"LA's Paranoid, Paralyzed Governments, Part 1" by Daniel Guss

(What's so Scary 'Bout) Truth, Transparency and Integrity?

@TheGussReport on Twitter - Los Angeles governments, like their counterparts everywhere, encourage civic engagement among their constituents. Mayor Karen Bass, like all of her predecessors, alluded to this in her recent State of the City address.

To them, that means volunteering to helping clean up a park, handing out groceries at the food bank or comforting dogs at the animal pound, all of which are noble and needed despite bloated budgets of billions that are somehow never enough to get things done. Politicians and governments like that type of civic engagement.

But to some of us, it also means exploring their truth, transparency and integrity by examining public records, asking questions and calling out those who dodge direct accountability. Shoot me a note if you ever hear a politician encouraging that type of civic engagement.

After another slew of recent exposés in this column, a costly and time-consuming paranoia and paralysis now appear to hover over their offices, including but not limited to LA City Hall.

The examples are piling up, so let’s go there…

B(r)ass Ring or In the Dog House Again?

Mayor Karen Bass has a golden opportunity to accomplish what her predecessors never sincerely endeavored to do: fix the city’s worst-run and most dishonest department, LA Animal Services, LAAS, about which I have written one exposé after another. (That last link garnered one of this column’s four LA Press Club nominations last week.)

Recently, I poked around about conflicts of interest among panelists who are going to make LAAS general manager recommendations to Bass. Many have ties to even worse government animal pounds and the city’s costly, deceptive and unhealthy relationship with Best Friends. Choosing to ignore my inquiries, Bass seems headed toward selecting another disastrous GM like Ed Boks, Guerdon Stuckey or Brenda Barnette rather than grabbing the brass ring and going all-in on innovation and a path toward something new, progressive and humane.

So much for “locking arms,” Madam Mayor. But I suggest looking closer at the backgrounds of those advising you, as I have done. And consider going in a new and life-saving direction so that I can publicly cheer you for thinking outside the box.

Why Did the LAPD Arrest the Celery? (It was stalking.)

I recently got a form letter from the LAPD declaring that my “allegation that an employee failed to complete a complaint investigation by statute date has been classified as Demonstrably False, which means that the investigation proved it did not occur.”

That response, itself, is demonstrably false, as proven by an email of mine that turns a year old this month — with LAPD Chief Michel Moore cc’d — proving that Detective Heather Herrera spent years, until she was transferred, dodging my efforts to speak with her, as she had requested.

In the warped LAPD mindset, if a detective dodges your documented willingness to speak with her, the allegation is “Demonstrably False.”

At the bottom of the letter, it says, “Should you have any questions concerning this matter, please contact Detective Charles Schlund at the Professional Services Bureau.”

When I did, Detective Schlund told me, “I have no idea why my name is on that letter. Go back to Internal Affairs.” #CircularFiringSquad.

Now, the LAPD refuses to give me a copy of my own complaint — which is a public record — that was taken over the phone. The only logical conclusion is that the LAPD altered my actual complaint to facilitate the outcome it desired. You know, like Detective Phil Vannatter breaking evidence procedure in ‘94 to doctor O.J. Simpson’s bloody sock; when the LAPD can’t go by the book, it cheats.

There is no other way to explain it.

Keep that in-mind the next time the LAPD says it is investigating one of its own over a much more serious matter.

Knock-Knock! (We Can’t Hear You!)

After a recent public records request to the City’s Information Technology Agency, I finally got a response to review. Upon signing-in, the message on the portal said that only the staff and requester (i.e. me) can see the results, but it still blocked me from accessing it.

Three emails plus a call and Tweet to Ted Ross, ITA’s GM and CIO, and we’re still waiting for a response.

Surely, it is just a coincidence that last week ITA also blocked me from accessing documents I had requested from LA City Councilmember Nithya Raman, whose response was 41 days later than legally required, resulting in a claim against the city.

Red Herrings: What We Sometimes Serve Our Politicians For Lunch

A little thing that your governments like to do is ask why do you want these records?

They have no right to know.

As a practitioner of public records, I’ll sometimes offer a red herring to keep them off of my trail as well as to see to what extent they squander public resources on the most innocuous of inquiries.

In other words, the story is the squander.

Recently, I reported that Bass had oddly nominated Carl Douglas, coincidentally one of O.J. Simpson’s criminal defense attorneys, to the Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System (LACERS) board. Odd, because Douglas is a personal injury and civil rights attorney with no known substantial qualifications for the role. Also odd because minutes after the LA City Council confirmed Douglas — which made it official — the clerk announced that Douglas had withdrawn from his nomination, requiring his appointment to be unwound.

After it ignored my media inquiry, I sent a public records request to Bass’s office for a copy of the email, fax or envelope in which Douglas transmitted his withdrawal. Not because it is interesting, but to see to what degree City Hall might contort itself into figuring out why I’m asking and how long it will delay responding.

PRAs must receive a response within 10 days of receipt. Predictably, at the last minute of that tenth day, 5:29pm, I received an emailed letter from Bass’s legal coordinator saying that they need an additional 14 days to provide that email, fax or envelope.

You don’t need to be a math major to see that City Hall needs up to 24 days for a task that should take an intern a few minutes to accomplish. And if I didn’t share this story now, odds are they may have requested an additional 14 days.

But what’s really telling about the response from Bass’s office is that — having never responded to any of my prior inquiries — this one cc’d David Michaelson, Chief Assistant City Attorney and Legal Counsel to Bass, whose 2021 compensation package was $397,050.16; and Ruth Kwon, Deputy City Attorney III, who hauled in $281,603.24; and Zack Seidl, Acting Deputy Mayor and Director of Communications; and Gabby Maarse, Deputy Press Secretary; and Abigail Howell, a Senior Coordinator.

All of this for what may be the most innocuous records request in City Hall history.

Friends, if that ain’t paranoia, then call me crazy.

To be continued.

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(Daniel Guss, MBA, was nominated for three 2022 LA Press Club awards and was a runner-up in 2021 and 2020. He is City Editor for the Mayor Sam network, and has been a featured contributor for CityWatchLA, KFI AM-640, iHeartMedia, 790-KABC, Cumulus Media, KCRW 89.9 FM, KRLA 870 AM, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Magazine, Movieline Magazine, Emmy Magazine, Los Angeles Business Journal, Pasadena Star-News, Los Angeles Downtown News and the Los Angeles Times in its sports, opinion, entertainment and Sunday Magazine sections among other publishers.)