Why City Hall Paid This Journalist's $10,528 Legal Tab

By Daniel Guss

@TheGussReport - It is getting to be an LA tradition.

The LAPD and LA City Attorney Mike Feuer cut this journalist's team yet another five-figure settlement after exposing dubious, corrupt or inept City Hall behavior that it prefers wouldn't surface.

In this instance, the LAPD refused to turn over a few public records from its Computer Assisted Dispatch (CAD) to see what the hubbub is regarding an alleged "domestic incident" at the residence of one Eric Garcetti, the Mayor of Los Angeles, aka "Little Ricky," as the late, great City Hall gadfly John Walsh used to call him.

Oh, you better believe that there's a lot more to this story, because why would the LAPD want to pay this columnist's legal tab if absolutely nothing went down at La Casa de Garcetti?

It isn't the last you'll hear about this situation.

And apparently, it won't be the last check the big wigs cut.  It certainly isn't the first.

For more detail, jump on over to my Substack.

Sign-up for the free newsletter while you're there and follow me on The Twitters @TheGussReport.

Stay safe!

Stay warm!

We're Hearing Things

By Daniel Guss - Have it from several well-placed sources that a mucky-muck with close current ties to LA Mayoral candidate Karen Bass has a "situation" going on and it appears that powerful people don't want it known, at least not yet.

I once sued the LAPD for doing the same thing as it fought tooth and nail to prevent public records from exposing an embarrassing Eric Garcetti story.  City Attorney Mike Feuer wound up paying my legal expenses.

Anyway, my quickie column on this is over at my Substack.  While you're there, you might as well sign up for my free newsletter.   And don't forget to follow me on The Twitters @TheGussReport.

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.

"Say It Ain't So, Rick Caruso"

By Daniel Guss

@TheGussReport - On Monday, the Los Angeles Times reported that billionaire Rick Caruso changed his party affiliation from none to Democrat in anticipation of his joining the race to become the next Mayor of Los Angeles. 

(Rick Caruso - LA Times)

That squanders an exclusive advantage: positioning himself as the second coming of Richard Riordan, a Republican and self-made problem-solver who governed without owing anything to anyone.

Suddenly and cynically listing himself as a Democrat makes Caruso more like the other candidates, who are either known and homogenous or just unknown.

Back in his day as Mayor from 1993-2001, Riordan was a successful alcalde de Los Angeles because he ran and governed as a problem-solving capitalist. That didn't stop him from winning, governing successfully and winning a second term. In contrast to LA’s career politicians, Riordan was also the first mayor to leave office due to term limits.

Do you know who made local term limits a thing?

Richard Riordan.

Why is Caruso not following that same path to the Mayor’s job?

To continue reading, please visit my Substack (and subscribe...its free!) 

LA Must Protect Itself From Itself

By Daniel Guss

@TheGussReport - It's 2022 and Los Angeles has a narrow, approaching window to start fixing its copious political challenges and corruption.

Having watched a few decades of local elections, here is what LA needs to do to save itself from itself.

1. Stop electing candidates based on their last name, skin tone and if they sound like an echo chamber of each other and the media.

2. Take everything the Los Angeles Times says or endorses with a grain of salt…and tequila. Stop relying on its endorsements since it almost entirely serves as a protective public relations unit for liberal and left politicians and their ideas to the total lack of balance of other sides, opinions and candidates. It is worth noting that the Times has endorsed, or even repeatedly endorsed, virtually every candidate currently or recently facing recall.

3. Start electing people from outside of the local political ecosystem. Encourage and elect those who have built something significant in the private sector. People who know what it’s like to make payroll in the face of illogical, oppressive and un-scientific government mandates. Think engineers, teachers (not school board members), healthcare professionals, private sector attorneys and the like. Elect reluctant politicians, not career ones.

Let’s repeat that: elect reluctant politicians, not career ones.

***

All the commotion so far about who is running for Mayor of LA and other offices is just that: chatter. It means nothing until February 7, 2022, when the candidate filing window opens to file a Declaration Of Intention to Become a Candidate. That narrow window closes less than a week later, on February 12. That’ll be the entirety of our options. People who fail to file will not make it onto the primary ballot.

