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THE VIEW FROM HERE - Where will this prosecution lead and how is it dramatically different from the faux federal prosecutions of Mitch Englander, Jose Huizar, and Mark Ridley-Thomas? But first, 20,000 Kudos to Daniel Guss.
Since 2017, independent reporter Daniel Guss has been onto Curren Price’s misdeeds like white on rice. See Guss Report (June 14, 2023). Daniel Guss’s eighth (8th!) article appeared in CityWatch on July 9, 2008 “Fresh Problems for LA’s Now-Divorced Bigamist Lawmaker” and shows that Guss had the goods on Price. This was no mere speculation. In fact, DA Gascón could probably drafted his criminal complaint by merely attaching Mr. Guss’s articles. LOL Certainly former DA Jackie Lacey could have filed on Councilmember Price as could have the Feds and the State Attorney Generals including Xavier Becerra. Daniel Guss should be the new E.F. Hutton.
So far, the LA Times fails to even mention Mr. Guss’s work. Instead, it acts surprised as if no one knew about Price’s corruption for years. Instead, the LA Times lumps the audio tape of the three Mexican Councilmembers with Price’s criminal behavior to further defame Nury Martinez, Gilbert Cedillo, and Kevin De Leon. By repetitively referring to the audio tape right after citing Price’s criminal prosecution, the LA Times is trying to make it sound as if Los Tres did something criminal, when in fact that they did nothing wrong and said nothing anti-Black. June 13, LA Times The LA Times’ malicious behavior, evidenced by its constant false portrayal of Los Tres as anti-Black racists, may not be protected by New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964).
Why Now?
Why Los Angeles District Attorney Gascón decided to prosecute Councilmember Price at this time is unknown. As Daniel Guss has been reporting, Councilmember Price's misdeed are well known as are Eric Garcetti's misdeeds March 1, 2012, CityWatch, Hollywood Becomes Fraudywood, but law enforcement does nothing. Now that our relatively new DA Gascón has filed against Councilmember Price for criminal behavior which has been widely known for years, it will be interesting to know "why now?"
Thomas Girardi and the Corrupt California Supreme Court
Could it be fall out from The Thomas Girardi Scandal and the departure of the former Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye (January 3, 2011 – January 1, 2023)? Notice that prior faux criminal prosecutions against councilmembers have been in federal court and have been designed to protect the corrupt Vote Trading System which Penal Code §86 criminalized. Could Chief Justice Tani been blocking any state prosecution of state Penal Code § 86? (California’s state judicial system has been corrupt since the judicial retention elections of 1986).
How honest was Chief Justice Tani? March 29, 2016 Former Sacramento Family Court Judge Tani Cantil-Sakauye Blamed for Statewide Court Corruption Problems She controlled the entire state judicial apparatus: the courts themselves, the judicial council, the Commission of Judicial Performance (CJP), and State Bar, and as Chief Justice Tani had the final word in disbarring attorneys. Two Hundred Five (205) complaints were filed against Thomas Girardi for theft of millions of dollars in client funds and Chief Justice Tani protected him on every single complaint.
Who oversees the Chief Justice? No one! She not only protected Thomas Girardi, but the vast corruption in Los Angeles Probate and Conservatorship Court could not exist without her blessing. Under her guidance, the LA Probate Court has the mechanism where the judge orders a person into mediation, deprived of food, lied to by their own attorney, and tricked into signing over their property to whomever the court desires and the person is legally forbidden to even speak about what happened during the mediation. Mozer v. Augustine, No. B288162, September 17, 2019.
Attorneys who displeased Chief Justice Tani could be disbarred in State Bar kangaroo courts where they are forbidden to present exonerating evidence due to Collins Joseph Patricia Collins, Case Number 16-O-10339, March 28, 2018. If a complaint is filed with the Commission on Judicial Performance against a judge, it first goes to a three judge panel which can remove any incriminating evidence against the judge before submitting the case to the Commission for determination.
Was it a coincidence that on the same day we learn about the Councilmember Price’s indictment, we learn that Thomas Girardi was declared competent to stand trial? As long as Girardi was allegedly incompetent, he could not testify to how much loot he gave to the Chief Justice in order to skate on 205 complaints.
What’s Different about the Councilmember Price Prosecution?
The federal prosecutions of Englander, Huizar and Chan, were all framed to skirt the city council’s criminal vote trading system. Not only did the Feds not mention it, they made it impossible for the defendants to raise it as a defense or mitigation. Daniel Guss also notes that Price’s case involves the criminal vote trading system. CityWatch has written about Vote Trading more times than one can recite. For example, on July 7, 2016, Yours Truly wrote in CityWatch, What’s Wrong with LA? How about City Council Vote Trading?
For example, Gascón’s criminal complaint alleges in Count 3 that on June 22, 2021 Councilmember Price voted Yes on council file # 19-0272 (CD 8 Marqueece Harris-Dawson). It alleges that Price voted Yes due to payment of $51,700.00 to Price’s wife, Richardson on the prior January 25, 2021. However, the clerk’s office shows that every councilmember voted Yes. In fact, there is no evidence that Price actually voted on the item since the city council’s vote tabulating machine automatically votes Yes for all councilmembers If a councilmember tries to abstain, that counts as a Yes vote. In fact, the machine will sometimes vote Yes for councilmembers where are not even present. Under the Vote Trading System, Price had no choice but to vote Yes on an item for Marqueece Harris-Dawson’s CD 8.
How can DA Gascón prove that Price voted Yes because his wife received $51,700.00? Price voted Yes on all items on the agenda. In fact, every councilmember voted Yes on every item on the agenda. If Councilmember Price was merely following the Vote Trading System, then his Yes vote was not due to any money his wife received. Now, DA Gascón has a problem. Penal Code § 86 makes Vote Trading a criminal act. Will DA Gascón assert that whether Price voted Yes due to his wife’s receiving $57,100.00 or due to the criminal vote trading system, it was a criminal act. (BTW, if each councilmember who has violated Penal Code §86 received the maximum prison term of four (4) years, they would be serving a cumulative two millions years in prison. Garcetti alone would be imprisoned for more than 100,000 years.)
Oops, Gascón Has to Indict All the Councilmembers
Why hasn’t DA Gascón indicted all the councilmembers who voted in the prior 4 years? Will he assert that he cannot look into their minds and see what they were thinking? Since when has mind reading been the test of criminal intent? Answer. Never! Defendants’ actions can prove the mens rea for criminality. Does Gascón believe that 10,000 consecutive unanimous Yes votes on projects was due to voluntary agreement that each project merited a Yes vote? The chances of that are less than 1 in infinity.
If Penal Code § 86 criminalization of Vote Trading by councilmembers does not apply to councilmembers, how can DA Gascón prove that Price was not following the Vote Trading System but was voting Yes solely because his wife got $57,100.00? Ten to one, a video of the June 22, 2021 council session will not show that Price actually reached out and voted.
Just how can DA Gascón prove that Councilmember Price actually voted on any item when the videotape show that the councilmembers do not physically vote Yes? Rather, they rely on the vote trading system to register a Yes vote.
How can DA Gascón decide that a secret agreement to vote Yes on all projects does not violate the Brown Act which requires that all deliberations on matters before the council be public?
(Richard Lee Abrams has been an attorney, a Realtor and community relations consultant as well as a CityWatch contributor. You may email him at [email protected])
