UPDATE: Michael Rosenberg disputes statements made in a KTTV report and on Deputy District Attorney David Berger's personal blog, saying he is not a felon and did not contribute to the Weiss campaign. He has discussed the matter with KTTV and Berger but they have stood be their reports which were quoted here.
If ever there was a case to be made for clean money public financing of political races, Jack Weiss' campaign to be LA's top law enforcement officer is it.
Weiss, the two-term City Councilman widely
despised in his district for pandering to special interests and ignoring his constituents, has based his entire campaign for City Attorney on who his challenger, Carmen "Nuch" Trutanich, represented as a private lawyer.
The trouble with that is that Trutanich was paid to work, not paid to play, and attempts at smearing his opponent have backfired since it's Weiss who is tainted by dirty political money.
Deputy District Attorney and blogger David Berger and KTTV's John Schwada broke the latest story last night with his report on a Weiss fund-raiser held May 3 at the Hancock Park home of convicted felon Michael Rosenberg
Rosenberg was convicted of a "massive health industry fraud involving his operation of elder care and
drug treatment facilities known as Walnut Convalescent Hospital,
Convalescent Care Center, Hope House (also known as Merit Manor and
Citi Lodge," according to Berger who links to the court documents.
Weiss, his face crunched in worry, denied knowing anything about the connection in his on-camera interview with Schwada although his campaign admitted they knew about the problem for most of a week.
"Weiss, a former prosecutor must have known of Rosenberg's criminal past, but he must also have assumed that so close to the election, nobody would find out until it was too late.Weiss was wrong. Very wrong," wrote Berger, who lost in the primary race for City Attorney and now backs Trutanich.
"Jack Weiss has built his campaign on attacking Carmen Trutanich for being an attorney who defends criminals. Yet Weiss has no problem breaking the law himself to raise money, neither does he have a problem taking money from a convicted criminal. In return for what, you may rightly ask?"
This is the third time that Weiss' campaign has run into trouble.
Last June, another convicted felon -- lobbyist Steve Sugerman who confessed to overbilling in the DWP/Fleishman-Hillard case -- held a fund-raiser in Santa Monica for Weiss who had no qualms about getting campaign help from a player getting rich on his City Hall connections.
Despite his conviction, Sugerman is representing the Autry Museum into its fight with community activists who want to see the historic Southwest Museum presderved and Playa Vista in its fight with environmental activists who want to see the Ballona Wetlands preserved.
And just last week, Community College trustee
Kelly Candaele was forced to resign as a member of the board of the LA City Employees 'Retirement Fire and Police Pension fund after serving as a host of a Weiss fund-raiser.
City commissioners are barred from contributing to city political campaigns but the problems over this connection go much deeper.
As the New York pension fund scandal spreads to LA, the city employee pension funds have caught the attention of investigators.
Two Fire and Police Pension Fund board members, Sean Harrigan and Elliot Broidy, were forced to resign after the Securities and Exchange Commission sought details of their fiinancial dealiing.
And the April 27 Beverly Hills fund-raiser for Weiss was co-hosted by Richard Ziman and his wife and and Daniel Weinstein and his wife.
Weinstein heads Wetherly Capital which is a potential target of the nationwide pension fund scandal investigation and Ziman is an unpaid adviser to Wetherly.
It's a small world the world of LA political influence peddling and Jack Weiss is the man inside that world.
Weiss, the two-term City Councilman widely
despised in his district for pandering to special interests and ignoring his constituents, has based his entire campaign for City Attorney on who his challenger, Carmen "Nuch" Trutanich, represented as a private lawyer.The trouble with that is that Trutanich was paid to work, not paid to play, and attempts at smearing his opponent have backfired since it's Weiss who is tainted by dirty political money.
Deputy District Attorney and blogger David Berger and KTTV's John Schwada broke the latest story last night with his report on a Weiss fund-raiser held May 3 at the Hancock Park home of convicted felon Michael Rosenberg
Rosenberg was convicted of a "massive health industry fraud involving his operation of elder care and
drug treatment facilities known as Walnut Convalescent Hospital,
Convalescent Care Center, Hope House (also known as Merit Manor and
Citi Lodge," according to Berger who links to the court documents.Weiss, his face crunched in worry, denied knowing anything about the connection in his on-camera interview with Schwada although his campaign admitted they knew about the problem for most of a week.
"Weiss, a former prosecutor must have known of Rosenberg's criminal past, but he must also have assumed that so close to the election, nobody would find out until it was too late.Weiss was wrong. Very wrong," wrote Berger, who lost in the primary race for City Attorney and now backs Trutanich.