Then there’s the race to gather 500 valid signatures by March 9, a rigged process designed to favor monied candidates. Those who submit at least a thousand votes for verification do not have to pay the $300 fee.

To continue reading this column, please join me on my Substack and sign-up to become a free subscriber.  Also, follow me on The Twitters @TheGussReport. Thanks as always to our friend Scott Johnson for this platform.

Why Eric Garcetti and Mike Feuer Should Cancel Themselves

 By Daniel Guss

@TheGussReport - LA's Buffoon Bros of Miscarriage and Corruption, Mayor Eric Garcetti and City Attorney Mike Feuer, should spend the coming holiday season reshuffling their future plans.

Eric Garcetti and Mike Feuer

Photo Credit: LA Times

In Garcetti's case, he should pick up the house phone and ring President Joe Biden to withdraw his nomination to become the next U.S. Ambassador to India.  Feuer should withdraw from the Mayor's race and see whether any of the other candidates would welcome his endorsement.  If those candidates are smart, they'll politely decline and change their phone number.

Garcetti and Feuer are more likely than not on the verge of being booted from those pursuits and instead creating mortifying footnotes for their forever Wikipedia pages.  

Better for them to quit rather than being publicly shown the door.

Beyond Garcetti's comprehensive failure as al calde of the second largest American city, everyone from his right-hand man Rick Jacobs to his disgraced former chief of staff Ana Guerrero (and those who covered up for them at the LAPD and City Attorney's office) have been exposed for the bullies and harassers many have long-known them to be, as shown by a series of mortifying exposés and depositions.  It is not possible that these issues have escaped the notice of the FBI and Biden advisors. 

The point is that Garcetti is responsible for all that literally took place right in front of him, and more. The buck is supposed to stop with a chief executive, but Garcetti hasn't taken ownership for any of it, including his welcoming Guerrero back into his office after a lengthy suspension for indiscriminately abusing everyone from little-known locals to historic and accomplished women of color like Dolores Huerta.

As for things that took place right in front of Garcetti.....

Rick Jacobs, Eric Garcetti and others

Photo Credit: LA Times

In fact, logic suggests that someone in the White House, perhaps chief of staff Ron Klain, may soon dial up Garcetti and "politely suggest" that Garcetti do exactly as I recommend.

That way, Garcetti can take his rightful place alongside his inglorious predecessors, like "The 11% Percent Mayor" Antonio Villaraigosa and traffic court judge James Hahn.  He can join some corporate boards, teach a college class and be shown on the 11pm sports report cheering on the Dodgers and Lakers.

I left the Rams out of that thought, because, despite Garcetti's untruthful claims that he "brought the NFL back to LA," they in fact play in the world's greatest stadium in a city he never represented; Inglewood, California.  Sure, Inglewood is in "LA," but that's LA County, where Garcetti has never been an elected official. 

Garcetti failed to get that stadium built in downtown LA as Farmer's Field, though he squandered much time posturing about it, as I pointed out in the Huffington Post a few years back.

And that's the rosier of the two futures outlined in this column.

Our crystal ball says things are much bleaker for Mike Feuer.

It is delusional that someone who is being investigated by the State Bar of California and whose office was raided by the FBI and whose legal hire, Paul Paradis, agreed this week to plead guilty to a $2.2 million kickback scheme while running that scam under the auspices of Feuer's office, thinks he will be elected to succeed Garcetti as Mayor!

Maybe delusional isn't the right word.  Nuts.  Feuer would have to be nuts to believe that.

Mike Feuer

Photo Credit: KTLA

But it's so much worse than that for The Frazzled 'stache of LA City Hall.   

Despite his assertions to the contrary, the U.S. Department of Justice says that Feuer's office knew that Paradis astonishingly represented both the plaintiff and defendant in the scandalous LADWP / PricewaterhouseCoopers lawsuit.

That alone should result in a suspension of Feuer's law license, if not out and out disbarment, even if he didn't personally profit from the bribery, which could include campaign donations to his nascent mayoral campaign.

And yes, I do speculate that Feuer has already spoken with white collar criminal defense law firms to potentially represent him.  One would have to be a nuts (there's that word again) to be raided by the FBI and not immediately pick up the phone to find one.

