Whistleblower hotline: (213) 785-6098
mayorsam@mayorsam.org

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Not All Photo Ops Are Created Equal



So I recently picked up my April edition of Los Angeles Magazine and read Kevin Roderick's Empty Feeling, a piece which essentially mocks City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo's political impotence and penchant for media attention, and argues that despite many years in office, he has yet to prove himself.

The article begins by chronicling the rise of Delgadillo in the early nineties and his work in the Riordan administration before becoming the "first Mexican American elected citywide in modern times" in 2001. Emboldened by a string of political successes, Roderick explains, "nakedly ambitious" Delgadillo began to overreach, fancying himself Senator—even President, and committed a major political blunder in announcing his candidacy for Attorney General within days of winning reelection as City Attorney.

Delgadillo proved to be a laughably ineffective statewide candidate, easy pickings for his opponent in the Democratic primary, former governor Jerry Brown. Delgadillo's campaign strategist quit early on, allowing Brown’s consultant, Ace Smith, to quip, "Rocky's campaign is pulling up to the starting gate with a car that's got a smoking engine and four flat tires." Delgadillo never became more than a cipher outside Los Angeles. Even within the city the love was lacking. The Times, the Daily News, and the L.A. Weekly did not endorse him.

At this point in the article, I'm on board with Roderick. The moral of the story is that our electeds should focus on the job we've elected them to do, right?

Not so fast.

(Continue after the jump)


Roderick's missiles are reserved for specific targets, and they don't discriminate between political performance and job performance.

The other media-hungry, nakedly ambitious, Mexican American precedent-setter (for those counting), who fancies himself Governor—even President, emerges unscathed, if not aggrandized in the same passages that tear Delgadillo down. Roderick makes the case that Rocky has yet to prove himself, and then jumps from criticizing Delgadillo's political blunders, to criticizing him for actually doing something about L.A.'s gang problem, without missing a beat.

He has hired a senior federal prosecutor, Bruce Riordan, to be his office's anti-gang czar. He has proposed a strategy for targeting gangs in schools, enhancing sentences for gang crimes committed near LAUSD campuses, requiring all students to wear uniforms, and putting prosecutors on school grounds. He also wants to see more teeth in the court injunctions that prohibit some gang activities. Fifty gangs are now covered, up from nine when Delgadillo took office. "We know it brings a sense of calm to the neighborhood," he says.

Looking tough on gangs does help Delgadillo's image. Too bad that Villaraigosa has jumped into the anti-gang wars, too. The mayor unveiled a major effort to pool the law enforcement clout of the federal government and the LAPD. Police chief William Bratton—not the city attorney—is seen as the top local gang fighter.

The problem with this analysis, of course, is that Delgadillo is not looking tough on gangs; he's getting tough on gangs. Rocky is systematically locking bad guys up—press release after press release tells me so.

Chief Bratton, on the other hand, is woefully ineffective on gangs. Rather than battle the Mayor on Special Order #40 or challenge him to hire more police officers with L.A.'s record-shattering budget, the legendary crime-fighter has opted for the path of least resistance in his pursuit of a second term.

Meanwhile, Villaraigosa is tiptoeing around the issue, honing his doublespeak, and looking for any opportunity to take his reality TV cameras on the road—the latest episode featuring a trip to El Salvador with the purported objective of convincing the Salvadorian government to keep their gang members from crossing our defenseless border and setting up shop in our sanctuary city.

Gang members laugh at Villaraigosa's unveiling of "a major effort to pool the law enforcement clout of the federal government and the LAPD" and taxpayers cry. Like everything else, this is just more carbon dioxide from the mayor, and two years into this circus, we are growing increasingly impatient for some photosynthesis.

Whatever his political blunders, Delgadillo is seen as the top local gang fighter because (aside from District Attorney Steve Cooley) he's the only person among those with the power to perform who is actually performing. Who can fault him for leveraging his work as City Attorney to advance his political career?

