LA WATCHDOG

LA WATCHDOG--The City of Los Angeles cannot stay out of the news unless it is engaged in a cover up.     

LA WATCHDOG--If approved by the voters, Proposition 16 would repeal Proposition 209, a constitutional amendment that was approved by 55% of the voters in 1996.  Proposition 209 stated: 

LA WATCHDOG-On Friday, September 18, Mayor Eric Garcetti released his Budget Policy and Goals for Fiscal Year 2021-22 to the General Managers of All City Departments (except Water and Power, Harbor, Airports, and the two pension plans).

LA WATCHDOG--In his recent Update on the Status of City Finances, the City Administrative Officer estimated that “2020-21 revenue could fall short of budget by $200 million to $400 million.” 

LA WATCHDOG--Authorizes $5.5 billion state bonds for: stem cell and other medical research, including training; research facility construction; administrative costs.

LA WATCHDOG--On Wednesday, the City Council approved a Declaration of Fiscal Emergency without any discussion. 

LA WATCHDOG--On Tuesday, Federal prosecutors dropped the dime on Morrie Goldman, a long time City Hall lobbyist, charging him with one count of “conspiring to commit bribery and honest services mail fraud.” 

LA WATCHDOG--The courts have ruled “use of the public treasury to mount an election campaign which attempts to influence the resolution of issues which our Constitution leaves to the ‘free election’ of the people … presents a serious threat to the integrity of the electoral process.” 

LA WATCHDOG--When the FBI raided the home and offices of Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar on November 7, 2018, the “shocked” City Council sprang into action to address long needed campaign finance reform. 

LA WATCHDOG-As part of their call for Radical Transparency into the budget and financial affairs of the City of Los Angeles, the Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates called open and transparent labor negotiations and that any new labor agreement not result in deficits. 

LA WATCHDOG--Just what we need.  Another controversial measure on the already crowded November ballot that has twelve statewide propositions, many of which are very high profile, and one measure from the County to cut the Sheriff’s budget. 

LA WATCHDOG--On Thursday, a federal grand jury threw the book on Councilman Jose Huizar, returning a 34-count indictment on “charges that he lead a criminal enterprise where he used his powerful position at City Hall to enrich himself and his close associates, and unlawfully gave favorable treatment to developers who financed and facilitated bribes and other illicit financial benefits.” 

LA WATCHDOG--Matthew Garza, a 23 year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department who served on Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Security Detail for over six years, has filed a complaint in Superior Court against the City of Los Angeles in which he alleges sexual harassment and a hostile work environment. 

LA WATCHDOG--Proposition 15 is an attempt by the state’s public sector unions (along with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg) to establish the Split Roll. 

LA WATCHDOG--On Tuesday, July 21, the County Board of Supervisors will consider a motion, Reimaging LA County,

LA WATCHDOG--Californians are the highest taxed people in the country.

LA WATCHDOG--Mayor Eric Garcetti and numerous members of the Los Angeles City Council want us to approve the Split Roll by voting yes on Proposition 15. 

LA WATCHDOG--Carmel Partners, a San Francisco based real estate management firm that develops and owns residential real estate, and its 35 story luxury high rise at 520 Mateo Street in the Arts District were prominently mentioned in the FBI’s affidavit filed in connection with the recent arrest of Councilman Jose Huizar.

LA WATCHDOG--Our cash strapped City is eyeing new sources of revenue to offset the adverse impact of Covid-19 on the City’s seven economically sensitive taxes* that provide over 72% of the City’s General Fund revenue in a normal year.

LA WATCHDOG--The Mayor and the City Council have once again entered into an arrangement with the politically powerful leaders of the public sector unions that is not in the best interests of the City of Los Angeles and its four million residents. 

LA WATCHDOG--On Tuesday morning, the FBI arrested Councilman Jose Huizar on “a federal racketeering charge that alleges he led a criminal enterprise that used his powerful position at City Hall to solicit and accept lucrative bribes and other financial benefits to enrich himself and his close associates in exchange for Huizar taking official actions favorable to the developers and others who financed and facilitated bribes.”  

LA WATCHDOG--On Wednesday, the City Council agreed not to place the vacancy tax on the November ballot. 

LA WATCHDOG--The short term and long term financial outlook for the City of Los Angeles is only getting worse according to the City’s Preliminary Official Statement for the issuance of up to $1.85 billion of Tax and Revenue Anticipation Notes. 

LA WATCHDOG--Without any hearings, the City Council voted to ask the City Attorney to draft a ballot measure to place a vacancy tax on the November ballot.

LA WATCHDOG--There are sins of commission where politicians and their bagmen get caught with their hands in the cookie jar.  And then there are sins of omission where our politicians ignore corruption, fail to call out or investigate a fellow member of the Council for corruption, or refuse to place a measure on the ballot that would “limit opportunities for corruption.”  

LA WATCHDOG-According to the Los Angeles Times, “Mayor Eric Garcetti pledged that the city would ‘identify $250 million in cuts so we can invest in jobs, in health, in education, and in healing,’ especially in the city’s black community ‘as well as communities of color and women and people who have been left behind.’” 

LA WATCHDOG--If a California company and its management were engaged in bribery, money laundering, extortion, mail and wire fraud, obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and racketeering,

LA WATCHDOG--One of Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Back to Basic tenets was to “increase transparency and civic engagement.” 

LA WATCHDOG-Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Los Angeles City Council were shocked, shocked by the revelation that one of its members, Jose Huizar, (photo above) was the principal player in pay-to-play corruption schemes involving the up zoning of large real estate developments, creating hundreds of millions of dollars in extra profits for unscrupulous developers.

LA WATCHDOG--Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Proposed Budget that was submitted to the City Council on April 20 was essentially dead on arrival because the revenue assumptions assumed that his Safer at Home order would not be extended.