One of the patterns of public corruption is little guys don’t steal unless they see the big shots stealing. And so it is at LA City Hall.
The juxtaposition Friday of bribery charges being filed Friday against two city building inspectors and $13,300 in fines being leveled against four City Councilmen with more than four decades in elected office between them — Tony Cardenas, Eric Garcetti, Jose Huizar and Herb Wesson — for illegally taking free tickets and fancy dinners is just such an example.
They come on the heels of the mayor being socked with nearly $42,000 in fines by city and state ethics officials for similar abuses — a pathetically small punishment for the extent of his abuses and their flagrant nature. You can’t expect any better from agencies that under the control of the politicians whose conduct they are supposed to monitor..
Bribery and graft go together like love and marriage, and in these cases are just a window into far more pervasive corruption.
Freebies for city elected officials are nothing compared to how developers, contractors, unions, lawyers and others who operate inside the circle of power donate millions of dollars to campaign war chests, officeholder accounts and various other fund-raising activities to buy what is called “access” but actually amount to bribery since they get spectacular returns on their investments in form of subsidized projects, tax breaks, contracts and other favors.
The only reason why get away with it is because no one ever investigates, subpoenas records, impanels grand juries or organizes sting operations as they did in the case of building inspectors Hugo Joel Gonzalez and Raoul Joseph Germain.
District Attorney Steve Cooley’s record on public corruption is clear: Nail some small town crooks like Bell city officials when their crimes have become public knowledge and can’t be ignored while never taking the lead, especially when it comes to the LA political machine.
A case in point are the charges against the building inspectors who were caught taking bribes of $9,000 and $6,000 respectively in a sting operation involving bribes an undercover agent and informant working for a developer for approving permits without even visiting properties.
The FBI, not Cooley, conducted the investigation.
It’s not like there was a big mystery about what was going on in the Department of Building and Safety.
Two audits by then City Controller Laura Chick laid out conditions in the department that made in ripe for the kind of pervasive corruption that the informant alleged, according to an affidavit filed in the case.
“The case has the potential to reach far beyond the two arrests, the
affidavits suggest. The informant spoke of paying as many as 40
monetary bribes to building inspectors and called the problem “systemic”
at the city agency,” the LA Times reported..
affidavits suggest. The informant spoke of paying as many as 40
monetary bribes to building inspectors and called the problem “systemic”
at the city agency,” the LA Times reported..
“In some cases, the informant said, building inspectors accepted
materials and labor for their personal homes. In one instance, the
unnamed informant paid for an inspector’s vacation, according to the
affidavit.The informant ‘ever refused to pay a bribe in connection with any such
property,’because the payments were the only way to avoid delays and,
with some inspectors, the ‘only way to pass inspections required in
connection with residential construction projects,’ according to the
affidavit.”
Chick’s audits exposed how the department handled its money with such loose controls, it would have been easy to steal it right from the till, and how it had become a tool for the benefit of developers, not the public.
“Behind the scenes and out of the light of day,” she said, the department “has used tricks and gimmicks in how it oversees some of its funds. Many questions need to be answered regarding how costs are recovered and how funds are managed.”
The second audit on Building and Safety’s performance revealed that under political pressure to speed up approval of development projects, the department was failing in almost every to protect the public interest and the public safety.
The goal no longer was to make sure that buildings were safe and met the code requirements but to speed up the process for developers.
The LA Weekly’s Jeffrey Anderson reported on Chick’s audits and how the Building and Safety Department’s policies and practices were allowing out of control development that was damaging the quality of life for the city’s residents.
“City Controller Laura Chick’s scathing audit this week shows an out-of-control Department of Building and Safety that allows developers to have their way with Los Angeles at the expense of public safety,” he reported..
“Keeping with the harsh tone of the draft audit obtained two weeks ago by the L.A. Weekly, Chick found building inspectors who are pressured by higher-ups and others to avoid writing orders to correct code violations. Sometimes, when inspectors do issue orders, repeat offenders thumb their noses without penalty. Chick pledged to ‘stay inside the department’ while reforms are put in place, with the mayor’s support. ‘There are problems just waiting to erupt,’ she said. ‘Whether pressure [to avoid enforcement] is political, comes from developers or from supervisors, all of that is wrong, and it should stop.’ “
It’s not a mystery why the problems have erupted into overt acts of corruption.
Just check out the record on development of Cardenas, Garcetti, Huizar, Wesson and the rest of the Council. They are on the take in their own way and so most of all is the mayor who did the opposite of what Chick recommended by intensifying the political pressure to speed up the approval process for the benefit of developers, especially big contributors, and short-circuit the safeguards that protect the public and the quality of life in our neighborhoods.
When the big shots are crooks, don’t expect $90,000 a year building inspectors to respect the rule of law.
This ties in beautifully to one of today’s lead stories in the Daily News:
“Thousands of L.A. buildings at risk from quakes”
http://www.dailynews.com/ci_17805059
Retrofitting of between 8,000 and 9,000 buildings in L.A. is recommended by seismologists.
Good luck with that! Not only do we have the mayor trying to speed up the building process, which means shortcutting the process from permits, EIRs and skimping on quality construction to make a few extra bucks, but we can’t even get Building & Safety to get rid of all the illegally converted garages and conversions of single-family homes to multiple dwellings.
So how are they ever going to enforce retrofitting?
The greedy owners of those dangerous buildings will drag their feet until the San Andreas, Inglewood or any of the unknown faults that riddle downtown and environs razes those buildings free-of-charge, and it won’t cost them a dime except to haul away the debris. And the City will probably pay for that, too.