That ought to be the reward for a job well done, but in our rotten, incestuous sphere of local politics, the nerds secrete pheromones for the man who makes savvy political calculations and "gets away" with hubris, while Joe Taxpayer waits four more years for a return on his investment.

Roderick found a large, slow-moving political piñata in Delgadillo, beat him indiscriminately, and collected the candy. After reading his article, I assess the situation as follows: two media-hungry men were hired to do a job, and only one of them is doing it.

Labels:

16 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Nothing can resurect Delgadillo after the botched fiasco in the Tenny Pierce debacle. Calling in outside attorneys is beyond incompetence. What the hell are we paying these idiots for???? The fact that the inept city council awarded 2M to a guy who ate 2 teaspoons of dog food defies all credulity.

BUT no one bears more responsibility and criticism for the increasing gang problem than Villar and Bratton. Taxpayers have been raped and raped and raped.

There is ONLY ONE SOLUTION! Repeal Special Order 40 now and deport all illegal gang members! Period. End of discussion.

Bratton can rescind SO40 with the stroke of a pen...TODAY! But we all know that will NEVER happen!

The 'trash tax' (oh, excuse me...tax fee) was the final straw! We were screwed!!!!

April 19, 2007 6:57 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Nothing can resurect Delgadillo after the botched fiasco in the Tenny Pierce debacle. Calling in outside attorneys is beyond incompetence. What the hell are we paying these idiots for???? The fact that the inept city council awarded 2M to a guy who ate 2 teaspoons of dog food defies all credulity.

BUT no one bears more responsibility and criticism for the increasing gang problem than Villar and Bratton. Taxpayers have been raped and raped and raped.

There is ONLY ONE SOLUTION! Repeal Special Order 40 now and deport all illegal gang members! Period. End of discussion.

Bratton can rescind SO40 with the stroke of a pen...TODAY! But we all know that will NEVER happen!

The 'trash tax' (oh, excuse me...tax fee) was the final straw! We were screwed!!!!

April 19, 2007 6:57 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Actually anonymous, calling in outside attorneys is not at all uncommon for the city.

And it wasn't Delgadillo who called for outside attorneys, it was the City Council. They told Delgadillo to bring in outside counsel and he did so. He had to.

This is sometimes done when the city attorney's office is seen as potentially conflicted.

In other words, how could they argue in the pubic domain that the city should settle because Pierce had such a strong case, and then turn around and effectively argue he didn't have a strong case. They'd get skewered in court based on their own arguments.

Perhaps it's YOU who's the idiot, anonymous?

Well you're obviously not familiar with the workings of City Hall.

Because anyone who is, knows this is not uncommon as is sometimes necessary.

Shut up...or study up, idiot.

April 19, 2007 7:23 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I'm familiar with City Hall and Delgadillo is an idiot. His "senior" staff is filled with attorneys with political experience, and little legal experience. And they are obssessed with generating publicity for Rocky.

You will probably read a lot of comments defending Delgadillo on this site, and I would bet they are posted by the political minions on his payroll.

April 19, 2007 8:10 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

7:23

Who's the idiot????

It was the corrupt city council who arbitrarily awarded the 2M to Pierce in the first place! They were too cowardly to take it to trial because it is so much easier to just hand over 2M of taxpayer monies.

Delgadillo is a useless idiot who spends our money on trips to Mexico to 'improve his Spanish'and lying about his super jock status.

The whole rotten bunch downtown is doing nothing for this city or it's citizens! But we have to pay tens of millions for their public relations people to convince us that they are doing a great job!

Obviously, you are one of them! Don't insult our intelligence. Your days are numberred...one thing we know how to do is pull the lever at the ballot box!

April 19, 2007 8:35 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Antonio Watch, says:

the "first Mexican American elected citywide...."

here's where I have to put my foot down, calling people 'Mexican American'

and the guy who shot up Virginia Tech was 'Korean American'

its time to elevate American to the front, and put Korean, Chinese, Russian, Mexican, Armenian, Lebanese, or whatever to the back.

