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THE VIEW FROM HERE - This column is not the only one scratching its head. So too is city councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who was chosen to replace Price as City Council president pro temp. June 20, 2023, LA Times, by Julia Wick, David Zahniser “"It's just unclear. I've not seen a felony charge for this type of activity. I've seen ethics violations for this type of activity," Harris-Dawson said. "So it leaves me curious."
“Curiouser and curiouser!” Cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English).”
Los Angeles is like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The LA City Council has been run as a criminal enterprise for close to two decades, resulting in the needless deaths of thousands of homeless people. Yet, the District Attorneys never notice! An illegally made audio tape of three Mexican councilmembers saying only supportive things about the Black councilmembers is truly thru the Looking Glass as it is portrayed as being anti-Black. Despite the tape’s leading to the criminal assault and battery on city councilmember Kevin DeLeon, the District Attorney Gascón saw nothing. Am I confused? Did we elect Sgt Schultz (“I see nothing”) to be our DA?
I must apologize that it has taken Yours Truly three articles to notice that DA Gascón has filed against councilmember Price after the statute of limitations has run. Most crimes cannot be prosecuted after a certain amount of time, and for embezzlement under Penal Code § 504, the statute of limitations is four (4) years. According to the Complaint, the dates for the Richardson’s getting the city to pay her health care premiums were between August 1, 2013 and December 31, 2017. Thus, the statute of limitations ran in December 2021.
Here’s another head scratcher. The esteemed and learned District Attorney Gascón has alleged that from August 1, 2013 through December 2017 Richardson and Price were not married. He alleges the marriage date: “May 7, 2018 in Ada County, Idaho.” It was the unmarried Richardson whose health care premiums were paid. Thus, Richardson is the one who got the financial benefit. Financial benefit may not be imputed to Price via California’s community property laws unless he was legally married to Richardson before 2018.
Is Gascón Attempting to Illicitly Force a Councilmember out of Office?
Who was behind the dirty political trick of the audio tape of Los Tres? We’ve got a good lead -- when the tape was released to Reddit, he said his name was “Martinez.” Thereafter, the tape was widely disseminated and promoted as racist by KNOCK LA who supported Hugo Soto-Martinez. Coincidences happen. Martinez is a common name, but Soto-Martinez is uncommonly disinterested in having this crime solved. Nor, does District Attorney Gascón seem to be in any hurry to find out about this serious crime (Penal Code § 632) which resulted in city council sessions being shut down, a min-Jan 6th type attack on city hall, and the criminal battery on councilmember DeLeon. Perhaps Gascón is waiting for the statute of limitations to run on PC § 632 so that Martinez forever remains a man of mystery. Shouldn’t it be a criminal offense for a district attorney to intentionally not investigate a crime so that the statute of limitations will have run before people find out Martinez’ full identity? Gascón knew about the illegal taping back in 2022. Although the tape had been made in October 2021, the statute had been tolled as the tape’s existence had been concealed for a year.
Woker Purge?
The scuttlebutt seems to be that Wokers are cleansing the city of those who are not sufficiently Woke, such as Nury Martinez, Gil Cedillo and Kevin DeLeon. Has anyone ever accused George Gascón of not being Woke enough? Wasn’t Black Lives Matter (BLM) the prime mover to oust former District Attorney Jackie Lacey? At the time, BLM was concerned with removing predators from the criminal justice system to the benefit of all society. Booting Lacey was good, but that does not mean Gascón is good. We are now told by the LA Times that Councilmember Harris-Dawson, Price’s replacement as city council President Pro Tem, is more acceptable to the Wokers than Price.
“Harris-Dawson leans politically to the left of Krekorian and has strong relationships with the council's most progressive members. Those connections could be a boon to Krekorian as the council president seeks to corral votes.” Ibid (If by “boon,” one means threatened with political extinction unless Krekorian kowtows to the Wokers.)
Whose Head Is Next?
Purges tend to become runaway locomotives. Extremists, as true believers, cannot tolerate other opinions; often they are true believers only in themselves like The Donald. For them, extremism is a virtue. It’s all so perplexing that one may go bald scratching his head. Gil Cedillo who was no Woker is gone and a Woker appears. New CD 1 councilmember Hernandez supports a 100 unit seven story mixed project at 3800-3830 North Pasadena Avenue; 3832-3836 North Figueroa Street; 110 East Avenue 39. The absolute last thing CD 1 needs is more Developer-Woker densification, which will drive up housing costs and increase homelessness. Mitch O’Farrell, Garcetti’s Mini-Me, is gone (a good thing) and Woker Soto-Martinez appears (not a good thing). Martinez supports 35 story project at the Lincoln-Toyota dealership on Hollywood Blvd – more Developer-Woker collusion. The election for Nury Martinez seat at CD 6 is underway. Will a Woker emerge the new CD 6 councilmember? What about Price’s CD 9? Wouldn’t it be good for the Wokers to have their choice as caretaker to finish out Price’s term?
Maybe, Gascon’s prosecution of Curren Price is the normal turmoil of greedy politicos stabbing each other in the back in a helter skelter manner.
(Richard Lee Abrams has been an attorney, a Realtor and community relations consultant as well as a CityWatch contributor. You may email him at [email protected]. The opinions expressed are those of Mr. Abrams and not that of CityWatchLA.com.)
