CommentsBCK FILE--During the first few months of Eric Garcetti’s second term last year, the mayor had spent an average of one in three days outside the state and the country.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Garcetti’s travel itinerary has included stays in Atlanta, Phoenix, Boston, Las Vegas, and Berlin, as well as repeated trips to battleground states such as Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina as he dips his toes in the water in consideration for a presidential run. (Photo above: LA Mayor Garcetti campaigning in Iowa.)
As with any officer holder or public servant, the cost of security detail during travel quickly adds up. We’ve seen this with President Trump and his family who have spent many millions of taxpayer dollars on accommodations during golf jaunts to Mar A Lago, as well as on both business and recreational travel for his entire family.
Last Thursday, the Timesfiled a lawsuit, accusing the city of violating the California Public Records Act and the State Constitution when the city refused to turn over records the paper had requested for accounts of taxpayer funded security costs for the mayor’s out of state trips. The paper also filed for a court order to require the city to turn over information.
LA Timesreporter Dakota Smith had initiated requests to the Los Angeles Police Department for an accounting of security costs for Garcetti and his family for a two-year period.
To better understand what those trips cost taxpayers, Times reporter Dakota Smith made repeated requests to the Los Angeles Police Department for detailed information about the expense of providing security for Garcetti and his family on their travels, first in August of last year, then this April. Smith had sought information about trips that occurred over roughly two years. The reporter had also asked for information about other details such as the number of guards, hours logged by security, and affiliated costs such as lodging, food, and travel expenses for the security personnel. The requests were made for out-of-state travel only.
The police department responded with a statement that exposing information about the security detail could jeopardize the safety of the Mayor and his family.
On a national basis, watchdog groups continue to monitor expenses incurred by politicians and their families, whether HUD Secretary Ben Carson’s pricey office dining room set, former EPA head Scott Pruitt’s egregious exploitation of taxpayer funds for personal expenses, Ivanka and Eric Trump’s costly security detail for an Aspen ski trip or President Trump’s frequent getaways to his golf courses in Bedminster and Mar A Lago.
Like all officeholders, Mayor Garcetti should be transparent about the expenses his political ambitions cost taxpayers as part of the budget. The current political climate seems to have given a free pass with regard to spending and Angelenos are entitled to know where their tax dollars are spent.
(Beth Cone Kramer is a professional writer living in the Los Angeles area. She covers Resistance Watch and other major issues for CityWatch.)
-cw