I'm starting a nationwide campaign to get all the Americans who 'don't have a prefix' to agree with this. Be American first, then your previous nationality second.
Emphasis on PREVIOUS.

what's Rocky now, is he Mexican or is he American? Someone please ask him what he thinks he is first. same with the Mayor.

Its a massive psychological move to stop the divisiveness of identifying a foreign sovereignty FIRST in your ethnic description.

its a mind shift that's not going to be easy to change.
you ever hear of an 'aussie american' ? no. kiwi american? no. english american?

but you do hear AMERICAN INDIAN!

and if anything the natives technically should be the only ones to have America second in the name, becuase they were Indian here first BEFORE the country was ever America!

I just think the respect ought to start at the title.
that 'foreign' american title and talk ought to be stopped.

I'm prepared to do it, that's why I'm calling for it.

April 19, 2007 9:20 AM  

Blogger Red Spot in CD 14 said:

Good afternoon Mr. Wolfson,

I agree with you on "FRANKLIN JOCK". But lets see the "WWG" give the same treatment to our Mayor. In fact, the "OBSERVING WESTSIDE LIFE AND HIS TIMES" guy earned some "BROWNING POINTS" from "HIS POLLONESS" for this Knockdown on the "FRANKLIN JOCK"

April 19, 2007 12:07 PM  

Blogger Joseph Mailander said:

I love that. Delgadillo overreached.

I could swear there was a guy around here who tried to take over the School Board while not putting a foot down to the district's landgrabbing, even though he's the man in the best position to.

I thought there was someone around here who wants to build a subway to the sea (instead, we're getting a doubling of bus fares).

There was a guy around here who wants to build a billion dollar's worth of affordable housing to house less than five percent of the homeless. Instead, the homeless are camping on his front lawn saying he's done nothing.

He wants a thousand more cops. How's that working.

He campaigned on fixing the traffic problem. How's that working?

