When Jan Perry is good, she is very, very good like when she took on the corruption and incompetence at the DWP and stood up for transparency and the public interest.
But when she is bad, she is very, very bad like when she proposed last week that the City Council officially oppose a bill by Sen. Gil Cedillo that could lead to exposing and prosecuting the crooked back room deals that have become so commonplace at City Hall.
The measure is SB 1168 would give the City Attorney’s office the power to subpoena witnesses and documents as part of its investigations “into misdemeanor offenses involving environmental, consumer protection, workplace safety, labor, fraud, or corruption violations and unfair business practices.”
Strangely, the City Charter gives subpoena power effectively to just about everyone in City Hall except the chief law enforcement officer, the City Attorney.
“Upon the request of the Mayor, Controller, Treasurer, President of the Council, or the presiding officer of any board, the City Clerk shall issue subpoenas in the name of the City, attested with the corporate seal, requiring the attendance and testimony of the witness or production of documents at a specified time and place before the Mayor, Controller, Treasurer, Council, or board requesting the subpoena,” according to Aritcle II, Section 217 of the Charter.
SB 1168 would go even further and give the City Attorney the authority until Jan. 1, 2014 to ask the presiding judge of the Superior Court to impanel a grand jury to aid in the investigation of possible crimes involving “environmental, consumer protection, workplace safety, labor, fraud, or
corruption violations and unfair business practices.”
Given the aggressiveness and independence of City Attorney Carmen “Nuch” Trutanich you can see how this kind of authority could lead to revelations of some pretty interesting things and even begin to unravel the system of political corruption.
Without the power to subpoena documents and call witnesses to testify under oath before a grand jury, it’s almost impossible to unravel all the dirty deals that have cost taxpayers so dearly for so long.
So you can understand why the mayor and City Council members would be uneasy if Trutanich were to have the power and to conduct thorough investigations. Some of them might turn up incriminating evidence of their various nefarious activities that have benefited them and their “friends” at the expense of the public interest and the health of the city’s neighborhoods and the business community.
That’s where Jan Perry enters to protect the political games at City Hall.
Last Tuesday, she introduced a resolution backed by Bernard Parks and Greig Smith, the self-styled fiscal conservatives” to include in the city’s 2009-2010 State Legislative Program OPPOSITION to SB 1168 which would allow the Los Angeles County Superior Court to impanel an additional grand jury, managed by the City Attorney, to investigate misdemeanors.”
The reason is the city’s terrible financial shape thanks to the mismanagement and corruption of the mayor and Council so Perry is terribly concerned that impaneling a grand jury might have some costs associated with it. .
What a lot of b.s. that is.
Cedillo’s bill specifically states that the bills for the grand jury “shall be submitted to the
prosecuting city attorney for reimbursement of the costs to the county out of the prosecuting city attorney’s own budget.”
Get it? Trutanich has to find the money in his own budget which it should be noted has been savagely cut by the mayor and Council because they fear him as the lone outsider in a corrupt political machine, the only figure in the city who could potentially harm them.
Then there are the “no fiscal analysis, ” “no determination of potential costs” and “no evaluation of the benefits” arguments — issues the council never worries about when it’s giving away millions to unions, contractors, developers and consultants who contribute to their campaigns or treat them to expensive dinners.
The benefits of giving the power to take certain suspected crimes to a grand jury should be as clear to ordinary citizens as it is to Perry and her pals: An end to the worst corruption at City Hall that LA has seen since the Great Depression.
This is as clear-cut as any issue could be. The Council should vote to support the Cedillo bill and anyone who is on the other side is as good as admitting they are nothing but crooks.
Must be Jan Perry’s ties with AEG and the bureacratic arms she twisted to get the theater signage approval that must have her worried.
Gil Cedillo is the author of SB 1168 that seems to open a few more doors into what’s going on at city hall that might not be on the up and up.
Isn’t Cedillo on the outs with his former friend, Mayor Villaraigosa, about the endorsement that went to Judy Chu over Gil in the Congress bid in 2009.
From what I’ve read, Cedillo and Tony have had disputes before and Gil holds grudges. Maybe some motivation for this bill was the sending of a message to Tony.
Just a possibility and there are some small things that cause people to make significant choices. Giving the Villaraigosa stooges another problem might one goal.
It should be noted that this is the FIRST TIME IN THE HISTORY OF THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES that a City Councilman or woman has introduced a piece of legislation to oppose another elected official’s bill in Sacramento.
