Eric Garcetti's Final Free Lunch: Crow with Karma

By Daniel Guss

@TheGussReport - There are various types of political comeuppance in Los Angeles.  But it is Mayor Eric Garcetti, a world-class conniver, who will soon feast on his final free lunch of crow with karma as it is slow-cooked and slow-walked from the kitchen to his smirking pie hole.

In days or weeks, on the grand Washington, D.C., political stage, Garcetti may sheepishly withdraw his nomination to be the next U.S. Ambassador to India, lest President Joe Biden will do it for him.

Look for it to be done on a Friday around 6pm in true cowardly fashion.  It will be savory and scrumptious for everyone except Garcetti, as L.A. has waited and waded for such a day.

To read the whole column, please join me over at Substack and be sure to sign up for a free subscription.  

Thanks as always to Mayor Sam, Scott Johnson and the late great Michael Higby.

As I Had Mentioned...Nury Martinez Dances With Corruption

By Daniel Guss

@TheGussReport - There is no particularly polite way to say "I told you so," so after Googling for a variety of alternatives, "as I had mentioned" seemed like the best option.

In a piece that I wrote for Mayor Sam back on October 26, 2021, this column correctly predicted L.A. City Council president Nury Martinez would appoint her controversial predecessor Herb Wesson to oversee Council District 10 after forcing out recently elected Mark Ridley-Thomas from the job upon his federal corruption indictment.

(Justin Wesson (rear), Herb Wesson, Nury Martinez - Photo Credit: LA Daily News)

Well, let's fast forward to the column's conclusion:

(Federally indicted former Councilmember) Jose Huizar may be dumb, but he ain't stupid.  As someone who went to Berkeley, Princeton and UCLA Law, he is probably very good at keeping notes.

To read all the rest, jump on over to my Substack.

Follow me on The Twitters @TheGussReport.

(Daniel Guss, MBA, was runner-up for the 2020 Los Angeles Press Club journalism award for Best Online Political Commentary and runner-up in 2021 in the Activist Journalism category.  He has contributed to Mayor Sam, CityWatchLA, KFI AM-640, iHeartMedia, 790-KABC, Cumulus Media, KCRW, 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 among other publishers.)

Eric Garcetti - Will He Be Rewarded For Failure, Lies and a Corrupt City Hall?

 By Daniel Guss

@TheGussReport - Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is the 42nd and indisputably worst chief executive in the city's history, at least according to almost everyone other than the Los Angeles Times, which kept doubling down on him as City Council President and Mayor time and again.

Eric Garcetti

Source: Unknown

Today is your last chance to prevent him from being rewarded for it.

Tomorrow, the United States Senate takes up his nomination to become the next U.S. Ambassador to India, which is ironic, considering the filth, homelessness and corruption that flourished during his tenure in Los Angeles, where he is the only political constant during L.A.'s current two-decade demise.

His nomination is almost certain to be approved, though some in the Senate have said they're keeping an eye on his latest scandal: the sexual harassment allegedly committed right under Garcetti's nose, which he denies knowing about, except that New York Magazine proved that to be as much of a Garcetti lie as anything else.

Rick Jacobs, Eric Garcetti and Friends

Source: LA Times

As Jim Carrey said in "Dumb and Dumber," "so you're telling me there's a chance," to stop Garcetti?

Yes, indeed.

Truth is, Garcetti checked out of his Mayor's job long ago in favor of campaigning with Joe Biden, (which is why he may be rewarded for a job poorly done) and dispensing inaccurate and suffocating COVID guidelines such that he wound up ignoring them and catching it himself.  He can hardly do much further damage to L.A. in his remaining time here.

For this column, a few other issues stand out besides the nation's worst homelessness, crime et al.

1. Garcetti lied about LA becoming a "No Kill" city, at least until this column exposed his appointees for falsifying 8,807 pet "adoptions" by counting as "adopted" the moving of animals from one deadly pound kennel to another.

Loathesome, in this instance, is defined as politicians falsely claiming a political success with one raised fist while figuratively killing those animals with a needle jab in the other.

Garcetti's ruse, aided by Councilmembers Herb Wesson and Paul Koretz and City Controller Ron Galperin, suddenly ended with that column shining a light on their lie.  Garcetti's falsified statistics reverted overnight without explanation or apology.  (Koretz and Galperin now want your vote to be the next LA City Controller and County Supervisor, respectively.  Look for the LA Times to drool over them in the spring primary).

2. Garcetti lied when he said that during the pandemic, Angelenos could walk on the wet sand of a shore, but could not lay on the dry sand of the beach.  When I eventually caught up with him, I asked Garcetti about his basis for that directive, he falsely claimed "that was the science at the time."