Now he's talking about gangs. Watch how that works.

~~~

Ah. Delgadillo overreached. I think we can see where that notion came from.

Didn't that Roderick guy just do a big puff piece on Antonio for the same rag a couple of months ago?

April 19, 2007 12:07 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

From the educating Mailander files...

I could swear there was a guy around here who tried to take over the School Board (will be complete in May) while not (please point to an example where he was asked too) putting a foot down to the district's landgrabbing, (umm voters did pass 3 bonds supporting the building of more schools, Joe how do you build more schools voters want if you are grabbing land?) even though he's the man in the best position to.

I thought there was someone around here who wants to build a subway to the sea (got federal legislation passed by Waxman -- advocates have tried for 26 years, he got it done in 2 months) (instead, we're getting a doubling of bus fares). (there is no relation to the MTA fare increase and the subway)

There was a guy around here who wants to build a billion dollar's worth of affordable housing to house less than five percent of the homeless. Instead, the homeless are camping on his front lawn saying he's done nothing. (fully funding the affordable housing trust fund two years in a row when Hahn never did, is HUGE)

He wants a thousand more cops. How's that working. (they met this year's hiring goal and later this year the LAPD will more officers in its entire history)

He campaigned on fixing the traffic problem. How's that working? (really? i thought he campaigned on education and corruption in city hall)

Now he's talking about gangs. Watch how that works. (Since the initiatives have been spearheaded there has been a 2% drop in gang crime, and we have the lowest rate of crime since the Eisenhower administration)

April 19, 2007 3:45 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

As I understand it, the guy who shot up the college was just Korean with a green card.

April 19, 2007 3:57 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

A 2% drop in what context? Between March '06 and March '07? Between February & March '07? If it isn't year over year, it's within the margin of error and nothing to boast about.

April 19, 2007 4:03 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Yes, Anonymous 8:35, you are an IDIOT indeed.

If you knew what the hell you were talking about, and actually read the papers, you'd know that trip to Mexico Delgadillo took to improve his Spanish was not paid for with our tax dollars. IDIOT. Sheesh.

April 19, 2007 8:55 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

In the Joseph Mailander parallel universe I've graduated this week to "Westside White Guy" from "AngloLAObserved," "a little too dull and a little too Anglo" and "bluehaired suburban crank." Pretty funny coming from a middle-aged white guy from the 'burbs (with a case of self-hatred?).

April 19, 2007 10:15 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Delgadillo should have never run against Jerry Brown. Once Jerry jumped in the race, Rocky should have made a deal with Jerry for some future endorsement, quit the race, and waited until the next one.

MAV has stolen his thunder, and now Rocky is no longer seen as invincible.

With all this and the dog food fiasco, Rocky seems like a has-been.

April 19, 2007 10:56 PM  

Blogger Archie Bunker said:

This comment has been removed by the author.

April 20, 2007 9:58 AM  

Blogger Archie Bunker said:

Whoever you are 4/19 @3:45, get your head out of your ass first before you start talking. Sounds like a typical emotional looney Liberal.

I could swear there was a guy around here who tried to take over the School Board (will be complete in May)

It is that kind of arrogance that has him in this position in the first place. All he had to do was simply go to the City voters to change that in the Charter and Simple, done!

Hell the Mayor of Fresno wanted to help him out in the process but the Mayor and his arrogance pushed him aside. So we all know what AB1381 is all about, Gentrification and Property Taxes this has NOTHING to do with Education.


I thought there was someone around here who wants to build a subway to the sea (got federal legislation passed by Waxman -- advocates have tried for 26 years, he got it done in 2 months)

Whoaaaaa! After Riordan sat on his ass for 8 years, Hahn was the one who got the ball rolling on it from 2002, and with Councilman LaBonge's spearheading and lobbying with and to the Westside Cities back in 2005 does any remember an MTA and City Council Motion that basically that told Henry Waxman, we will make an effort to study this and prove this to you. Riddle me, whose name is on that Motion? I see Tom LaBonge not Antonio R. Villaraigosa. Do your homework first before you make those claims!


There was a guy around here who wants to build a billion dollar's worth of affordable housing to house less than five percent of the homeless. Instead, the homeless are camping on his front lawn saying he's done nothing. (fully funding the affordable housing trust fund two years in a row when Hahn never did, is HUGE)

The reason why Hahn, never did was because of a certain thing called, hmmmmm The county and state Raiding City Funds. (I wonder who was Assembly Speaker during the height of California's budget problems?) There was a Measure on the 2004 ballot that got emphatically approved by LA City voters to bring back those $$$ to the city instead of getting raided by the County. It's easy to fund something when you have $$$. Have you noticed between Hahn's budget and AV's budget that it went up SHARPLY by $700 Million Dollars. Now windfalls don't come in that large without some form of change.

He wants a thousand more cops. How's that working. (they met this year's hiring goal and later this year the LAPD will more officers in its entire history)

It's funny. Hahn was pushing the same exact thing, (hell Mayor Beaneraigosa even used Hahn's exact proposal) Villaraigosa/Weiss/Parks were the biggest roadblocks to this because of political egos.

He campaigned on fixing the traffic problem. How's that working? (really? i thought he campaigned on education and corruption in city hall)

Left-turn signals causing more accidents, Laura Chick-N-shit's audit showing the LADOT doesn't have a clue of what's going on and how to master plan. Hmmmmmm makes you think huh?

Now he's talking about gangs. Watch how that works. (Since the initiatives have been spearheaded there has been a 2% drop in gang crime, and we have the lowest rate of crime since the Eisenhower administration)

What initiatives, How come Connie Rice's audit saying that these programs aren't working?

April 20, 2007 9:59 AM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home

Advertisement

Advertisement