CITYWATCH COMMENTARY-In yet another incident involving the City Council’s lack of transparency, Councilman Jose Huizar entered into a private settlement regarding the sexual harassment law suit filed by his former chief of staff, Francine Godoy.
Settlement in Huizar sexual harassment case is at no cost to city
Conveniently, this settlement occurred one day prior to a court hearing on the access to “confidential” court documents that was being pursued by The Los Angeles Times.
While the terms of this “global” settlement are not public, the City Attorney’s office indicated that Los Angeles is not responsible for any payments under this private settlement agreement.
However, will Huizar repay the City for his legal expenses that were not to exceed $200,000?
And if Huizar is required to make any payments under the settlement, what is the source of cash given his limited resources?
Who knows, maybe the downtown developers in his Council District 14 and those real estate moguls with business before the Chairman Huizar’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee will have the opportunity to contribute to The Jose Huizar Sexual Harassment Defense Fund. After all, they have been exceptionally generous to his reelection slush fund.
(Jack Humphreville writes LA Watchdog for CityWatch. He is the President of the DWP Advocacy Committee, The Ratepayer Advocate for the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council, and a Neighborhood Council Budget Advocate. Humphreville is the publisher of the Recycler Classifieds -- www.recycler.com. He can be reached at: [email protected].)
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CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 80
Pub: Oct 3, 2014