Will LA City Council Double-Down On Crazy?

By Daniel Guss - LA City Councilmember Curren DeMille Price, Jr. may not be Jewish, but he's got chutzpah!  This is a man with baitzim!

Price, who turns 72 in December, is my pick for "City Hall's Likeliest to be Indicted" based on past scandals and ongoing risks, only some of which are known to the public.

To see the rest of my column, jump on over to my Substack.  While you're there, sign-up for my free newsletter and follow me on The Twitters @TheGussReport. 

The In(dictment) Crowd

By Daniel Guss

https://danielguss.substack.com/

@TheGussReport - Ah, the great joys in life that we never forget.

The first time you ride a bike on your own.

How about your first kiss?

For some LA political observers, perhaps it was when the FBI slapped the cuffs on Mitch Englander, not just because the disgraced former City Councilmember wound up in federal prison, but also because he relished punching down and censoring people with legitimate concerns and pleas for help.

But I'll tell you something good: Who -- who, my friends -- may be next to join The In(dictment) Crowd?

I explain over at my free Substack.  While you're there, sign-up and check out my most recent columns.  And don't forget to follow me on The Twitters @TheGussReport.

Gotta go!  TTYL!

How Mike Feuer Illegally Enabled A Nury Martinez Lynch Mob That Came For Mark Ridley-Thomas

By Daniel Guss

@TheGussReport - Two concepts take center stage in today's column: Presumption of Innocence and Due Process.

Momentarily set aside your thoughts on the 20-count federal corruption indictment announced just a few days ago against L.A. City Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas, MRT.  This column has its views about it and they are not favorable for the long-time L.A. political icon.  

Mark Ridley-Thomas, Sebastian Ridley-Thomas

Photo Credit: ABC-7

But this column is in rare in agreement with L.A. City Councilmembers Curren Price, Mike Bonin and Marqueece Harris-Dawson, the only names on the 15-member LA City Council who voted to not (at this point) suspend MRT and withhold his salary and health insurance.  

While suspending MRT or putting an overseer in-place to monitor his work and expenditures makes sense, withholding his salary and health insurance (which LA City Controller Ron Galperin stated he would unilaterally do even before Council voted or MRT entered a plea) does not.

MRT is entitled to the Presumption of Innocence and Due Process as is every other American, whether we are Mark Zuckerberg, an addict sleeping on the sidewalk or those of us who exist somewhere in-between them.

But MRT was deprived of both yesterday as a figurative L.A. City Council lynch mob came for him for something which is not yet proven, for which neither they nor he saw the evidence and which he denies.

Way to treat Ridley-Thomas like Emmett Till, L.A. City Council, but especially you Council president Nury Martinez, City Attorney Mike Feuer and Ron Galperin.  To be clear, we are not saying MRT is innocent; we do not know and we are skeptical of his claims of innocence.  Put restrictions in-place to ensure Council District 10 can keep functioning with its chosen representative while the legal process plays out, but don't jump to MRT's penalty phase before he even had a chance to enter a plea, let alone tell his side of the story.

Emmett Till

The severe crimes which Ridley-Thomas stands accused of committing:

1. Have nothing to do with his earlier time on City Council nor his recent return to it; and
2. Do not appear to have personally enriched him; and
3. Are denied by him. 

Martinez, enabled by Feuer's proxy, illegally silenced some who tried to comment during the meeting that Ridley-Thomas should be limited, but that his salary and health insurance should not be withheld.  Further, they ignored multiple "cure and correct" orders received via email, opened and read.  Those are Brown Act violations and further proof of their rigged proceeding. 

Talk about having your thumb weighing down the scale of justice!

Did these Councilmembers or their predecessors breathlessly race to suspend and withhold paychecks and health insurance from then-L.A. City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo who admitted his wife Michelle had an accident while improperly driving his city-funded S.U.V. and hid that fact when they had it repaired at taxpayer expense?  According to the L.A. Times, "(Delgadillo) also acknowledged that he did not realize that he himself had driven as an uninsured motorist for about a year, while his wife had driven without insurance for more than two years."

Does that sound like an admission of insurance fraud and mail or wire fraud, as well as violations of the California Vehicle Code?

