace Morning

Griffith Park Wayist, September 18, 2010 - Another Terrace Morning 

CD5 to Recall Paul Koretz?

As news of Koretz's ad hominem attack on District Attorney Steve Cooley and Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich is reaching stakeholders in Council District 5, rumor has it that there is a growing movement to launch a recall campaign to oust the Sacramento liberal from what many see as a carpet-bagged seat that he somehow managed to steal.

Few in CD5 realized exactly how responsible Koretz was for bringing hundreds of pot shops to the streets of Los Angeles while he was a Sacramento liberal democrat. in response to criticism from Melrose residents who have 14 pot shops in their neighborhood, Koretz blasted Cooley and Trutanich for upholding a law that does not allow pot shops to ply their trade on Los Angeles streets.

But Koretz failed to mention that he was the co-author of what legal experts agree was a poorly written and vague law that only allowed communist style 'collectives' to exist, not the main street marijuana shops that resulted from his law.

Instead of "fessing-up" and admitting that he wrote a bad law that has harmed the community, the self-proclaimed 'King of Pot' likened Trutanich and Cooley to George W. Bush rather than admit his close association with Americans for Safe Access, a pot shop funded lobbying group that not only funded Koretz's campaign, but co-opted Council Member Ed Reyes into proposing a law to regulate pot shops written by pot shop owners.

Koretz's remarks are reproduced here:



Koretz is going to have a hard time explaining why he not only caused the explosion of pot shops in Los Angeles, but why he thought that invoking the name of George W. Bush would somehow win him support in a council district that is largely supportive of their City Attorney, Carmen Trutanich, and District Attorney, Steve Cooley.

Alarcon Says "It's All A Mistake"

Responding to reports that investigators from the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office had searched his house in Panorama City and his wife's house in Sun Valley, Los Angeles City Councilman, Richard Alarcon, made the classic mistake of those accused with criminal conduct; he gave a statement that makes the case against him stronger.

Alarcon is under investigation for voter fraud; being registered to vote at a house in Panorama City, which is in his council district (7), but actually living a house in Sun Valley which is in council district 2.

According to a report in the LA Times, Alarcon admitted living in his wife's house in Sun Valley, but explained his residence there was due to a break in at the Panorama City house.

Alarcon reportedly told the LA Times that 'in late October a mentally ill man broke into his house, changed the locks on at least three doors and destroyed his possessions, including many of his clothes. “We haven’t been there since then, that’s for sure,” he said.' In other words, the mental guy that broke in was a squatter.

The question that the jury will doubtless be faced with, is that if Alarcon was actually living in the Panaorama City house, how could a mentally ill man break in and establish a residence there? Where was Alarcon when that happened?

The LA Times had also reported that;
'Three neighbors, an employee at the school next door and a man who has been living in a motor home next to Alarcon's house said they had not seen anyone living in the home recently.

Steve Folden, who lives across the street and said he is the neighborhood watch block captain, said he had noticed no one living in the house for at least three years. Occasionally, he said, he sees workers mowing the lawn. He said he had seen Alarcon at the home "once in a blue moon" until this week.

"It's been vacant for a long time," Folden said.'

No doubt the DA will have searched both houses to get additional evidence to prove that Alarcon's true domicile, the place he actually lives, is not in his council district. That evidence will be bolstered by Alarcon's statement which proves that he wasn't living there when the mentally ill squatter moved in.

Further evidence that the Sun Valley house was Alarcon's domicile comes from a strange request Alarcon made. According to the LA Times, in 2007, Alarcon tried to get the boundary lines of his council district changed so that the Sun Valley house could be included in his council district.

Another fact that the LA Times uncovered is that Alarcon's wife, who apparently owns both houses, wanted to re-develop and sun-divide the Panorama City house into 'town homes.' Some might say that the Panorama City house was purely an investment property, conveniently within CD7, and never a true residence occupied by anyone.

One thing is for sure, Alarcon's got a lot of trouble on his hands, and his statements might satisfy his partisan voters, but may not impress a jury.

It is unfortunate for Alarcon that Los Angeles District Attorney, Steve Cooley, whose Public Integrity Division is investigating Alarcon, is not the kind of guy to make deals where political corruption is concerned. Equally troubling for Alarcon, is that his friend City Attorney Carmen Trutanich cannot defend him as ethical rules prevent the City Attorney from becoming involved in the case.

Alarcon's woes continue as famed criminal defense attorney Johnnie Cochran has been dead for 5 years, and it looks like Alarcon will have to hire a defense attorney with a comparable record and reputation. That costs a lot of money. Perhaps he'll have to sell the Panorama City house to pay his legal bills. It's not like he needs to live there, so it seems.