Editorial: What L.A. needs from Mayor Karen Bass
This weekend, the Los Angeles City Council held it last-ever meeting of its current session in an attempt to bring some semblance of order to the raucous and bizarre session it has been running for the last several weeks. The City Council session, usually a showcase of backroom deals by the power brokers among the council’s 25 seats, has now devolved into a circus of public-sector infighting over contract negotiations, budget issues and a potential move by Councilwoman Jan Perry (D-Atwater) to introduce a new city ethics law.
In other words, this council has descended into a circus, not a deliberation, and some very important decisions could be made there Sunday.
The current session has been taking place under the watchful gaze of a new special prosecutor appointed by the City Attorney’s office; a new City Council staff under the authority of newly appointed Police Chief Charlie Beck; and the city’s top three elected officials (Council President Eric Garcetti, Councilman Gil Cedillo and Interim City Attorney Mike Feuer) each in the crosshairs of potentially being indicted for corruption by their constituents. This was the case this past Friday night when Garcetti and Cedillo were accused of funneling campaign funds to a campaign opponent in a bid to help his own mayoral campaign.
But the question in the minds of so many is whether Garcetti is willing to run the city that is his birthright and what might be his legacy. If he becomes a lame duck mayor, what is he willing to do to try to keep what many perceive as a corrupt and disorganized city, with a mayor who is willing to go to the mat in his own personal interests to protect his political career in what many view as a dysfunctional system?
And what is the Council President’s position on the matter of a new city ethics law?
The fact of the matter is that the city’s top three elected officials have not been acting in a manner that shows any hint of accountability in the way they conduct themselves. They seem almost to
