Comments@TheGussReport– Government corruption takes many forms, one of which is when elected officials take bribes.
Politicians also corrupt processes and deceive the people who put them into their well-paid positions by intentionally misrepresenting that they are properly doing their job according to the laws they swore to uphold.
Take for example the corruption on the LA City Council agenda last Wednesday, August 29th, when four proposed lawsuit settlements (for bad sidewalks and bad LAPD officers) requiring cash payouts to the plaintiffs were voted on and approved.
It isn’t that the total of those four settlements was significant, at just $1,148,000. It’s that the Councilmembers publicly misrepresented the fact that they properly considered the lawsuits before agreeing to settle them with your tax dollars.
Specifically, each of the proposed settlements included the following statement: “(Budget and Finance Committee considered the above matter in Closed Session on August 20, 2018).”
In other words, the City Council agenda from August 29thassured that the proposed settlements were properly considered a week earlier at its August 20thBudget and Finance Committee meeting, Chaired by Councilmember Paul Krekorian and attended by Councilmember Bob Blumenfield.
But that assurance is complete and utter bull.
That’s because there was no Budget and Finance Committee meeting on August 20th. There was only an attempted one. On that date, the three other Councilmembers assigned to it (Mitch Englander, Paul Koretz and Mike Bonin) never bothered to show up. Without a third Councilmember joining Krekorian and Blumenfield, there’s no majority. No majority means no quorum. And without a quorum, the meeting cannot be held, except for taking General Public Comments from members of the public in attendance that day. No quorum means no discussions, no agenda items, no Closed Session and no action. Nothing. As defined by the locally focused California open meetings law known as the Ralph M. Brown Act, “’meeting’ means any congregation of a majority of the members of a legislative body” (in this case, L.A. City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee) “at the same time and location.”
So, with just two of the five Budget and Finance Councilmembers in attendance, no meeting took place.
Yet Krekorian and Blumenfield illegally pressed on with the meeting without a quorum despite the presence of gatekeepers from City Attorney Mike Feuer’s office and the City Clerk’s office. They illegally went into closed session; illegally addressed the lawsuit settlements; illegally came out of Closed Session; and illegally failed to specify what the Closed Session outcomes were, each a violation of the Brown Act. Then, Krekorian and Blumenfield filed willfully untruthful Motions recommending approval of the proposed settlements to be heard on the 29that the full LA City Council meeting, with this specifically untruthful declaration on each Motion:
“This matter was recommended for approval by the Budget and Finance Committee (Krekorian Blumenfield: “Yes”) at its meeting on August 20, 2018, in Closed Session as permitted by Government Code Section 54956.9(d)(1).”
(It should come as no surprise that Krekorian’s law license has been suspended since 2016 for failure to pay dues to the State Bar of California, and prior to that he was ineligible to practice law for failure to take Mandatory Continuing Legal Education courses.)
Fast-forward to last Wednesday, the 29that the full LA City Council meeting.
Sharon Gin, the City Clerk’s representative, publicly brought the lack of a Budget and Finance quorum to the attention of City Council president Herb Wesson and the other Councilmembers. But her caveat was ignored. Public comment was taken, but Wesson failed to address the untruthful Motions. The lawsuit settlements were unanimously approved as filed by LA City Council without a single question raised.
It’s nothing, really ... just garden variety corruption. Is it criminal? Who knows? One would have to file a complaint to find out. Toward that end, I will file a Cure and Correct notice on Tuesday. If it gets to such a point, those lawsuit settlements could be forcibly unwound by a judge, with the taxpayers having to reimburse me for all related legal expenses. And in some instances, officials who vote on motions at meetings without a quorum can at times be held personally liable for their actions. At any rate, it is inherently dishonest and corrupt.
Or maybe it’s just sloth served with a dash of hubris. Plain and simple laziness by elected officials who take their jobs and responsibilities for granted.
And what’s worse in this story? The fact that Krekorian and Blumenfield cheated the public with their dishonest actions; that Englander, Koretz and Bonin cheated the public by not bothering to show up as assigned; that the City Attorney and City Clerk offices disregarded their obligation to the taxpayers to halt an illegal meeting and Motions; or that Wesson didn’t do anything about any of it?
That’s eight people out of eight who didn’t do their job. If it’s not corruption, it’s infuriating. But it’s corrupted.
Krekorian, Blumenfield, Wesson and Feuer did not respond to requests to field questions.
(Daniel Guss, MBA, is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, and has contributed to CityWatch, KFI AM-640, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Magazine, Movieline Magazine, Emmy Magazine, Los Angeles Business Journal and elsewhere. Follow him on Twitter @TheGussReport. Join his mailing list or offer verifiable tips and story ideas at [email protected]. His opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of CityWatch.)
-cw