"Jack Weiss has built his campaign on attacking Carmen Trutanich for being an attorney who defends criminals. Yet Weiss has no problem breaking the law himself to raise money, neither does he have a problem taking money from a convicted criminal. In return for what, you may rightly ask?"
This is the third time that Weiss' campaign has run into trouble.
Last June, another convicted felon -- lobbyist Steve Sugerman who confessed to overbilling in the DWP/Fleishman-Hillard case -- held a fund-raiser in Santa Monica for Weiss who had no qualms about getting campaign help from a player getting rich on his City Hall connections.
Despite his conviction, Sugerman is representing the Autry Museum into its fight with community activists who want to see the historic Southwest Museum presderved and Playa Vista in its fight with environmental activists who want to see the Ballona Wetlands preserved.
And just last week, Community College trustee
Kelly Candaele was forced to resign as a member of the board of the LA City Employees 'Retirement Fire and Police Pension fund after serving as a host of a Weiss fund-raiser. City commissioners are barred from contributing to city political campaigns but the problems over this connection go much deeper.
As the New York pension fund scandal spreads to LA, the city employee pension funds have caught the attention of investigators.
Two Fire and Police Pension Fund board members, Sean Harrigan and Elliot Broidy, were forced to resign after the Securities and Exchange Commission sought details of their fiinancial dealiing.
And the April 27 Beverly Hills fund-raiser for Weiss was co-hosted by Richard Ziman and his wife and and Daniel Weinstein and his wife.
Weinstein heads Wetherly Capital which is a potential target of the nationwide pension fund scandal investigation and Ziman is an unpaid adviser to Wetherly.
It's a small world the world of LA political influence peddling and Jack Weiss is the man inside that world.
Ron Kaye is the former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News where he spent 23 years helping to make the newspaper the voice of the San Fernando Valley and fighting for a city government that serves the people and not special interests.
Twice in recent years, Los Angeles Magazine listed Kaye among the city’s most influential people, specifically in the area of politics. Kaye has been variously described in the media as the “accidental anarchist,” “the Patrick Henry of the San Fernando Valley” and a “passionate populist.” He is now committed to
carrying on his crusade for a greater Los Angeles as an ordinary citizen. Previously, Ron worked at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner,
Associated Press, Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Australian as well as papers
in Fairbanks, Alaska and Yakima, Wash. He also wrote for Newsweek magazine, The Guardian in London and the National Enquirer.
Weiss is desperate and knows he's going to lose, so he's scraping from the bottom...
Maybe he'd have more good-will for his re-election if he actually cared about his constituents and wasn't so abrasive/rude.
And for someone who thinks he's so smart, you'd think he'd show more independence from his disaster Mayor-patron. I guess he cannot think for himself.
The best and frankly only thing that the weissholes can say about Trutanich is that he defends criminals...well duh, that's what attorneys do. All Americans have the right to efective representation when accused of a crime...guilty and innocent alike have this right. Including, by the way Jack Weiss, who when considering his continual breaking of campaign finance laws, might need some effective representation himself very soon.
Ace, if this is all you can come up with, you probably should be thinking about retirement because you have done a piss poor job of attacking Trutanich....
Bye Bye Jacko!!!!
Well said Ron. It's time Los Angelenos started taking back our City from unaccountable moneyed thugs like Weiss. Electing Carmen Trutanich as our City Attorney on May 19 will send a shock wave through City Hall and start a movement to make our elected officials truly accountable to the people who put them in office.
I am not afraid of Jack Weiss, so I don't mind posting with my name. Like you and your readers, I have only one concern; to stop the corruption.
It is for this reason that I, along with Councilmember Dennis Zine, KRLA's Kevin James, and other concerned Los Angelenos, will be gathering on the South Lawn of City Hall at 2:00PM tomorrow to call for an investigation into Jack Weiss's fundraising.
I would welcome as many of your readers who can spare the time, to come to the South Lawn at City Hall tomorrow, Wednesday, 2:00PM, to show their support for an investigation into Jack Weiss's improper, unethical, and unlawful fundraising activities.
Wasn't Weiss the first council member to blast Fleishman Hillard? Now he's pals with Sugerman?
Weiss is so pathetic he has taken to re-doing his name on those annoying signs that trumpet some city improvement. One is on Olympic Boulevard just west of Century City. There was a small project months ago--but the blue and white sign is still up. Weiss's name has been relettered to enhance visibility, like some third world despot. Little does he know we associate it with the deplorable condition of the streets--esp Olympic in West LA between Bundy and Sepulveda.
I have carefully read your many posts on Weiss, who is indeed despised in his district. Thank you, and please keep up the good work. The city deserves better than this "too hip, got to go, only photo my good side, show me the money" politician.