"One LA Politician's Request" by Daniel Guss
The rule comes with a caveat: I don’t accept prepared statements from politicians’ staffers because they inherently answer questions that weren’t asked instead of those that were, and I value your time too much to be a cog in a governmental spin machine.
Funny, though. Some politicians send prepared statements anyway, despite being forewarned that they not only won’t be considered, they won’t even be read.
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One of those dialogues took place as I made my way to the scene of yet another random sidewalk death, this one in still-un-represented Van Nuys, thanks to the resignation of Nury Martinez, LA’s irrefutably racist former City Council president.
The politician reached out to me in response to my three emailed questions about a burglary at a drug store in their district that took place hours earlier, in which the crooks smashed the door of a vacant storefront, then broke through a wall shared with the pharmacy before clearing out its entire opiate inventory.
Except the politician didn’t address any of the questions I emailed.
Instead, while offering validation for my recent columns, the politician expressed a wish that I would also, “recognize in your writing some of our work and efforts in the district.”
That’s certainly an understandable request, aside from the fact that the politician’s well-paid staffers don’t send me news of those endeavors.
I responded that I am always open to exploring innovative ideas that deliver results beyond expectations. It just has to be exemplary and verifiable. If they’re doing things that are directionally positive, that’s all well and good. But that’s baseline cheerleading, and there’s already plenty of that served up over at the LA Times, along with countless stories about marmalade. (Seriously, google “LA Times, marmalade” and start counting.)
I reminded the politician of my February 2021 CityWatchLA story about how brilliantly the city used Dodger Stadium as a venue for the very first round of COVID vaccinations. It didn’t matter that the effort was overseen by the city’s worst and most dishonest mayor in history, Eric Garcetti, in partnership with Sean Penn’s organization. It was a critical project that far-exceeded expectations, so the praise (at least my style of it) was earned and delivered.
But you don’t just get praise on the come.
At least not here.
I told the politician that favorable stories are hard to conceive and pursue while the government continues to withhold public records, denies their existence, falsifies dates on them, violates public meeting laws and disingenuously tries to correct them on maliciously short notice the night before the next meeting. It is difficult to celebrate a government that harasses, retaliates, threatens and censors the public, including myself.
When I raised these issues with the politician and staff weeks ago, the staff provided only lip service. It wasn’t until Friday that the politician chimed in, having previously ignored every invitation to be heard on substantive issues, and only then to offer a compliment, which was quickly followed by a request for favorable coverage.
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It is now five days since I submitted just three questions about the huge haul of opiates stolen from the drugstore, including a follow-up email, neither of which received a response. The politician still hasn’t warned constituents about the possibility of those drugs winding up in local schools, on nearby playgrounds or neighboring communities.
But they had time to request favorable coverage.
And that’s why I don’t play the game. Praise, like criticism, is earned.
Follow me on The Twitters @TheGussReport.
(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 Mayor Sam, 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.)