And, BTW, if a few people are injured or killed…well, they’ll say it’s just collateral damage.
When corruption jeopardizes human lives this is a major-major problem. How do these people get away with these activities for so long even after LACity Audits?
After the big earthquake in 94’ the City declared a Natural Disaster and qualified for federal assistance. As you know many residential properties collapsed and or were deemed to be a Safety Hazard.
An independent audit has to be conducted on retrofitted buildings on file just to verify the work was done. This is disgraceful and waste of tax payer money.
The City has a few good men & women, but we need all our leaders to man up and assume responsibility to clean house of corrupt officals or have the FED do it for them.
Whats happening within various departments is unacceptable, from LAHD to the LACRA to Vine Street- they are assuming no one can do anything because they have all Dept Managers part of the collusion. Clean Sweep missed it’s target, but a FED Clean UP don’t need our votes, they have our permission.
Greed is pervasive throughout our society. We need good leadership that does not condone violations of public trust. Zero tolerance should rule the day. But this is not something new. Its been part of the game since time began. This blog has been great at bringing to light the corruption and the influence peddaling that is rampant in city government. I hope Ron can figure out how a platform can be drafted that would force candidates for Mayor to be put on the record regarding specific proposals that will clean up government and take us into a more prosperous future.
Ron,
The inspector bribery incident is horrible and they deserve the criminal punishment they are going to receive and more!
Pleeeeeease do some research and report all the facts!
1. Give DBS a little credit……. the department and all of the articles have reported that in response to an anonymous complaint in January 2011 they had placed these inspectors on administrative leave at d were in the employment termination process and had reported them to the City Attorney Criminal Section and LAPD. The FBI actions are great………… they got the complaint prior to DBS…. It appears that DBS took action as soon as it found out about these characters.
2. If you do some investigations regarding the Laura Chick Audit you will find that some of the audit allegations were false and/or fluff and done for political gain……….hers.
3. You will also find that DBS responded positively to the audit. They completed all of the required actions and made the suggested changes to every single and allegation.
That Audit has been closed as in compliance by the current Controller and reviewed by the Council Committees, full Council and Mayor.
Please go verify it for yourself and then come back a write an article with all the facts.
Everything is not always negative!
I was informed that in the late eighties and early nineties complaints about inspectors accepting bribes were issued. A sting operation occurred with one and the inspector was caught in the act.
I presently live in a house that was built during this time and often wonder how they got away with approving portions of this place. I purchased the place fifteen years after it was built and am stuck trying to correct the wrongs since the defects are unhealthy and hazardous. I’ve considered lodging a complaint about it. However, knowing this City, they’d probably penalize me rather than review what they did/did not do and hold the responsible parties liable instead.
I was informed that in the late eighties and early nineties complaints about inspectors accepting bribes were issued. A sting operation occurred with one and the inspector was caught in the act.
I presently live in a house that was built during that time and often wonder how they got away with permitting portions of this place. The issues at hand refer to roof, balcony and foundation (or lack thereof). We’re not talking add ons. I purchased the place 20 years after it was built and am stuck trying to correct the wrongs since the defects are unhealthy and hazardous. These things were discovered years after the close of escrow.
I’d lodge a complaint about it. However, knowing this City, they’d probably penalize me rather than review what they approved and/or hold the guilty parties responsible.”
I don’t think we can ever count on Cooley to prosecute anything to do with developers. ‘Remember Newhall Land Development? Fish and Game had filed with the DA. Redirecting an entire streambed is a big no-no, which is what they allegedly did. The press played on just the spiney plant which, for many, is an eye roller. Newhall Land’s attorney was Philibosian-nice guy and a Cooley donor/supporter. Well, they just got a slap on the wrist.
It seems most these guys only prosecute when it’s in the news or close to election day. Even then, it isn’t the crime so much as who did the crime. ‘Can’t upset those donors now.
On a different note, I had a friend who had an inspector come out to permit her roof (some flashing somewhere at the top). He came and never went up to look. She asked him if he was going to look. He said nothing and left. She got permitted. On his behalf, she didn’t have to pay him. At least she did the right thing. However, she noted that there could have been none there and she would have gotten away with it.
I guess if it’s not one thing, it’s another.
Maybe the FBI should set up shop in City Hall for awhile.
We all need to encourage State Controller John Chiang to start his audit of City Hall. Its amazing we all know about the corruption, the reporters know about the corruption, the City Controller, Mayor, City Attorney and DA all know yet nothing is being done. They are all chicken shit morons with not one leader in the bunch. How embarrassing to have City council members Garcetti, Huizar, Cardenas, Wesson all making up excuses of why they didn’t pay for FREE tickets. Cardenas the Mexican Mafia gangster thug was the funniest. They really think we’re dumb and naive. What even more embarrassing is these clowns are the highest paid politicians in the Nation.
It’s all a scam from the top in Washington DC to the bottom to LA. When Garcetti can arrange for the CRA to knowingly over pay $1.4 M for 1601 N Vine to one of his friends and buddies, Steve Ullman, and no one does anything, we see that real corruption is condoned by all the authorities — the District Attorney who of course was probably involved in the fraud as the DA at the time was Garcetti’s Daddy and the US Atty who never will even acknowledge a communication concerning corruption, the the FBI who takes their instructions from Washington. All we get is a few petty crooks at the lowest level while the Trust Fund babies like Garcetti are groomed by the Democratic machine for higher office. In reality, it is the Demo-GOP machine as the this 2 party stuff is an illusion.