City Council Took Money, Then Voted to Approve Playa Vista; City
Attorney Also Implicated
By John
Davis
After prevailing in their lawsuit
against the Los Angeles City Council and the Playa Vista project, the
environmentalist winners have filed legal papers accusing the City Council and
its attorney of taking bribes to approve the dangerous development. The city is
doing everything in its power to avoid following the order delivered by the
California Court of Appeals.
Allegations that the California Political
Reform Act of 1972 was violated by the City Council and City Attorney Rocky
Delgadillo in their avoidance of the court order are supported by another
California Court of Appeals decision that set the
standard.
The council took money and
voted for the project within 12 months, a violation. The City Attorney took
money in his run for Attorney General and then advised the City Council to make
decisions favorable to the development within 12 months, a second
violation.
Responding to allegations
aired on Channel 4 TV that has faithfully covered the story, a few
councilmembers made statements but most did not. The network won a prestigious
Peabody Award for its excellent and ongoing coverage of the issue. Only one
Council Member did not dip his snout into the hog trough of developer money. All
others did.
What else could a
developer hope for? But a City Council in its pocket was not enough. In his run
for State Attorney General, Delgadillo also dipped his snout in the PV money and
then advised the City Council to vote for Playa Vista. He too appeared on TV
saying the State Political Reform Act did not apply to him or the Council. The
attorney for the environmentalists rejected his position, saying he had not read
the case law.
The city did not even challenge
the allegations in court but responded outside with desperate public relations
bluster.
The council understands that
if the environmentalists prevail again all of the recent orders of the lower
Superior Court Judge made in favor of the developers will be thrown out, as well
as the Council decisions to support the project. This is the same lower court
judge that was overruled originally. Worse may yet come for the Council and City
Attorney. Violations of the Political Reform Act of 1972 are punishable as
criminal misdemeanors, like drunk
driving.
The environmentalists then
discovered that even the judge who seemed unwilling to implement the order of
the higher court used to work for the developer’s law firm before he
became a judge. This immediately raised a red flag. Could he be impartial in the
matter? The environmentalists believed not and asked him to step down, and
before he did, to void all of his recent orders and decisions of the City
Council. The legal papers also request the judge to reveal all of his financial
dealings with the developers hired law firm, including if he was receiving
retirement funds at the time of his rulings favorable to the
developer.
At the most recent hearing,
the judge made no ruling at all and said the next judge also worked for the
developers hired law firm at one time and would probably have to step aside.
Judge George H. Wu was then appointed to the federal bench by none other than
President George Bush, himself. A second judge who worked for the
developer’s law firm has since recused
himself.
In summary, it appears Playa
Capital Corporation had the City Council and the City Attorney in their pocket
with indebtedness. The only ones not bribed by this dangerous development were
the local environmentalists and their
attorneys.
In the interest of
disclosure I, too, have an interest in this case as I am one of the
environmentalists who sued. Others include Dan Cohen, GrassRoots Coalition and
Environmentalism Through Non-violent Action, both nonprofits.
Patricia McPherson of the GrassRoots
Coalition engineered the successful lawsuit and we all followed her lead in the
interest of protecting public health and safety. Other community leaders such as
Kathy Knight, Rex Frankel, Leslie Purcell and Jeanette Vossberg, to name a few,
were instrumental in this successful challenge.
Larry Teeter was the gifted lead
Attorney for the group and filed the original papers before his passing. Local
Attorney Sabrina Venskus made the final winning arguments to the Appellate
Court. Now former U.S. Attorney Richard Fine is assisting the winners in
enforcement of the Appellate Court order that has led to the new allegations of
bribery and influence peddling.
Posted: Tue - May 1, 2007 at 10:22 AM