CommentsLA COUNTY POLITICS-Near the end of last year’s swirling and ongoing feud between the LA County Board of Supervisors and Alex Villanueva, the first LA County Sheriff to unseat an incumbent in over 100 years, County CEO, Sachi Hamai, left her $450,000 a year position with a $1.5 million dollar payout from the county.
The board agreed to the deal, because they adored Ms. Hamai and an attorney who works at Miller-Barondess, LLP , a private law firm in Los Angeles, jotted them a note stating that the CEO had become the “Sheriff’s whipping post.”
A lesser man might be canceled for such a comment but Skip Miller, a latter day Thomas Girardi of Supervisorial legal fire power has so far evaded capture. I am curious, how much did Skip bill the county for sending that $1.5 million dollar letter? (1)
—The largest County squabble in America
The Supervisors have been actively engaged in trying to destroy Mr. Villanueva from the moment he was elected and tried to reinstate Caren Carl Mandoyan to the Sheriff's department. Deputy Mandoyan had been let go by the previous administration, in connection with allegations of domestic violence by his former partner, another Sheriff deputy.
Villanueva argued that Mandoyan, who was his driver during his historical political campaign, should not have been fired in the first place and that the previous sheriff had wrongfully terminated him.
After a year of high-octane legal squabbling a County Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff, ultimately ruled in favor of the county with a 17-page decision that was hailed by private attorney Louis “Skip” Miller. It was not hailed by Gregory W. Smith, who represented the former deputy Mandoyan in another private lawyer showdown at taxpayer expense.
As a litigant who has battled with the county and spent an enormous amount of time and energy fighting for the right to review government legal billings, I sought transparency about the county’s arrangement with Skip.
F’rinstance, how much did Skip bill the county for getting Judge Beckloff to nix Mandoyan’s dream of reinstatement? (2) And why was he involved in the first place?
— The Board’s private lawyer defending LA Alliance for Human Rights lawsuit - for who?
As if the payout of $1.5 million to Sachi Hamai and the most astonishing denial of a "2nd chance" by a liberal board of supervisors ever was not enough, I recently noted that Miller Barondess was also representing the county in the so-called LA Alliance lawsuit.
The matter was once again on the agenda for a closed session of the Board of Supervisors Tuesday March 9, 2021 as LA Alliance for Human Rights, et al. v. City of Los Angeles, et al., U.S. District Court, Central District of California, Case Number: 20-cv-02291-DOC-KES.
The federal Judge on the case, David O. Carter, has generated a lot of local ink raising awareness about people living near freeways and more recently the disproportionate number of people of color and women who are on the city’s streets.
This federal court matter, that has been discussed behind closed doors mostly for the better part of the last two years is almost certainly a “friendly fire” lawsuit, seeking relief of the homelessness conditions in the City and County of Los Angeles.
One key indication that this suit might be a team effort is the fact that the LA Alliance runs flattering quotes from the city and county officials whom they are allegedly suing on their website. Also (eyes narrowing) the LAPPL supports the alliance.
Now, according to City Council person Mike Bonin and others a federal consent decree may be indicated, but City Attorney Mike Feuer believes local elected officials like he and Joe Buscaino should really handle things. Sigh.
But the public officials are not handling it… Skip is!
I wonder how much Skip et al. have billed the county to spin Judge Carter about our homelessness debacle and how that is in taxpayer interests? (3)
So, I did what any Californian would do, I filed a Public Records Act request for ..."[A]ll of the invoices [p]aid by the [C]ounty to [Miller Barondess, LLP] since 2015."
The county provided a predictably incoherent packet with a gazillion exemptions and at least three omissions, referenced above.
County counsel thought it was a good idea, apparently, to only show the $10,275 we payed to the firm in 2015 for a case called Coalition of County Unions, et al. v. County of Los Angeles BS157144 and a mention of the $180,525 we payed the firm for work on the Montebello Unified School District, et al. v. County of Los Angeles, et al. matter in 2017 and finally, the county disclosed paying $151,305 to the firm for demurring to a FEHA complaint by Jacqueline White v. County of Los Angeles, et al. who made serious allegations but affixed the wrong name of the county CEO on the lawsuit, and thus had it thrown out by Skip.
Nowhere are there any redacted invoices for Ms. Hamai's payout, the Mandoyan denial or the LA Alliance lawsuit.
— Competing Conflicts of Interest
One pesky detail that doesn't sit well with curious members of the public is how, in the Sheriff v. CEO feud, Sachi Hamai or her lawyers never actually filed a legal claim against the county. Say what?
Skip, simply alleged in a letter that he then released to the LA Times that Sachi Hamai had endured "pain, suffering and great emotional distress," and that “the sheriff went on facebook and said that [...she had] committed a felony by having a "financial interest" in a matter that came before the board."
Hamai apparently served on The United Way board and they had helped push a proposal to the Board of Supervisors to redirect 10% of the county’s general fund — which includes part of the Sheriff’s Department’s budget — to better address the needs of low-income residents in under-resourced communities.
When the Sheriff went on the offensive, CEO Hamai sent a letter announcing her resignation from the United Way board, saying that she was unaware of the charity’s involvement in putting forth the ballot measure, “I was previously unaware of these efforts by United Way and, unfortunately, now believe there may be a perceived conflict of interest given my role as the chief executive officer for the county of Los Angeles.”
Ok, maybe a little conflict of interest, but what about Skip?
Not sure what type of case Ms. Hamai thought she had against the county after 32 years of service, but what message does it send to the public for Skip Miller to suggest that… a county Sheriff reporting a possible conflict of interest would result in a seven figure lawsuit payout for harassment and defamation?
At first glance, the letter Skip wrote to the board of supervisors seemed to be written on behalf of Ms. Hamai, sticking up for her against an unhinged Sheriff. But an Angeleno’s eye-view on this matter, since we’re the ones who ultimately get Skip’s bill… has us wondering about the 17-page Beckloff decision making it impossible to rehire Mandoyan. The penumbras of another conflict of interest start to come into focus.
Has there ever been a successful defamation lawsuit about highly paid public officials insulting one another in the press? Not that I can remember.
If one inspects Sachi Hamai’s "request" through Skip for $1,500,000 of taxpayer money closely, one can see it was characterized by Mr. Miller as “combat pay or redress for being wronged..." That's sort of like a parting-gift of... "public funds."
Skip told the Los Angeles Times that the Sheriff was “in big trouble" and you don’t need to be a fancy lawyer with invoices that are written in invisible ink, to see that the Sheriff may indeed be in big trouble. But, no disrespect to Skip, people out in the districts would be interested to know what Miller Barondess LLP have charged the county and her many majestic agencies for advising us to pay off CEO Hamai and everything else.
That's a request and like with Ms. Hamai, sometimes a request is all that is needed to get a result--let alone $1.5 million during a pandemic. Ms. Hamai should return the money and enjoy her much deserved retirement.
Eric Preven is a long time Los Angeles activist and an occasional contributor to CityWatch.)
-cw