But to think he still has even a remote chance of becoming mayor?  

Come on.

Then again, maybe Feuer's counting on LA making the same dumb choices for mayor as it has for the past 20 years with Hahn, Villaraigosa and Garcetti.

Hmmmph.  Perhaps he's on to something.

Nevermind, then. We'll simply say this.  If Feuer runs, he will finish with fewer votes than any other major candidate and perhaps even fewer than the spectacular 9,115 votes hauled-in (without spending a dime) by Venice street performer David "Zuma Dogg" Saltsburg in 2009, when he finished in 4th place in a field of ten.   

That's the over/under for Feuer should he stay in the race. Nine thousand one hundred and fifteen votes.  We will see whether Feuer gets fewer than Zuma Dogg.

Of course, there's more to this story than just that.   

What about the names that keep Mike Feuer up at night and whether and when they might resurface?  That's precisely why Feuer's deputy at City Council meetings, one Strefan Fauble, has established a pattern and practice of illegally censoring this column from participating in the meetings of late and his peers continually failing to cure and correct such abuses, as outlined in upcoming complaints, plural, to the State Bar of California.

(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.)

NEW YORK MAGAZINE: "The Mayor Knew: Eric Garcetti's Top Aide Was a Serial Harasser, According To Multiple Accusers. The Mayor, They Say, Ignored it."

By Daniel Guss

@TheGussReport - Don't count on LA Mayor Eric Garcetti making his way to Bombay.

The city's beleaguered chief executive, who was nominated by President Joe Biden to be the next U.S. Ambassador to India, allegedly knew about, but ignored, serial sexual harassment by his right hand man Rick Jacobs.

That's at least according to a slew of people as described in New York Magazine.

The article says that Garcetti and Ana Guerrero, his disempowered former Chief of Staff, repeatedly ignored horrendous behavior by Jacobs, who is the subject of a sexual harassment lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles by the Mayor's former LAPD bodyguard.

"'He crushes me against his body, pulling me in with all his strength,' she says now, telling her story for the first time. 'I'm like a rag doll.  He's pulling me into him and kisses me on the lips for some long, uncomfortable period of time. He kisses me on the lips.  I'm trying to pull back, but he has my arms pinned down against the sides of my body so I have no leverage to push back.'"

That's from Naomi Seligman, Garcetti's Director of Communications on April 14, 2016, describing an encounter with Jacobs in front of a slew of witnesses in an excerpt from the article.

"'I'm surrounded by my entire team, and they've seen this act of dominance over me,' she recalls."

Yesterday, this column was first to predict that LA City Attorney Mike Feuer's mayoral campaign is DOA due to a federal corruption plea deal by Paul Paradis, a legal hire of his who admitted to a $2.2 million kickback scheme.  We now predict that Garcetti's nomination to become Ambassador will soon be down for the count, as well.

So when, exactly, does Guerrero get fired and the LA City Council take a vote of No Confidence, in Garcetti?  

At any rate, we look forward to Biden pulling Garcetti's nomination before too long.  If not, look to Senator Ted Cruz to deliver the knockout blow.

The story by Alissa Walker can be found here: 

(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.)

Mike Feuer's Pal To Plead Guilty to $2.2 Million LADWP Bribery. His Mayoral Campaign Is Essentially Over.

By Daniel Guss

@TheGussReport - The press release late Monday afternoon from the Department of Justice was clear and striking but not at all surprising to this column.  It reads "Ex-L.A. Special Counsel Agrees to Plead Guilty to Accepting Nearly $2.2 Million Kickback for Arranging Collusive Lawsuit Against LADWP."

That special counsel, Paul Paradis of Manhattan-based Paradis Law Group, was hired by none other than L.A. City Attorney Mike Feuer, whose office was raided by the FBI a year ago and who is believed to be under investigation by the State Bar of California.  It is believed that the Paradis plea deal is tied to the FBI raid and Bar investigation.

Mike Feuer

Photo Credit: KTLA

This, my friends, will mark what amounts to the end of Feuer's already flailing campaign to become the next Mayor of Los Angeles.   

