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THE VIEW FROM HERE - When Angelenos allow craven political leaders to publicly place their own petty careers ahead of honesty, integrity, and the common welfare, we will reap what we sow. We need not rehash the decades of corruption to prove once again that is Los Angeles is corrupt. The main themes of the 2022 Mayoral Campaign between Karen Bass and Rick Carson were rampant corruptionism and the homeless crisis which corruption has brought upon Los Angeles.
Because neither Bass nor Caruso had held a city office, they could claim to be change agents. Their promises, nonetheless, were highly suspect. Karen Bass had held many public offices at the state and the federal level where she represented significant areas of the city of Los Angeles. Caruso was the most famous developer in a city where dishonest developers controlled the city government. Caruso even bragged about his $125,000.00 bribe to Mayor Garcetti to get one of his projects approved. Los Angeles is so corrupt that open and shut cases of bribery are cleansed if the money is called a “donation,” as long as the money went to the Major’s Fund. Garcetti could later distribute the “donations” to buy political favors. In 2022, when Angelenos had the choice between the lesser of the two evils, we chose Karen Bass. Never underestimate the political power of grandmotherly wave and smile.
LA Corruptionism became worse as billions of tax dollars were diverted from the legitimate needs of Angelenos, such as preparing the LAFD for mega wildfires, into scams allegedly designed to help the homeless. There is no one to reign in the City Council. The City Attorney is the attorney for the City and not for the people. Thus, by law the City Attorney can take no action or even divulge confidential information about city corruption or corrupt city councilmembers. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has been a mixture of incompetence and corruption forever. Decades ago, the State of California had a judiciary which was more or less honest. The federal system in Los Angeles, however, was rampant with corruption, thanks primarily to presiding Judge Manuel Real. In the 1980's, for example, Judge Real had a deal with insurance companies to never allow a class action case be certified in the federal Central District covering Los Angeles. Federal judges routinely did favors for big business and in return they would be elevated to higher levels, e.g., District Court Judge Pamela Rymer was promoted to the Ninth Circuit. After the 1986 California state Judicial Retention election for California Supreme Court, corruption spread throughout the state system. In December 2016, Judge Richard Fruin said that the city council was de facto above the law; his word was” non-justiciable.” Detailing the corruption in both the federal and state court systems will require a multitude more CityWatch articles. One thing is beyond dispute; neither judicial system has reigned in the corruption in LA city government.
How Angelenos Reacted to Mayor Bass’ Firing Kristin Crowley Chief from the Los Angeles Fire Department
When a journalist asked Chief Crowley whether the budget cuts at the LAFD had hampered firefighting efforts during the Pacific Palisades wildfires, she answered truthfully and said, “Yes.” On February 21, 2025, Mayor Bass sought to deny her own prior malfeasance to bolster the Fire Department by firing Chief Crowley for the serious crime of “Telling the Truth.” At the Tuesday, March 4, 2025, city council hearing whether to approve or reject Mayor Bass’ firing, Councilmember Monica Rodriguez proved that each and every ground advanced by Karen Bass was false. Councilmember Tim McOsker admitted that Chief Crowley had spoken the truth, but for him it was vital to support the blatant injustice of Crowley’s firing. His reasoning boiled down to One Should Not Speak Truth to Power with the implication that any councilmember who did not support Mayor Bass would face political harassment. Councilmember Padilla opined “the chief chose the wrong time and the wrong place to raise an issue.” Padilla ignored the fact that Crowley did not “raise the issue.” If Los Angeles has a wrong time and the wrong place to tell the truth about the worse first wildfire in Los Angeles, just when is the right time? For Padilla, it wasn’t at city council on March 4th. Padilla, however, had no trouble with Karen Bass’s serial lies about Crowley which apparently were all spoken at the right time and at the right time. For Angelenos, there is no right time to speak the truth which upsets politicos, but any time is the right time for politicos to lie.
Nationally and Locally, Voters Are A-OK with Obvious Corruption
When President Nixon had 18 minutes of a taped conversation deleted, it was such horrendous behavior that Nixon had to resign. In today’s America, we have a Supreme Court Decision with immunizes the President for his criminal conduct!
When a society rewards its elected officials for their institutionalizing lies, deceit, and fraud, the people will inherit a lawless country where the powerful are above the law. When the powerful are above the law, there is no law. That applies to Los Angeles and to the United States of America.
(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])