UNTIL NOW, you all have loved to hate “one bill Gil” Cedillo, that one bill being to give illegals California drivers licenses. NOW of course, you suddenly love him because you interpret his bill to become a way for that spiteful Trutanich to go after others you hate MORE, at the moment. Starting with Jan Perry herself, and AEG’s Leiwike and their company’s lawyers and CEO, all of whom Trutancih threatened to jail when they challenged his arbitrary demands regarding billboards and paying the city some $6 million he claimed they owed, without ever proving legal or financial proof. To the contrary, all he could do was sputter to the Daily News about “theories of legal structures” and run off without further elaboration, leaving the reporter (not suck-up Orlov, someone who actually reported the facts) befuddled.
I’m not defending Perry’s position on billboards in general, and she seems to have created problems for the city by entering into a deal with Clear Channel/CBS Outdoors to allow them to put up two giant lighted billboards right on a freeway median, in exchange for money toward a park she wanted, and she wouldn’t listen to either legal objections or to the anti-billboard activists who she derided as “being more concerned with aesthetics than the poor.” She was unable to understand why her actions negated in court city-wide efforts to ban billboards.
BUT in that case regarding L A Live, she seemed correct in supporting the position of AEG that they had a deal grandfathered from over a dozen years ago, invalidation of which would have meant a lawsuit they would win – which is the council had already expressed support for their being granted an exemption. And she and Leiweke seemed correct that Trutanich was picking on them BECAUSE it was a political vendetta, to “get even” for someone who sensibly did not support HIM.
You explain this by just saying that Perry is either “very good” or “very bad,” meaning of course, whether she’s opposing the mayor or supporting him and MORE importantly, playing into the hands of those who openly want to “get him” for political vendettas, like Cedillo and Trutanich. NOT a basis for good policy.
Summary of above article:
Jan Perry is evil because she’s making things hard for Ron’s buddy Trutanich. Since Ron endorses him, Trutanich now represents angels, puppies, and everything good and pure in the world and anyone who vocalizes the fact Nuch hasn’t done shit since being elected to office is going to hell.
The individuals who complain the most are the same people who continue to vote for the LACK of LEADERSHIP, including the career politicians like Villaraigosa, Alarcon, Cardenas, Koretz, Wesson, Krekorian, politicians into office.
Let’s start the NO vote campaign against Lt. Gov. Candidate Janice Hahn on Tuesday, June 8, 2010 or STOP complaining.
15 days left for June 8 and counting!
Saturday, May 22, 2010
BEST OF LA DAILY BLOG: Eric Garcetti’s Affordable Housing Project Investigated by F.B.I. (Oops, Looks Like Mr. Perfect, ISN’T!)
Since this blog is experiencing it’s largest viewership ever, and it is a lot of NEW readers…Zuma Dogg wanted to make sure everyone knows about THIS little ditty about Mr. Perfect, Eric Garcetti. He’s the L.A. CIty Council President who presided as “leader?” of council as the city just slid into the toilet.
PIECES COMING TOGETHER ON FBI INVESTIGATION Into Affordable Housing in Former Mayoral Hopeful Eric Garcetti’s District
A special shoutout to Mr. Zuma Dogg!
http://ladailyblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/best-of-la-daily-blog-eric-garcettis.html
At a public get-together in another city, met some residents of Highland Park & Eagle Rock who claimed that Zuma Dogg had a lot of followers there. Kudos to ZD for fighting corruption in CH.
Just got my Democratic Election Guide recommending Janice Hahn for LT. Governor and Alberto Torrico for Attorney General. It is Newsom and Kamala Harris for me. And if I get more of these dumb mailers, I’ll vote Republican.
Yay Zuma Dog!!!
The 40 year old wigger who thought his ability to disrupt the council by wearing masks and screaming his head off for 2 minutes made him qualified to run for mayor. Then after nobody voted for him he threw a tantrum and threatened to quit the internet
Sasha Cohen needs to sue this guy for biting his Ali G persona
Excellent commentary, Ron!
Corruption has a snowball effect…like the DWP workers acting the way they do because of a “our bosses are lawless…so why not join them?” mentality. I will help be part of the solution next year. These corrupt Council member need to go. Remember Parks showing up one minute late for a crucial vote? That was bullshit. Pure and simple. A smokescreen for incompetent, corrupt, and rogue leadership.
The 40 year old wigger who thought his ability to disrupt the council by wearing masks and screaming his head off for 2 minutes made him qualified to run for mayor.
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