How did City Council treat then-Chief Administrative Officer Miguel Santana when busted for D.U.I.?

Has City Council taken measures to restrict Councilmember John Lee, who seems to fit the description of "Staffer B" in the ongoing Jose Huizar investigation?  What about Councilmember Herb Wesson, Huizar's self-described "best friend" whose Chief of Staff Deron Williams appears to be prominently represented in the Huizar indictment?  

While City Council did suspend Huizar shortly after his indictment, it was not an apples-to-apples comparison with the Ridley-Thomas situation.  Among other things, Huizar is accused of crimes that violated his oath to serve on City Council.  Ridley-Thomas is accused of serious crimes in his prior office.

Did Martinez and friends hold any hearings on why Wesson, a swirl of corrupt nepotism himself, suddenly started recusing himself from votes when he hadn't done so in the years beforehand?  Since Wesson was Council president at the time and Williams his right-hand man, he obviously wasn't going to suspend himself yet not-a-one of these officials suggested that they should even be restricted.  

Where was the discussion about whether Feuer should have checks and balances placed on him when the FBI raided his office in 2019 in the still-ongoing LADWP scandal?  Why hasn't it held a discussion about the alleged current investigation by the State Bar of California into his activities?

Where was the hearing, outcry and suspension of pay for Mayor Eric Garcetti for claiming under oath and in the media that he didn't see any sexual harassment by his right-hand pal Rick Jacobs despite photographic evidence of it taking place right under his nose?

Rick Jacobs (left), Eric Garcetti ("thumbs up")

Martinez, Feuer and Galperin may have personal motives for their rush to judgment and it may be born out of a different flavor of their own rigged political proclivities.

In my next column, I dig into what I believe motivates them to treat Mark Ridley-Thomas differently.

Stay tuned.

(Daniel Guss, MBA, was runner-up for the 2020 Los Angeles Press Club journalism award for Best Online Political Commentary and has contributed to CityWatch, KFI AM-640, iHeartMedia, 790-KABC, Cumulus Media, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Magazine, Movieline Magazine, Emmy Magazine, Los Angeles Business Journal, Pasadena Star-News, Los Angeles Downtown News, and the Los Angeles Times in its Sports, Opinion and Entertainment sections and Sunday Magazine, and other publishers.)

Presently using mi amigo Scott's sign-in until tech matters are ironed out.

Morning Briefs on the Los Angeles Political Machine for Tuesday

"Trick or Treat, Vote for Me, Absentee!"

Its a political Halloween as candidates change into multiple costume personas, to trick the electorate into treating their campaigns seriously, leading up to Election Day.

As we announce the bloggin two-week warning to Election Day, the campaigning has taken on a political Halloween aura, as the various candidates jump in and out of various costume of political personas, seeking the treat of your vote.

Current City Controller and Mayoral Candidate Wendy “The Villar Greuel” trotted out her “silence the  messenger persona” last evening at the Mayoral Debate at Cal State LA, as she sought to portrait herself as the crusading messenger against “WASTE, FRAUD and ABUSE” , who an unrepentant City Council would love to silence. Next!

Former Bet Tzedek Executive Director and Assemblyman Mike Feuer would love you to believe that his Sacramento vote-changing ways, combine with his administrating “tens of lawyers (times two) at Bet Tzedek, along with hundreds of enabling endorsements and NO trail court experience, makes him an worthy candidate for City Attorney? Next!

Termed out CD 3 City Councilman Dennis Zine, attempts to one up his “Denise Zine Drag Persona” by attempting to be come the City Controller “Manly Valley Greuel” incarnation, is not getting rave reviews (or endorsements). Next!

The termed-out Assembly duo of Felipe Fuentes  and “Two-face Bob” Blumenfeld, would love the voters of CD 7 and CD 3 respectively, believe that their city council personas are authentic via the union label. Next!

A certain “Westside White Guy” purveyor of puffy “Pop Star Missives” has the gall to call Ron Kaye a “broken record” for espousing support of Kevin James and Jan Perry? This from the same supposed “Westside Pulitzer”? Next! 

Rumors are that CD 9 City Council Candidate and State Senator Curren Price, has been seen as the persona of a “yellow, smiling, non-union dot”? More on that Later.

