CommentsONE MAN’S OPINION-In response to one of my articles about the Recall of Mayor Eric Garcetti, one reader wrote an extensive and thoughtful email. Below is an excerpt:
“I would say LA City should recall Garcetti, [but] would it do any good. NO. Too many corrupt elected officials and the problem still would not be solved. The next question, who would replace Eric? Could that person solve the problem? Again No. Arnold could not solve Gray’s problem as such.”
At first, I thought the reader was defeatist, but then I realized that I was wrong. He had realistically identified the nature of the problem, i.e., the systemic flaws in our society. Nonetheless, here he was taking the time to submit an analysis of the situation. Despite his words which seemed to say, “We can’t do anything,” his action in commenting was continuing the fight.
His extensive analysis, which is far too long to reproduce, reminded me of Invictus by William Ernest Henley.
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
When the Deck Is Stacked Against You, Fight Harder
The reader’s persistence in fighting against the corrupt system boils down to self-respect. Do we turn tail and run, or do we have unconquerable souls?
Let’s Look at LA’s Recent History
In 2010, Eric Garcetti, while LA City Council President, was pressing to bring Kelo Zoning to the entire city of Los Angeles via state bill AB 2531. Garcetti is not above using the state legislature to help destroy the quality of life in Los Angeles as long as he personally benefits.
Kelo Zoning refers to the U.S. Supreme Court case, Kelo v City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 (2005), which allows a corrupt city or county to seize any piece of property and give it to the mayor’s, councilmembers’, supervisors’ developer buddies and then to allow them to construct whatever he wants.
The catch with Kelo is that it must be for a redevelopment agency. Thus, AB 2531 would have given Los Angeles’ extraordinarily corrupt CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) the right to seize any piece of property in LA and give it to a developer. When Gov. Arnie learned that AB 2531 was actually Kelo-zing the entire city of Los Angeles, he vetoed it.
Then the CRA was Abolished
This defeat of AB 2531 gave new life to the decades old campaign to end the CRA’s. Effective Feb. 2012, Los Angeles’ corrupt CRA was dead. Believing that the war had been won, most people went home – except for the developers and their own Darth Vader of Destruction, Eric Garcetti, and the corrupt LA City Council. With hundreds of billions of dollars to be sucked out of Los Angeles, they had no intention of stopping.
Thus, the reader is correct. Getting rid of Garcetti will not solve the problem. As he wrote, “Too many corrupt elected officials and the problem still would not be solved.” Yet, the reader’s head may have been bloody but not unbowed.
Recalling Garcetti Is the First Step
Corruptionism arises anew each generation. Since the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah did not deter mankind’s way, kicking out the Prince of Rats and Disease will not stop the developers’ greed. Removing Prince Garcetti will, however, be a significant step toward saving Los Angeles or at least saving our self-respect.
Three Centers of Corruption
We need to recognize three centers of corruption:
(1) The Court System
Any court which holds that the city council’s criminal actions are above the law and hence non-justiciable is morally bankrupt. Judicial corruption is pandemic in California and is not limited to Los Angeles. The State’s Commission on Judicial Performance needs to be replaced with an actual watch dog agency. Presently, its true real-life function is to protect corrupt judges.
(2) The Quisling Media
“Pravda West” (LA Times) and other local media have betrayed the public trust. Unlike the Orange Buffoon with his Enquirer like lies, LA’s media deceives by omission and misdirection. Not only does a spoonful of sugar help the medicine go down, a spoonful of platitudes helps the poison go down.
For example, they claim that subways and other fixed rail transit are designed to improve transportation when the true purpose is to justify more densification in order to make the 1% more wealthy and everyone else poorer. (This phenomenon was identified as far back as the 1915 Traffic Study in the City of LA. The forces of civic destruction can be contained but not vanquished.) That’s why Los Angeles now has the nation’s worst GINI Coefficient of any urban area and the worst homeless CRISIS. The ways in which Pravda West has misled the public into our present state of misery would require a book – not a few CityWatch articles.
(3) End the Criminal Vote Trading at City Council
Penal Code § 86 makes vote trading at LA City Council a crime, but it flourishes with impunity every single day that the council is in session. Of course, it does – with judicial protection.
Thieves generally do not report their ill-gotten gain to the IRS and the tax court is not under the control of the state courts. That’s how the government got Al Capone. The criminals looting Los Angeles, including the judges, are subject to federal prosecution for tax evasion. That is the nature of psychopaths, who are filled with hubris, believing that they are above the law.
Would Replacing Garcetti Do Any Good?
Like excising tumors, we need to cut out all the cancers in the body politic. Recalling Garcetti can be the first operation toward regaining control of our city and salvaging our self-respect.
(Richard Lee Abrams is a Los Angeles attorney and a CityWatch contributor. He can be reached at: [email protected]. Abrams’ views are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of CityWatch.) Edited for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
