MLK Day Briefs on the Los Angeles (and Beyond) Political Machine

As Los Angeles Failure Mayor 2.0 (and Ambassador to India Nominee) Eric Garcetti, awaits his final Confirmation Vote, is it plausible that a certain, "Ex Mayor", would be asked to serve once again in an interim capacity ..........., due to the alleged Mayoral Aspiration of City Council President Nury Martinez? 

Who would be the desired choice among the Ex. Mayors (pictured above with Eric Garcetti) to serve in an Interim Capacity if City Council President (and CD-6 Representative) Nury Martinez decides to run for Mayor?

** Blogger's Notes: On this MLK Day Holiday 2022, we can state for the record, that Failure Mayor 2.0 (and Dad of Hunter Biden's Ambassador to India Nominee) Eric Garcetti, has not yet formally vacated his 200 North Spring Street Third Floor Office, but that is not stopping speculation on who will be his ........, "Interim Replacement". The Conventional Group Think is that City Clowncil Central Committee Strongperson Nury Martinez would ascend into the role of Acting Mayor, as defined by the City Charter ........., but WHAT IF she has aspirations to become the next elected Mayor?? Considering the current Mayoral Aspirants that comprise our bestowed, "Floundering Foursome (Karen Bass, Joe Buscaino, Mike Feuer and K.A. Leon)" of candidates to become future, "Failure Mayor 3.0", no one should rule out that the CD-6 Officeholder ........, is still mulling over her 2022 options. That stated, if Council President Martinez were to decide to undertake a 2022 Mayoral Campaign, is it possible that full City Clowncil Central Committee would decide to draft one of the three Ex. Mayor to serve in an interim capacity .........., and who would be the desired choice?? Maybe someone with current "judical background", but that is just mere speculation .........., or a future reality?? 

The Union Pacific Railroad calls out LA County District Attorney George Soros-Gascon for his "Soft on Train Robbers Legal Proceedings".

If Angelinos were still ignorant of the ramifications that the election of LA County District Attorney George Soros-Gascon, is having on the Quality of Life and respect for Law & Order, just meander over to the Union Pacific Railroad Tracks in Lincoln Heights. Local, national and international media, have descended on the area to report on the rampant thief, heist and pillaging of containers arriving and departing from UP's LATC Intermodal Yard. As this fragrant disregard for Law and Order garners massive coverage, local political representation (the Lincoln Heights Neighborhood Council, CD-14 City Clowncilman K.A. Leon, Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo, State Senator Maria Elena Durazo and Congressman Jimmy Gomez), should exert more pressure on the D.A. (as done by the UP Railroad in the Letter post above), to actually hold the dozens of those responsible, accountable ........., and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the Law.    

Is it the Progressive White Privilege of LAUSD School Board Member Jackie Goldberg (center in the group photo above), to select her desired candidate Rocia Rivas (pictured directly above), to replace District Two Officeholder and School  Board President Monica "Gordo Boo Boo" Garcia?

With the "La Gorda (Boo Boo with affection)" of former LA Failure Mayor Antonio Villar's rejected scheme to takeover the oversight of the Los Angeles Unified School District leaving office in 2022, the reigning LAUSD Political Retread Jackie Goldberg has used her Progressive White Privilege to anoint the desired replacement for the recent, failed CD-14 City Council Candidate ........, and we have questions. In a recent mass email, the Goldberg (and East Area Progressive Democrat's) Endorsed Candidate, Dr. Rocia Rivas, stated that the supposed "January 6 Insurrection y Attempted Coup (in reality, a protest gone too far but I digress)", was her motivation for running to replace Garcia as the District Two Officeholder. That stated, we have the following questions for the aspiring protector of Democracy in Public Education. First, will you pledge to not support the use of "Critical Race Theory (CRT)" as a tool of Indoctrination? Second, will you denounce any form of Federal Investigations into local parents demanding educational accountability? Third, will you support access to all public documents, as granted by the California Public Records Act? Lastly, will you support Parental Choice (Magnet, Charter School, Private School Vouchers), if conditions within LAUSD become unsuitable for obtaining a non-bias, quality education?----Scott Johnson in CD-14

A Friday Debrief on the Los Angeles (and beyond) Political Machine

With "Failure Mayor 2.0" Eric Garcetti one step away from becoming "Ambassador Yoga Pants", we tease speculation on how the interim Third Floor Political Dynamics at 200 Spring Street, will evolve once the Rhodes Scholar, turned tainted Politico, is exiled to the Indian Sub-continent.