Your thoughts …………..
Scott Johnson in CD 14

Curren Price: The Wal-Mart Candidate?

It used to be the way you slammed someone in politics was to call them a communist or perhaps, socialist.

Today, however, there's a new pejorative that's tossed around: Wal-Mart supporter.

That may be one that opponents of State Senator Curren Price are throwing at the elected official, the latest former elected official from another City, currently serving the in the California State Legislature, eyeing the big prize of California politics, a seat on the Los Angeles City Clowncil.

Price is one of several seeking to replace Jan Curry as she leaves the Council hoping to be elected Mayor.

Apparently someone connected to someone who doesn't want to see Price elected to the Council has begun a campaign to note that Price has received several thousand dollars in campaign contributions from the controversial Arkansas based retailer.

And I remember when it was bad if a politician went to a strip club.

Morning Briefs on the Los Angeles Political Machine for fFriday

The Price is wrong for CD 9!

State Senator Curren Price speaking at City Council in support of controversial redistricting plan.

Here comes another Sacramento retread in search of a pay raise.

The trail to 200 Springs Street is getting full of "burrocrats" laden with the carpetbags of termed-out state politicos in search of their next public paycheck.

The likes of Assemblyman Gil "One Bill" Cedillo, Mike Davis, Felipe "Mini Padilla" Fuentes, Bob "2 Jobs" Blumenfeld and now State Senator Curren "Wrong" Price, are seeking to bring their fail Sacramento ways to the Horseshoe.

For politically-astute CD 9 voters, it must be a laugh and galling at the same time, to have Price seek their support to replace current Councilwoman Jan Perry.

In the video above, Price is heckled by CD 9 constituents, as he showcases his enabling abilities in supporting Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Council President Herb "Mini Amin" Wesson's back room-crafted Redistricting Plan. Considering that the Redistricting 2012 fiasco has now gone to litigation, it is conceivable that CD 9 may revert back to its old boundaries, despite Price's support of stripping the economic assets that now reside mostly in CD 14.

But when that day comes, most CD 9 constituents will have hopefully voted that the "Price was not Right" for City Council.

** Memo to Public Safety Committee Chairperson Mitch Englander, where are the safety cameras in Harvard Park? A grieving community awaits your leadership and action .....

** Hermon secessionist leader Joe Riser defends his actions in seeking another term on the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council. This progressive/neighborhood battle masks the fact that financial issues are being white -wash by DONE.

Memo to the Building & Safety Department, Academia Semillas del Pueblo's "Tata" Marco Aguilar and CD 14 City Councilman Jose Huizar, care to join the El Sereno Community in playing "Lets Find The Parking Lot" at the Old El Sereno Library? Parking-starved local merchants would appreciate your help.

BTW, I thought it was illegal to have street venders, conducting business next to a school location?

Your thoughts .............

Scott Johnson in CD 14

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Sunday

Alex Walker, a computer programmer and activist in peace and civil rights causes, has announced as a Green Party candidate in the special election to fill the seat of State Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas who was elected to the County Board of Supervisors in November.  Walker stated, "Republicans and Democrats in California are dysfunctional. Voters voted for Obama for president and Mark Ridley-Thomas for county supervisor with a promise of a 'New Politics.'  Also seeking the seat are Democratic Assemblymen Mike Davis, of Los Angeles and Curren Price, Ridley-Thomas' hand picked successor, of Inglewood. 

LAist offers it predictions for 2009, among which includes the forecast that "Bob Hertzberg, Eric Garcetti, and Tavis Smiley all launch mayoral campaigns."  Sorry guys, the filing period is long over and the race is between Mayor V, Zuma Dogg and Walter Moore.

Former Mr. Britney Spears, Kevin Federline, is dating again.  Wags say  he's been seen canoodling with a six-foot tall blonde one year younger than the pop princess who bore (some of) his children.  Apparently Britney is pissed.

Following our campaign to return the venerable broadcaster to the KTLA announcer's booth at the Rose Parade on New Year's Day, Stephanie Edwards re-joined Bob Eubanks and his new hip after a two year exile.  As such, KTLA once again racked up the highest ratings of any parade coverage in LA.