It wasn't "the science" then.

It isn't "the science" now.

It will never be "the science."

3. Then there's the LAPD fighting this column tooth and nail to block the release of Computer Aided Dispatch records to this column to dig into allegations of a domestic incident at Garcetti's private residence. Think Garcetti isn't a target for blackmail?  Why would the LAPD and City Attorney Mike Feuer put up such a legal fight?  (And Feuer wants your vote to succeed Garcetti as Mayor, despite his office being raided by the FBI and the State Bar of California investigating him).

My gosh, even Garcetti's disgraced former chief of staff, Ana Guerrero, was suspended and stripped of her title (but not her lucrative salary) for viciously bullying people online, including legendary women of color.

If Garcetti being rewarded for all of this and more leaves a bad taste in your mouth, consider reaching out before Tuesday to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez and Ranking Member Senator James Risch and the other Committee members.  Menendez and Risch can also be reached via Twitter @SenatorMenendez and @SenatorRisch respectively.

Speak up now or forever embrace acceptance.

Namaste, Mayor Yoga Pants.

(Daniel Guss, MBA, was runner-up for the 2020 Los Angeles Press Club journalism award for Best Online Political Commentary and was a runner-up in 2021 too. He has contributed to CityWatch, KFI AM-640, iHeartMedia, 790-KABC, Cumulus Media, KCRW, 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 among other publishers. Tell your friends to follow him on The Twitters @TheGussReport, and DM him there to join his distribution list for early story notifications, tips and more.)

Nury Martinez' Rumored Plan Is Riddled With Conflict, Corruption and Nepotism

By Daniel Guss

@TheGussReport - Last week, this column explained how LA City Council president Nury Martinez, City Attorney Mike Feuer, City Controller Ron Galperin and all but three other Councilmembers railroaded their peer Mark Ridley-Thomas into a suspension from his elected office that was accompanied by the suspension of his salary and health insurance even before he entered a plea to his recent 20-count federal corruption indictment.

In that piece, I provided examples of other high-ranking City officials who courted controversy with some even admitting to their misdeeds but were neither suspended nor had their salary and health insurance withheld.  

Add former Councilmember Richard Alarcon to that list.

A Councilmember in the 90s, Alarcon returned to the city's legislative body in 2007 to finish the term of Alex Padilla (who earlier succeeded him) and was re-elected to serve his final term in 2009 and stayed in that role until he termed-out in 2013.

As is now well-known, in 2010, Alarcon and his wife, Flora Montes De Oca Alarcon, were indicted on a slew of felony counts related to his not residing in his District as is required by law.  Her charges were for related fraud and perjury. The Alarcons were convicted on some of those charges, though the verdicts were eventually thrown out. The LA City Clerk's office confirmed for this column today that Alarcon was neither suspended from office during that multi-year escapade nor were his salary and benefits withheld.

In case you're keeping score:

Alarcon was neither suspended nor lost any income or health insurance despite 18 felony counts related to his work in the LA City Council office he held at the time.   

Ridley-Thomas, recently indicted on 20-federal felony counts related to his prior job, was suspended and his salary and health insurance are now withheld.

Hmmmph!

That leads us to this question: What's up with Martinez, Feuer, Galperin and the entire City Council (save for Mike Bonin, Curren Price and Marqueece Harris-Dawson) and their rush to judgment on Ridley-Thomas?

The answer is plenty and it reeks of corruption, conflict and nepotism.

Multiple sources within City Hall tell this column that Martinez is planning to appoint Ridley-Thomas's predecessor, Herb Wesson, as a "District Caretaker" while the Ridley-Thomas legal problems work their way through the system, which could take years or until a special election is held.

Herb Wesson

Photo Credit: Unknown

While Mr. Wesson may seem like a logical choice for the appointment, there are glaring conflicts of interest and too-close-for-comfort corruption ties.

1. Herb Wesson is now a lobbyist hawking his legislative chops to local governments as an advisor on, among other things, marijuana policy. Last December, he incorporated and registered Herb Wesson and Associates with the California Secretary of State, which may disqualify him from serving as CD10 Caretaker even if he hands-off control of his newly formed business.
2. While there is a battle over which Council District will oversee USC in the coming years, Herb Wesson's brother, Steve Wesson, is reportedly still employed at the school as USC Village Ombudsman presenting another potential conflict of interest.

But there appears to be more than just that going on here.  

Herb Wesson has spent much of 2021 licking his post-campaign-loss wounds by pleading for policy business from local governments and playing the poor card despite having raked-in millions of dollars in his prior government jobs, claiming "I'm just a small businessman trying to feed my family," though his children range in age from 39 years on-up. 

