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.)

HOT Morning Briefs on the Los Angeles (and Beyond) Political Machine for Monday

Los Angeles Dodgers Icon (and former National Football League Announcer) Vin Scully gracefully waded into the Controversy over NFL National Anthem Protests during a Pasadena Speaking Engagement ............, and declares that he will NEVER watch another NFL Game, due to the disrespect of our Men and Women in Uniform. 

Video of Vin Scully's news-making response to question regarding NFL National Anthem Protests. 

** Blogger's Notes: For the 59 years that Los Angeles was blessed to have Vin Scully as the VOICE of the Dodgers, RARE was their a moment when the Baseball Hall of Fame Announcer (inducted in 1982), would engage in espousing a viewpoint on a contentious issue, especially political. 

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HOT Brief on a NFL City Make Believe Mayor for Monday

Bemused City of Inglewood Officials can only shake their heads as Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti continues his Political Narcissus-tinged Role Playing of a National Football League City Officeholder. 

"Mayor Gar-Soft-ee" with reality regarding his NFL standing. 

** Blogger's Note  These have been bloggin great times for a certain cyber commentator, as the NFL righted a 21 year wrong by allowing the Rams to return home.

Despite the efforts of Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer and his former Democratic colleagues in Sacramento, to increase the Raiders Fan Base via AB 109 Prison Realignment (ie. Dumping of supposed Non Violent, Non Revocable Raider Fan Parolees back onto the streets) and the dumbing down of their criminal excesses via Prop 47, the 32 NFL owners are owed a collective thanks from crime-weary Angelinos, as they wisely chose to returned the Rams ......, and Rams only (for now), to the L.A. Market, via the City of Inglewood.

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TGIF Afternoon Political News Dump 10-6-11: NFL's "no thanks" to AEG

NFL not impress with Corporate Welfare City-State of AEG LA LIVE.

Just think if no one came to play football after all the backroom deals and payoffs, ... well from Yahoo.

Despite significant political momentum throughout California for a downtown Los Angeles stadium that would house an NFL team, the league had a recent message for people involved with the project:

Right now, no thanks.

 During a Sept. 6 meeting at the NFL offices in New York, commissioner Roger Goodell told Los Angeles Councilwoman Jan Perry and political aide Bernard Parks, Jr. that neither the league nor any team interested in moving there would agree to the business proposal set forth by Anschutz Entertainment Group, according to three sources with knowledge of the conversation. AEG is the private company that has offered to build and operate a retractable-roof stadium, which would be named Farmers Field, on the site that is currently part of the Los Angeles Convention Center. That means no free tixs for the Mayor until at least after reverting to "Citizen Villar".

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

Scott Johnson in CD 14

Afternoon Briefs on the Los Angeles Political Scene for Monday

Former friend of labor? Mayor Antonio Villar in the background as Los Angeles County Labor Federation Leader Maria Elena Durazo speaks at Councilman Jose Huizar's Campaign Kickoff  "Photo via Ed Headington".

Union buster to the back?

That is discreetly and privately what some in the Los Angeles Labor Community are saying about Mayor Antonio Villar. But try to get these frontline labor leaders to state that for the record? Good friggin luck! These labor brothers and sisters do remember that the Mayor's "long time partner in labor" Maria Elena Durazo is the leader of the LA County Labor Federation.

But these private thoughts among Mayor Villar's supposed progressive allies may be the root of the mayor's "latest whine" (wonder if buddy Fabian Nunez had a special choice in mind?) to Daily News Rick Orlov, other scribes and editors on a recent visit to the Valley Daily Moldy Green Sheet of Record.

"I am a Democrat," Villaraigosa said, during a meeting with Daily News reporters and editors last week. "But I have been willing to make the tough decisions. We have laid off 400 workers. That is more than (former mayors) Sam Yorty, Tom Bradley, Dick Riordan or James Hahn did combined."

One can feel Villar's self-serving comments through the protesting masses of city employees who have long ago given up on awaiting any substanant fiscal leadership from the third floor and now await in patience the end of the Mayor Villar Era.

But still the clout of labor is not one to dismiss as seen with the recent deal between the Wyvernwood Apartment Complex's Fifteen Group owners and the County Fed led group of unions and community non-profits.   Something that Councilman Huizar will have to contend with as he opposes the Wyvernwood plans.

More news after the bloggin leap.

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Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Wednesday

A school in Compton is the first to announce it's being taken over by parents as a result of the new Parent Trigger Law that was made possible by education activists such as MayorSam friend Lydia Grant.  McKinley Elementary, a horrible school noted for mega-poor results, saw 61% of parents agree to sign a petition to boot existing management.  Of course, reprobate school board members and culpable teachers' union leaders are crying in their beer and crying foul.  But the only thing that is foul is how they ran the school. Kudos to the parents!


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Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Tuesday

Michael LoGrande appears to be the odds on favorite to replace Gail "GPS" Goldberg as LA's new head of planning.  LoGrande tells bloggers he plans to bring increased transparency and customer service to the Planning Department.  The City Hall veteran appears to have the endorsement of Dangerous Enemy of Freedom Lisa Sarkin, grand doyenne of the Studio City Neighborhood Council. However Ron Kaye has a different response saying "They've got to be kidding."

