Latest Buzz on Ludlow
Rick Orlov reports that Martin Ludlow is spending the weekend pondering whether or not to resign and accept a plea bargain in a campaign corruption probe.The Times takes a look at the implications of a Ludlow departure on Mayor Villaraigosa, particularly in light of speculation that the Mayor's coming budget won't include many of the goodies the unions who put him there want.
One item of note in the Orlov story, the Mayor says he is personally devastated by the allegations against Ludlow, but says he doesn't know more than what's in the newspapers. I find that hard to believe. We know more than what's in the paper and we're just a rinky-dink blog. With the resources the Mayor's office has, I don't see it.
Posted by Mayor Sam @ 2/18/2006 10:47:00 AM
25 Comments:
maybe av is worry?
I am not a big Union guy and if he committed a crime, he needs to take a hit. I did however meet with him while he was on the Council and I liked him.
Can someone please help me understand what exactly Ludlow and the union are accused of. The McGreevy article did not make it clear. The story said the union ileggaly spent funds on Ludlow's campaign. What was illegal about the expenditure?
Unions are allowed to spend money independently on local campaigns. The system may stink, but it is legal. Unions, developers, etc, make IEs on all the city races. What was illegal about the one in this case?
I'm not defending Ludlow here. I'm just wondering what the illegality is in this case.
You are right. It is not clear.
the latest on the Martin scandal is that there are two new targets for the Feds investigation. The targets are none other than Parke Skelton and his evil side kick Eric Hacopian
This see no evil, speak no evil policy is going to land AV in hot water. This is what you get when you elect a lying, cheating and womanizing person to run your city. More heads will roll.
You were warned, L.A. . . . "corrupt" Jim Hahn is walking free, and AV's house of cards and followers is starting to fall.
What's RIGHT with this picture, suddenly
Run, Martin, run!
I know Martin and I like him too. That does not mean he's not involved in scandal. The Feds probably traced numbers from JH cell phone to his personal cell phone and home number. Remember, he used his personal number first on his campaign. When he got his office, he used the office number.
Martin fucked a lot of folks on his campaign, and after he became CM. His ego got the best of him so i'm sure that someone he pissed off may have made a call to the Feds and had them take a look at some stuff. Parke could be pissed because he lost the Ludlow contract to Shallman. It could be AV too because they probably investigated his ass too and he dropped a dime on Ludlow to save his own ass.
Good luck Martin. Karma is motherfucker.
6:47 PM:
You're looking to hard. Focus on the COPE endorsments, or lack thereof.
Gotta love MAV...
Villaraigosa said he has offered to help Ludlow and is personally devastated by the allegations against his friend.
((Then he throws him under the proverbial bus...))
"I don't have any information beyond what was in the newspapers," Villaraigosa said. "Needless to say, I did not know about any of this."
"Last time I looked, I didn't have a vote that he be hired," Villaraigosa said.
NOW THAT'S A CLASS ACT.
"I am constantly amazed at the citizens of this Republic who read everything there is to read in the newspapers and then think they know something about the workings of government."
Thomas Jefferson
Tom Jefferson, give it a rest. When you were around, newspapers didn't have a clue, and politicians could keep their mouths shut.
That was before Watergate. Tricky Dick probably quoted Jefferson right before he was forced out.
Go back to Monticello and spin in your grave.
Ludlow used union phone banks to help his campaign. I think that's against the law. Antonio did the same thing and then some using illegals to vote. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Both have enough enemies out there who are dropping dimes all over the place. Wonder if the FEDS have the balls to go after Antonio.
Using labor phone banks is the allegation? If they declared it as an inkind contribution, it is completely legit. If they failed to report it, why is this not a matter for the city ethics commission? Why does it rise to the level of a federal criminal probe?
I think the newspapers and most of the people on this blog are way off. This investigation has to be about something much bigger.
Bye, bye Martin. Try getting a real job now.
Everybody, meet Martin the bank teller. Oh, wait, he filed for bankruptcy once. Everybody, meet Martin, the fence builder.
12:59 PM
"Anonymous said...
Can someone please help me understand what exactly Ludlow and the union are accused of.."
It's not that complicated. There is a $500 limit on city of L.A. city council elections. There can be Indenpendent Expenditure committees, or I.E.'s that can spend as much as they want, (for example, Meruelo reporting $95,000 I.E. expenditures to help Antonio). The thing is, these I.E.'s can't have any contact with any other campaign. $53,000 in technically stolen union dues from SEIU Local 99 fell on Ludlow's lap during his campaign. Given the severity of the plea bargain - 10 years, ala Jimmy Hoffa! - the Feds have depositions confirming Ludlow's complicity from the start. What a dumbass, say it slowly Martin, "plausible deniabality."
Now that Torres and Pacheco have Janet Humphreys as a client, she is going to sing like a bird. Have you noticed all those nervous looks on those Labor folks? The shit is hitting the fan. But this is what they get. This investigation was going on long before Ludlow got the Secretary anointment.
The LA Times says this all started when the international did an audit of Local 99's books. They found phantom employees that were being paid by the union but actually working for Martin's campaign.
These "union" workers must have said Martin set up the whole scam for his plea bargain to be so serious.
Just an observation anon 10.58 am, but why would you assume Janett (sp?) is singing like a bird if she is fighting any charges against her? Wouldn't she have to be cooperating with the Feds to implicate Martin? No, there must be other former Ludlow associates who are "singing" to the authorities.
When they've got you in their sights, singing, if orchestrated by a competent attorney, can get you off or get you great leniency.
First, she needs to have something on Martin that the authorities don't already have, and second, she needs a competent attorney to handle the deal.
She might have the former...
anon 4.40 Nobody was talking about the merits of cooperating with the Feds but rather WHO was "singing" to the Feds. Obviously somebody, maybe a number of people, are implicating Martin. But it doesn't appear to be Janett.
This entire thing is all part of a larger scheme by the Hilfenhaus clan to shift political power within labor and in the Democratic Party. Forcing Ludlow out just fits his grand scheme for Laborers 300 to get "his guy" in as head while he uses that to push his wife for the central committee seats via the Assembly race.
Scheming as usual in the Hilfen-House.
4:04
Your smoking crack, what proof do you have? if you do then put it on the table.
If you think Skelton and Hacopian are corrupt, then you have no idea who the real political crooks are.
You Pacheco people should get a life.
7:10 PM
Umm, I think someone already addressed and dismissed that theory. A Change To Win union person will never be allowed to control the County Fed.
9:43 Anon
Fence builder?? Don't you know LA politics?
He'll be a consultant or a lobbyist.
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