 

Thank You President Joe for getting me out of LA.

** Blogger's Note: With the approval of the United States Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, the reign of Los Angeles Failure Mayor 2.0 Eric Garcetti, is nearing its castoff to the Sub-continent of India, compliments of Dismal President Joe Biden's Ambassador Nomination. Unless the Senate Republicans stall Yoga Pant's Confirmation Vote, the City Clowncil Central Committee will soon be entrusted to appoint an Interim Placeholder until the 2022 Mayoral Election is decided in November. Until then, Angelinos are stuck with a pandering, political pile of corrupt mush, who lowered himself on the knee again to honor Biden Administration's Transportation Secretary (and former South Bend, Indiana Mayor) Pete Buttigieg ........., as the "Person who saved Christmas (please pardon the bloggin gagging reflex)". On Monday, we will post speculation on a certain "Ex LA Third Floor Politico", who may become the interim Third Floor Officeholder (once again).

Paging CD-14 Absentee City Clowncilman K.A. (of or de) Leon!! You have a major crime issue in Lincoln Heights!!

Union Pacific Train Tracks in Lincon Heights.

With the final 2021 Redistricting City Council District Boundaries now approved, CD-14 Absentee (while running for Mayor) City Clowncil Central Committee Member Kevin Alexander (of or de) Leon, inherited a major crime issue in Lincoln Heights ..........., that is now getting International Media Coverage. In recent months, Union Pacific Intermodal Trains near its LATC Yard, have been robbed, ransacked and pillaged for their cargo. During the reign of Failure Mayor 2.0 Eric Garcetti and the area's former CD-1 City Clowncil Representative Gil "Broken Deal Cedillo", numerous Homeless Encampments have sprouted along the Railroad Right of Way (who's security is the responsibility of the U.P. Railroad Police), but with the Election of LA County District Attorney George Soros-Gascon, these brazen acts of thief is only going to get worst.

A Profile in Leadership via LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva.

With no apologies to Los Angeles County Democratic Party Leader Mark "Mini Bauman" Gonzalez, a growing majority of Angelinos, are going to support the re-election of Sheriff Alex Villanueva, especially after his legal decision to ask for Federal Prosecution of those arrested for the Murder of LAPD Officer Fernando Arroyos. As the Murder Rate in the City of Los Angeles rise to numbers not seen in more than a decade, voters would be wise to remember that it was the likes of "Mini-Bauman" Gonzalez, who endorsed DA Soros-Gascon over Incumbent Jackie Lacey, will be a contributing factor in the backlash against those who supported defund Law Enforcement ......., come November-----Scott Johnson in CD-14.

A Return to Morning Briefs on the Los Angeles (and beyond) Political Machine for 2022

After a much too long bloggin pause, a certain CD-14-centric Cyber Muser returns as the 2022 Political Campaign Season commences from the D.C. Swamp to local municipalities ........, including Ciudad de Los Angeles. 

At the Epicenter of our 2022 Bloggin Coverage.

A STILL LA Failure Mayor 2.0, takes a knee to honor a certain blogger's return.

** Blogger's Notes: A GREAT First Monday of 2022 to our returning and growing cyber-audience as a certain CD-14-based Blogger finds as way back into the political cyber-world after a much too-long pause (for reasons which will be broached upon in the near future). Before keyboarding on issues of interest, I must profoundly state my upmost appreciation to a great new cyber-colleague (and friend) Daniel Guss, who has singularly, resurrected the Mayor Sam Blog Brand, via his excellent City Hall-based content in the recent weeks. Unlike a certain El Segundo-located "Stenographer of Record for the Woke Political Establishment (financed in part by the Chi Coms)", this Blog continues in the tradition of its beloved creator, the late Michael Higby, in providing a Free Speech Platform where Cancel Culture via Woke Supremacy, will be denied regardless of viewpoint. In 2022, it's my upmost goal to provide a cyber-platform that provides content that provokes a free dialog on a multitude of issues, uninhibited by those who seek to force a subjected narrative, as exampled by Big Tech (and the Corporate Legacy Media's) Censorship on topics such as the Wuhan Virus, Vaccines, Political Corruption, Climate Change, Law Enforcement ........, and everyday discourse in a supposed Free Society. That stated, its time to keyboard some bloggin topics to begin our 2022 cyber-dialog, with some blog housekeeping disclosures posted below----Scott Johnson in CD-14. 