More below the fold...
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Hotsheet Bits for Wednesday

CityWatch reprints DWP's shady opinion that the "Memorandum of Understanding" signed between the department and several neighborhood councils applies to discussion of the controversial proposition, Measure B.  For whatever reason CityWatch doesn't credit activist Jim Alger who motivated the email. DWP didn't extend the same courtesy it's asking for which has upset many neighborhood activists.  

The San Fernando Valley Business Journal reports that Fifth District Councilmember candidate Adeena Bleich received the backing of the lobbyist group sponsored by the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.

Some say Zuma Dogg was out of control, others say he wasn't but apparently Mr. Saltsburg's commentary on the City's Rent Escrow Account Program was making Council President Eric Garcetti a little nervous and hence he ordered him removed from Chambers.  Since I've seen Zuma Dogg boisterous on occasions that Garcetti ignored him so it makes one wonder what the issue was here.  And according to witnesses Zuma only got animated after Garcetti shut him up. 

Rick Orlov on Villaraigosa has no need to face his rivals.  Best quote comes from Ken Draper, "the lack of competition is driving down the role of activists." 

Mayor Villaraigosa isn't the only local Mayor to have an alleged extra-marital affair.  City of Ontario officials are investigating allegations by attorney  Loredana Nesci that Mayor Paul Leon arranged for a tryst at the Double Tree Hotel in Ontario with city contracted employee Diana Huizar (any relation?).  Mayor Leon was quoted as saying "it hurts him to see friends who have not forgiven him."

Astroturfing here by those who wish to continue building the controversial elephant exhibit at the LA Zoo and keep poor old Billy the Elephant trapped there.  Hmm, who would have an interest in doing that?


Chatter is up again that an NFL team is coming to LA and it could be the San Diego nee Los Angeles Chargers.  Though we've heard it before, this time the Wasserman Media Group is involved and these guys seem to have the chops to make the impossible in sports possible.  Stay tuned.


Family Guy producer Seth McFarlane decides not to accept an offer from Britney Spears to participate in a proposed bit on the show slamming his dogged rivals, South Park producers Matt Stone and Trey Parker. South Park had recently aired an episode mocking both Spears and McFarlane's show. 

Saturday Special Hotsheet

The campaign of Los Angeles City Attorney candidate Carmen Trutanich announces that he has outraised front runner City Council Member Jack Weiss by two to one in the last reporting period.  According to reports filed with the City's Ethics Commission Trutanich received $92,000 in contributions compared to Weiss' $42,000.  Trutanich says that he has nearly $350,000 in cash reserved for television advertising.  In the meantime Trutanich unveiled a series of proposed reforms to the City Attorney office and garnered the endorsement of Council Member Dennis Zine and possibly from another opposing candidate, the Walter Moore affiliated David Berger.


Working hard for the City following President Obama's inauguration Mayor Villaraigosa took the ceremonial first bite of a Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich at the annual "dineLA" restaurant week photo op this week.  While slurping down roast beef and Velveeta, Controller Laura Chick uncovered millions of dollars in waste and lots of potential fraud and abuse in the taking home of city owned vehicles by municipal employees and elected officials.

Mayoral candidate Zuma Dogg (David Saltsburg) appears in an ABC News Nightline piece covering the current state of public access television for the first time out of his character.  Along with public affairs television doyenne Leslie Sutton, Saltsburg expresses concern as to potential censorship of programming with the channels moving to City control.  I guess that camera crew wasn't really "Matt Dowd's friends" as you know who was posting.

Following an ass kicking in Sunland-Tujunga, Home Depot is now focused on it's day laborer center at it's store in Del Rey; working with Council Member Bill Rosendahl on plans to upgrade the facility.  However, local residents are not in favor of day labor centers being forced by the City on local big-boxes such as Home Depot.

A middle-class section of Van Nuys has worked itself up in a lather over being associated with a primarily Latino and working class remainder of the historic San Fernando Valley community and wants to attach itself to Sherman Oaks.  The effort, led by unsuccesful Assembly candidate Laurette Healey who has last seen trying to bamboozle Neighborhood Councils over the last shady solar energy ballot plan appears to have zero support in either Sherman Oaks or the rest of Van Nuys.

Opposition from neighboring cities is growing to the construction of a proposed NFL stadium in the City of Industry by Los Angeles developer Ed Roski.  Joaquin Lim, the Mayor Walnut has expressed his opposition to the stadium over fears of the arena's impact on his community while Diamond Bar has hired an attorney to attack Industry's Environmental Impact Report.  Maybe they could build a Home Depot there instead or move the detainees from Gitmo.

With buzz that he is a leading contender for the GOP Presidential Nomination in 2012 and the usual comparisons to President Obama, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal will be the headline speaker at the National Republican Congressional Committee's annual dinner.  Jindal, who takes the spot previously reserved for President Bush, denies he is running for President but has made a tour to at least one early primary state, Iowa, and has been campaigning and raising funds for candidates in other states, part of the usual required groundwork for a run at a party's Presidential nomination.