The DOJ release goes on to state "the Los Angeles City Attorney's office was aware that (Paradis) was already representing Antwon Jones, a ratepayer who had a claim against LADWP arising from billing overcharges. Jones was unaware that his lawyer, Paradis, also represented his intended adversary."

In other words, Mike Feuer is responsible for hiring the guy who arranged a multi-million dollar kickback scheme and who is likely headed for a lengthy federal prison term. 

Feuer and his deputies had to know that Paradis directly benefitted from both the plaintiff and defendant sides of the LADWP lawsuit and that is the only reason why anyone would create such a collusive scam.

At minimum, this should disqualify Feuer from succeeding Mayor Eric Garcetti.  Whether or not Feuer profited from the bribery, it happened on his watch by his staff and proxies.  In a city reeling from one corruption scandal after another, Feuer has a lot to esplain, as it were.

It may also put Feuer in far greater legal jeopardy, as in potential disbarment and imprisonment.  It could, by extension, also hamper the remaining career trajectory of his wife, Judge Gail Ruderman Feuer.

As part of the plea arrangement, Paradis has agreed to cooperate with the federal government's ongoing corruption investigation.  Another attorney who Feuer also hired to handle the LADWP / PWC billing scandal, Paul R. Kiesel of Beverly Hills, has not been indicted, but has also agreed to cooperate with the feds.

To read between the lines, Paradis and Kiesel will need to spill their guts to keep their respective present statuses from going legally south from here.

What are the odds that Feuer, who went to Harvard as an undergraduate before going on to Harvard Law School, was somehow and suddenly not smart enough to know what was going on?  What are the odds that he didn't think to put safeguards in place, knowing the conflict going on right under his nose?

A better question might be, what are the odds that Feuer didn't, and why didn't he?

The odds are obscenely astronomical.

Look ahead to Feuer eventually putting out a press release stating something along the lines of In the best interest of the people of Los Angeles, and in order to spend more time with my family, I have decided to conclude my campaign for Mayor of Los Angeles and look forward to working with the next Mayor and City Attorney to keep the City moving forward.

To be clear, that is not a quote.

It's a prediction.

What are the odds indeed, Mr. Feuer?

For further reading, please see my October 12, 2020 column, "Mayor?  How Does 'No' Sound, Mike Feuer?"

(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.)

Just Say "No," LA

By Daniel Guss

@TheGussReport - Somewhere over the Halloween weekend, the ghost of Nancy Reagan reached out suggesting things to which Los Angeles should once and for all say no, including:

Just say "no" to whatever Mayor Eric Garcetti has left to say

He has held elected office in City Hall since July 1, 2001, when he was just 30.  He is now 50 and LA is in worse condition in virtually every way.  Only Eric Garcetti is the common factor.  Only he remains. 

(Garcetti's appendage, Ana Guerrero, was also along for the ride until recently when she was suspended and stripped of her Chief of Staff title with Garcetti after she was found serially cyber-abusing and harassing people, including iconic local Black and Brown leaders.  While most people would be fired, Garcetti didn't strip her of her $248,000 salary.  What might Guerrero have on Garcetti to be treated so differently?  Does it have anything to do with public records requests made of the LAPD by this column that City Attorney Mike Feuer fought tooth and nail in court to protect from public scrutiny?)

Enough of him.  Basta and arrivederci.

Eric Garcetti

Photo Credit: ABC

Just say "no" to "slavery"

On February 3, 2013, in Super Bowl XLVII, Colin Kaepernick came within five yards and about a minute of pulling off the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history and was rewarded with a $126 million contract extension.  Over the next several seasons, he was at the center of a storm about first sitting and then later kneeling during pre-game playing of the national anthem.

On January 1, 2017, Kaepernick played his last NFL game after a playoff loss and wound up breaking his contract with millions of dollars left on the table.

If nothing else, the man is principled.

Colin Kaepernick

Photo Credit: Netflix

In 2019, after almost three years out of the league, the NFL set up a private talent showcase for Kaepernick and invited all 32 of its teams, but the former quarterback skipped it due to the NFL demand that he sign a liability waiver.  Instead, he put on his own ill-considered talent showcase that did not result in his return.