Deron Williams, Herb Wesson's former chief of staff, was in very close proximity to the activity in the federal indictment of former Councilmember Jose Huizar, who Wesson referred to as "my best friend."  While neither Wesson nor Williams stand indicted in that matter, their proximity to the corruption is a curious thing for Martinez to ignore, especially since she breathlessly ran to suspend Ridley-Thomas before he could even enter a plea.

So what's going on here?

Look to Martinez' Deputy Chief of Staff Alexis Marin-Wesson for clues.

Nury Martinez and Alexis Marin-Wesson

Photo Credit: LA Times

Her husband, Justin Wesson, is Herb Wesson's youngest son.  He served as City Council's "Floor Director" during his dad's time as its president. It was a job his father created for him though he mostly functioned as his father's chauffeur and valet. That is a curious choice for a driver given the son's 2012 DUI bust. According to Transparent California, Justin's 2019 salary and compensation, the last reported year available, totaled $141,350.48.   (Note: Justin also voted in scores of elections while registered at his parents' home address despite having a pregnant wife registered to vote in South Pasadena.  This was likely done to establish a fake "residency" to run to replace his dad.  The LA Times stopped pimping that idea after I first wrote about it.)

Funny how the Times' David Zahniser, Dakota Smith and Emily Alpert-Reyes never told you about that.

Hey, but a dad has got to do what a dad has got to do to get their lay-about kids salaries they could never dream of earning in the private sector, right Mr. Wesson and Mr. Ridley-Thomas?

They are birds of a feather.

If you recall, Justin and Alexis were forced to reimburse the LAPD thousands of dollars for misusing the agency for private security at their 2018 wedding. (This was a story that Wesson's office allegedly fed to Zahniser immediately after I inquired about it in order to get a "softer" report. Zahniser allegedly misled his readers by not disclosing that.)

Now, with rumors that Papa Wesson's consulting business is flailing, he and his son are reportedly eyeing their old government salaries that would land them roughly $400,000 combined each year that Ridley-Thomas remains suspended or until a special election is held.  

That's Martinez' likely motivation: enriching her third-in-command, and pseudo younger sister, Alexis by re-employing Justin vis-a-vis appointing his dad Herb Wesson, who implies that his adult children rely on him for income even in their middle ages.

That and the fact that Martinez continuously struggles as Council president, unable (or unwilling) to explain how she is fixing the city's considerable ills while continually censoring the public from complaining and keeping them out of meetings despite vax mandates.  She would readily welcome Papa Wesson's counsel.  It's a win-win for the politicians, but not one that is in the public's best interest assuming Wesson is even eligible for the appointment.  

There is also Ms. Marin-Wesson's mother-in-law, Fabian Wesson, who remains mired in controversy, having falsified her academic qualifications to land a $250,000 job replacing a Ph.D. at the South Coast Air Quality Management District, or AQMD.  Her predecessor, who is also a professor at UCLA, was succeeded by Mrs. Wesson because, as an AQMD spokesperson told me, she "thought she graduated" with a bachelor's degree, except she did not.

In any other job outside of nepotistic LA politics, you get fired for lying about your qualifications.  But not in the dumping ground of political patronage, the AQMD.

By the way, LA City Councilmember Joe Buscaino, a member of the AQMD Governing Board, has dodged this column's questions about Fabian's false quals, so his claims of being a crime-fighter "eager to slap the cuffs" on guys like Englander and Huizar ring completely hollow.  More on that in an upcoming column.

So Nury Martinez' largesse toward Herb Wesson, who endorsed her to succeed him as Council president, is loaded with the same toxic sludge that led to Englander's conviction, Huizar's and others' indictments and whatever comes next.

What a surprise.

So why did Martinez, Feuer and Galperin allegedly conspire to oust Ridley-Thomas before he could even enter a plea?

Simple. Martinez wanted Ridley-Thomas out.  Feuer, who is likely to get creamed in his campaign for Mayor by leading candidate Karen Bass, reportedly okayed the railroading of Ridley-Thomas to curry favor with the Councilmembers whose endorsements he will need to even be competitive.

The same goes for Galperin in his hotly contested campaign to become an LA County Supervisor as key endorsements needed in that race quickly dry up. 

So at LA City Hall, the corruption, conflicts and nepotism are business as usual, at least until the next shoes, plural, drop.

Nury Martinez, her Chief of Staff Ackley Padilla and Alexis Marin-Wesson did not respond to a request to field unscreened questions.  Mark Ridley-Thomas is believed to be shopping for attorneys to fight the suspension.

Get the popcorn.

(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. Tell your friends to follow him on The Twitters @TheGussReport)

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.