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Tuesday

Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner is working to clear the field for the 2010 California Gubentatorial Republican nomination early.  Poizner is pointing to a Weekly Standard article validating his candidacy and ability to self finance.  In the meantime, Antonio Villaraigosa's best bet may be to sit out the 2010 election and hope that either the then 72 year old Jerry Brown or the then 77 year old Dianne Feinstein get elected and due to their age serve only one term.  Okay, please stop chuckling.

Central City East Blogger Don Garza is pleased that the City has implemented new DASH bus service in Skid Row.  The service is much welcomed by residents and workers in the area who are transit dependent.  Ironically, according to Garza, a number of social service providers who receive public funds to provide transportation were in opposition to the DASH line, though Garza opines that these transportation services were inadequate.

Developer Ed Roski will unveil Wednesday the environmental impact report to build a stadium that is intended to draw an NFL team to Los Angeles, at a location in the City of Industry.  Roski hopes that if the development's construction is approved, a new or relocated NFL will play in the Rose Bowl starting in the fall of 2009 and then take up residence in new arena in 2011.

37 year old former teen actress Shannen Doherty is slamming tabloid queens Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan for getting drunk and showing their privates in public.  Hmm, I do seem to remember that Shannen was nothing but a delight when she was the same age.  Though I wonder if comments have more to do with generating publicity for the upcoming revival of Beverly Hills, 90210 that Doherty will be part of.

Saturday Special Hotsheet

Old Bank Building in Highland Park - Photo by Mayor Sam

The Daily News asks "Wasn't the last trash fee increase supposed to pay for new cops?" Yes, it was. They also accuse the Mayor of lying. Wow. The Mayor lie? Unbelievable. Yes, the Mayor lies.

Speaking of more lies from your elected officials, you knew about the DWP rate hikes the Clowncil pretended to be against and then voted for a week later. What you don't know about are secret DWP surcharges that can be passed onto you with no notice on a regular basis. These surcharges are even more than the rate increase.

Not believing Chief Bratton's "Culver City" spin, the troops are defying their leader. The Los Angeles Police Protective League has come out against his stand in favor of Special Order 40 and is supporting Councilman Dennis Zine's watered down version of Jamiel's Law. It's a baby step and a bit in the wrong direction, but it's a start nonetheless.

Billionaire investor Ed Roski announced his plans Friday for a new football stadium for Los Angeles, this one on land he owns in the City of Industry. Though there is no team slated for the stadium, local pols are still pursuing the dream of an NFL team at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and state legislators are vowing no public funds, Roski's going to go ahead anyway.

If you went to law school and have big time student loans to pay, you might consider becoming an attorney for Britney Spears. In the last month she's spent $375K for lawyers in her child support case, almost as much as in her conservatorship hearings and a weekly retainer of $10,000 to her court appointed lawyer.

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Thursday

A rambling screed on some blog I never heard of says NFL Football is coming to LA. Really? Not at the Coliseum since the Mayor declared it dead in an effort to keep USC at the historic stadium, despite them being treated shabbily by Bitter Bernie Parks' Coliseum Commission. Anyway, economics dictate a team will land in LA someday, but at a privately built stadium either Downtown in South Park or at Dodger Stadium (or even more likely somewhere outside LA like Carson).

President Bush delivered a crushing blow to plans to develop the West Los Angeles Veterans' Administration property near the 405 and Wilshire when he signed budget legislation that essentially prohibits the VA from doing any kind of development deal on the property. You know that the old, dead Republican Mayor is pretty strict when it comes private property rights and development. However, when the land is owned by the taxpayers, a little NIMBY/CAVE/BANANA action is warranted considering, well, it's our land.

Government programs and the bureaucrats who run them seem to go on like the Energizer bunny even when the masses the presume to be helping choose not to take advantage of the program. In this case, the Los Angeles Unified School District is set to lose millions of dollars in Federal funding for school lunches because, well, students are not participating in the program. School Board President Monica Garcia - who's never met a free lunch she didn't like - is aghast and is coming with all kinds of explanations as to why the kids and their parents don't take up the free food program. Everything from long lines (wouldn't that be a deterrent to the paying customers as well?) to embarrassment to too short lunch periods are the scapegoat. As we noted yesterday most of these government programs throw billions at a social cause for decades and nothing changes.

And finally, as Tammy Bruce noted, at a recent event, actress Sharon Stone didn't put it in a box, but she had a holiday present for her male fans.

NFL Talks On The Rocks

According to the Daily News, football talks have stalled and officials are avoiding the subject. At this point, apparently, the NFL values Los Angeles only as a bargaining chip in negotiations with other cities. Nice.

Los Angeles officials have refused to talk about it, but the NFL flat out told them three months ago that a professional football team will not be coming to the Coliseum, the Daily News has learned.

According to letters obtained by the Daily News, the city's latest hope of luring an NFL team involved pleading for Los Angeles to host a Super Bowl to try to regenerate interest in moving a team to the city.

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