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MARK, MY WORDS - In America, those accused of crimes are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Whether the accused are likable or abhorrent should not factor into the legislative process. Humans, however, are seldom able to attain that level of objectivity, which often ends up with the guilty going free and the innocent unfairly convicted. The justice system doesn’t always work, and instead of facts, we are left to come to conclusions based on our instincts.
Los Angeles Councilman John Lee is the latest in a string of LA City officials accused of ethics violations. Of course, accused does not mean convicted, but at what point are we going to say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! This constant string of embattled public servants is doing untold damage to not only the public’s faith in our municipal government, but to the City and its residents.
LA is a city fraught with problems more often created by its own leadership through corruption, negligence, and misguided policies, than anything else. If political pandering and tap dancing for votes doesn’t finish us off, certainly bending to lobbyist influence and betraying the trust of constituents eventually will. In this fairytale, the city that cried wolf will not end any differently than the original cautionary tale, and the people of LA will, as always, end up paying for and cleaning up the mess.
How many times are we going to re-elect the same usual suspects committing the same usual crimes and reinvesting billions of our tax dollars into the same usual failed policies? Monarchial succession doesn’t work! That’s why we don’t do that anymore. Our municipal candidate pool is full of sycophantic politicos who are willing to carry the dirty water of their predecessors to the detriment of the people of LA. Why would John Lee be any different? After all, he was practically raised in City Hall with 20 plus years in LA public service. Again, he stands accused, not convicted.
In 2017, John Lee went on a trip to Las Vegas with convicted former councilman Mitch Englander where he is alleged to have accepted gifts and money from a businessman/developer far exceeding the legal limit. Lee was chief of staff for Englander and surely was either aware of inappropriate behavior by Englander, or he was a dangerously incompetent staff member.
In this age of Orwellian social media dressed up as journalism, appearance is the naked king, walking amongst two groups of his people; those who actually see his new clothes, and the rest who are too afraid or checked out to say something. Like my mom said, the people we surround ourselves with reflect on us and influence how others see us. Public servants are particularly vulnerable. Out of 15 LA City Council people, about a third have been recently accused or convicted of crimes or at least, behavior unbefitting a public servant. How much more should this city be expected to take?
As our City Council is picked off one by one, faith in the institution is incrementally depleted and that is the real story here, or at least, should be. A checked-out voting public is the cancer of democracy.
Left to their own insidious devices, powerful private influences will cease to unduly influence our elections, and finally simply own them outright. A reticent and informed voting public is all that stands in the way of the fall of American democracy. That is, if it is not already too late.
At least Gotham City has colorful criminals and superheroes to fight them off. LA has just become another run-of-the-mill cliché; a playground for developers and corrupt non-profits who clearly see our council as malleable puppets expected and willing to do their bidding. I have seen little evidence to convince me otherwise.
Councilman Lee stands accused, not convicted. It is important that we remember this and not get caught up in the hyperbolic media feeding frenzy, but something has to change and soon. Are smarter voters and honest candidates too much to ask? I hope not, because once the bar hits the floor, there will be no resurrection of a recognizable Los Angeles, only a funeral where we will all be left reminiscing about how great our city once was.
(Mark Dutton is a lifelong musician, music producer, and writer. He was arguing politics with his parents since he was a pre-teen. Majored in psychology and left college in his 3rd year on a 30 year magic bus trip around the world playing and writing music with some of the best in the biz. Mark is a contributor to CityWatchLA.com.)