Now, the abundantly clear theme in his new Netflix series "Colin in Black & White" is that the NFL is the modern-day equivalent of slavery.

One scene narrated by the former star shows young black men in a football training camp environment, then, the same men walk into a re-enactment of an 18th-century slave sale. There is no reason whatsoever to doubt that this analogy is Kaepernick's and co-producer Ava DuVernay's sincerely held belief.  

But if the NFL has all along been the modern-day equivalent of slavery, why spend so much time and energy trying to get back into such an immovable system, especially with skills diminishing each year?  When will the former star start visiting every major college football campus to discourage participation in an extremely dangerous sport with poor remuneration and owners who disregard people of color and instead encourage the players to go into medicine, law, accounting, engineering or tech?   

It will also be interesting to see how many of those college ballplayers agree that the NFL is slavery.

Assuming that Kaepernick reaches out to them.

Just say "no" to ill-advised accessory dwelling units

According to the California Department of Housing and Community Development, Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) are "known by many names: granny flats, in-law units, backyard cottages, secondary units and more. No matter what you call them, ADUs are an innovative, affordable, effective option for adding much-needed housing in California." 

But leave it to the LA City Council to approve them, thus increasing neighborhood density, yet sometimes not resulting in additional affordable housing units on the market.

Take this ADU currently being built on top of the three-car garage of an old garden apartment rental complex which has seen better days.

It is going to become a gigantic two-bedroom, two-bath unit. But instead of creating more affordable housing, it isn't going to hit the market any time soon.  Word has it that the landlord, who presently does not live on the property, will move into it himself.  

So leave it to the predictably inept Nury Martinez-led Council and its Planning and Land Use Management Committee (PLUM) to increase density, increase property value (and jacking neighboring rents) rather than accomplishing the stated goal of bringing more affordable housing to the market.

Way to go.

Just say "no" to the unluckiest guy in LA

At one bustling LA intersection, this poor sap ran out of gas the other day and walked up and down the sidewalk until enough Angelenos coughed up a nice stack of cash, enabling him to buy enough gas to get home to the wife and kids.

The Unluckiest Guy In LA

Fortunately for him, he just happened to have an empty red gas can so motorists pulling up to the red light could throw him a few bucks since nobody deserves a break more than he does since he remarkably keeps running out of gas.....at the same intersection.....for years and years.

And he isn't homeless, either.

Perhaps the woman running into the same awful bad luck streak one major intersection to the east will find generous donors, too.

Just say "no" to child and animal exploitation

Nury Martinez has also jabbered a lot about stopping child sexploitation, but she has done nothing to prevent children and animals from being exploited for panhandling, especially in dangerous, highly trafficked areas with car exhaust filling their lungs.

Nury Martinez

The Council president has been non-responsive when asked about making a law to criminally ban panhandling with children or animals.

In March 2019, I wrote about Martinez and Councilmember Monica Rodriguez ignoring a woman who regularly appears on the Metro Red Line with different children who may or may not belong to her, exploiting them for cash. This unchecked child endangerment has led to verbal confrontations between exploiters and passengers given that LAPD officers, uniformed or not, are never present to address exploitation, dance and music performances or in-your-face sales of snacks and other goods on the subway.

Then there's the issue of families exploiting their children instead of one parent staying indoors with the tiny children, including a baby in this instance, while the other panhandles, works or finds different ways to provide for them. 

Clearly, LA has its share of people in need. But exploiting children and animals in the middle of heavily trafficked streets in all sorts of weather, needs a law explicitly and criminally banning it. 

It only requires political will.  Unfortunately, in LA, political will now begins and ends with Nury Martinez.

To quote the mixed metaphors that Councilmember Gil Cedillo offered last week upon being told of yet another City Hall micro-corruption, "we await it with bated breath" followed by "but don't hold your breath."  Words of wisdom from the man who spent a good share of his time with Morrie "Plea Bargain" Goldman. 

Maybe we should just say no to re-electing the same tired, disengaged LA politicians.

Now there's an idea to which we can all just say yes.

(Daniel Guss, MBA, was runner-up for the 2020 Los Angeles Press Club journalism award for Best Online Political Commentary (and came in Show in 2021 in another category) and 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.)

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)