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THE BOTTOM LINE - On March 13, Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price will be arraigned on felony corruption charges. That date should matter to every Angeleno not as political spectacle or partisan drama, but as a moment that exposes a deeper and long‑standing failure inside City Hall. This case is not an aberration, nor is it a sudden breakdown in judgment. It is the foreseeable result of a systemic failure that has normalized ethical shortcuts, tolerated conflicts of interest, and insulated powerful officials from meaningful accountability.
According to prosecutors, Councilmember Price used his public office to benefit himself and his family financially, including influencing development decisions and directing city resources tied to personal gain. If proven, these allegations represent a profound breach of public trust. Public office is not a side business, a family enterprise, or a personal bargaining chip. It is a fiduciary obligation owed to residents who expect decisions to be made fairly, transparently, and in the public interest.
Yet Los Angeles has spent years behaving as though corruption is merely unfortunate rather than disqualifying. Ethical lapses are treated as public relations problems to be managed instead of warning signs demanding decisive action. City leaders often respond with silence, procedural hedging, or appeals to patience, even when credible allegations surface. That instinct to protect the institution or colleagues has repeatedly come at the expense of public confidence.
Angelenos have seen this pattern before. Investigations surface, scandals erupt, assurances of reform are issued, and then institutional amnesia sets in. Ethics enforcement remains underfunded and politically constrained. Oversight bodies lack independence and enforcement power. The City Council rarely confronts misconduct within its own ranks. The public is told to “let the process play out,” while the culture that enables misconduct remains intact. The Curren Price case forces an unavoidable question: how many warning signs were ignored before prosecutors were forced to step in?
That question extends beyond one councilmember. Where were the internal controls meant to detect conflicts of interest? Where was the Ethics Commission when potential violations emerged? Where was the City Council’s willingness to police itself in order to protect the institution’s credibility? When accountability is outsourced to prosecutors, it is evidence that internal governance mechanisms have failed.
Los Angeles applies ethics selectively, and residents understand this all too well. City employees can face discipline for minor procedural errors. Small businesses are buried under compliance rules and penalties. Neighborhood councils are scrutinized line by line. But when allegations involve sitting councilmembers, the response is often delay, silence, or carefully worded neutrality. That double standard corrodes trust and reinforces the belief that power, not principle, determines who is held accountable at City Hall.
The consequences of corruption are not abstract or theoretical. Every decision distorted by personal interest means a community denied fair representation, a legitimate business pushed aside, a development approved without transparency, or a neighborhood voice ignored. In districts already struggling with poverty, housing instability, and chronic underinvestment, corruption compounds inequality. It tells residents that civic engagement is futile and that the rules apply differently depending on who holds power.
March 13 should therefore be understood as more than a court date on a legal calendar. It is a test of whether Los Angeles is willing to confront corruption as a systemic problem rather than dismiss it as an isolated incident. Real reform cannot wait for indictments or convictions. It requires fully funding and empowering the Ethics Commission, strengthening conflict‑of‑interest laws with meaningful penalties, increasing transparency around land‑use and development decisions, and ending the culture of silence when credible allegations surface against political insiders.
Public office is not a shield from scrutiny. It is a public trust. Justice will unfold in court, but accountability must begin now. If Los Angeles wants residents to believe in government again, it cannot continue to treat corruption as background noise or an acceptable cost of doing business. When misconduct becomes normalized, it is not just individual officials on trial it is the integrity of local democracy itself.
(Mihran Kalaydjian is a seasoned public affairs and government relations professional with more than twenty years of experience in legislative affairs, public policy, community relations, and strategic communications. A respected civic leader and education advocate, he has spearheaded numerous academic and community initiatives, shaping dialogue and driving reform in local and regional political forums. His career reflects a steadfast commitment to transparency, accountability, and public service across Los Angeles and beyond.)