1. The Floundering Four seeking to become "LA Failure Mayor 3.0": Can someone (paging Rick Caruso), save Los Angeles from the ravages of what Absentee CD-14 City Clowncilman K.A. Leon, the DWP Corruption Enabler (allegedly) City Attorney Mike Feuer, Havana Congressperson Karen Bass and the CD-15 Average Politico Joe Buscaino, would reap on an increasing Third World Landscape, that would be completed if any of these four become LA's "Failure Mayor 3.0"?

2. Segregation via Vaccination: The Ruling One Party Machine in Los Angeles, has never let go of its Jim Crow Political DNA as the newly-installed City Clowncil Strongwoman Nury Martinez, decrees that indoor establishments enforce vaccine segregation that adversely impacts community of color ......, in the supposed Name of Science.

3. Corruption at 200 N. Spring Street: As we await the "Summer Judicial Residency of an Indicted CD-14 Princeton Graduate Singing Charro (for less Jail Time)", we ponder who will be the next to face indictments for their past connection to the Backroom Dealings at City Hall.

4. Outtakes from an Abandoned CD-14: With the CD-14 Pledge-breaker Clowncilperson born as Kevin Alexander Leon (in CD-9) traveling the municipal landscape on his latest Political Vanity Charade, we proudly endeavor once again to weekly broach on issues facing constituents, once again abandoned .........., to a forlorn exercise in self-serving political vanity.

5. The State of Agenda Stenography at the former Los Angeles (now El Segundo) Times: With apologies (well maybe not), to the rare solitary "Journalists" at the former "Fishwrap of Record on Spring Street", the implosion of journalistic ethics at the LA Times, merits continuous deconstructing as a local example on the subjected, tyrannical state of Corporate Media.

Please note: We will post more content tonight on story content within and beyond the boundaries of Ciudad de Los Angeles.

** Bloggin Housekeeping: We are working on upgrades and tech issues the will improve your cyber-experience. If you have a tip, topic or would like to provide content, please contact me at outwardmsj66@yahoo.com or at (323) 500-8061----Scott Johnson in CD-14

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.)

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.)

Testing Positive, Eric Garcetti Was Always The Wrong Messenger On COVID Safety

 By Daniel Guss

@TheGussReport - The news just broke that LA Mayor Eric Garcetti has tested positive for COVID causing lots of I told you so messages given the Mayor's hypocrisy and utterly unscientific claims about his following the science.

Garcetti told one particularly big, bold COVID lie on May 11, 2020, declaring that "the science" said we could walk on the wet sand of a shore, but not lay on the dry sand of its beach.

His quote from the LA Times was "Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Monday that he supports reopening the city's beaches for active recreation, with some restrictions. Sitting or tanning in the 'dry areas of sand' would not be a good idea right now, Garcetti said.  'But the wet sand area - if you need to get in there to swim, to surf...that is something I hope we can earn again.'"

The LA Times didn't bother to report, or apparently even ask, what was the source for that "science."

It wasn't the truth.  

It wasn't science then.  

It isn't science now.

Recently, I did ask Garcetti that question and he untruthfully responded "that was the science at the time," though he would still not identify his source.

A neurotic megalomaniac, as Tucker Carlson pegged him, Garcetti forced upon much of Southern California his ill-considered and restrictive daily mandates with televised lectures reflecting only his personal neuroses rather than actual science.

Most LA media didn't bother to question his veracity despite his long public track record of dishonesty.

Further, Garcetti's hypocrisy was evident early on as he ignored his own mandated mask-wearing, including in highly dense crowds, because his life-long goal is to be seen as Kennedy-esque and deep in thought, which are born solely of his fanciful imagination and delusions of grandeur.   

It eventually caught up with him.

Eric Garcetti 

Masking Rules For Thee, But Not For Me

Photo Credits: Unknown

Garcetti felt it was safe for him to go maskless, but his aides must not.

A Mask For Thee, But Not Eric G.

Then there's the irony of Garcetti testing positive while with Joe Biden at the global warming conference in Glasgow, Scotland.  Having restricted the movement of millions of people with his brand of "science," it is Garcetti who is now restricted from returning to the U.S. until he is deemed by both governments as safe for travel and re-entry.  Now that is ironic.

Eric Garcetti

COVID is serious and has the ability to cause severe and long-lasting illness and death.  While we do hope for Garcetti's recovery, his testing positive after not following his own rules that he inflicted on millions of people proves that he was all along the wrong messenger for all of the above, and most of everything else.  

Garcetti's office will not disclose whether he got a COVID vax booster, for which he has long been eligible.

(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.)