In today's pages: Civil Gideon, civic depression, Uighurs, Afghans -- and Bratton
On Monday's editorial page, The Times takes a look at LAPD Chief William J. Bratton's campaign commercial for city attorney candidate Jack Weiss and doesn't like what it sees.
Bratton, thankfully, is no [Daryl] Gates, but his political activity on behalf of his boss, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, is unbecoming, just as the Christopher Commission warned. His endorsement of Weiss for city attorney is worse — not because Weiss is an unworthy candidate but because of the office he is seeking. Should Weiss win, he would be responsible for representing the Police Department and its officers and for negotiating with plaintiffs who bring lawsuits against the LAPD. That argues for a respectful but arm’s length relationship, not one of political debts. Bratton should study his history, and stay out of city politics.
The page also calls for the release of Uighurs held improperly at Guantanamo Bay, and notes that the moral argument against the death penalty is only enhanced by the fact that holding condemned prisoners pending execution is prohibitively expensive.
On the Op-Ed page, USC law professor Clare Pastore makes the case for legal services funding and "civil Gideon" -- recognizing a right to provide counsel to the indigent in civil cases just as the Sixth Amendment requires in criminal cases.
Cheryl Benard, co-director of the Alternative Strategies Initiative at the Rand Corp., says the international community isn't helping in Afghanistan when it obsesses about Hamid Karzai, talks about removing him, and plays into the nation's "dysfunctional personality cult."
To venerate new leaders as demigods, only to demote them to villains within the space of a few years, is not a recipe for successful nation-building. Afghans need to honor the laws and the institutions of their new democracy and to stop focusing so excessively on the individuals who govern them. They need standards of conduct, rules obeyed both by the leader and his kin and cronies, pragmatic expectations — and, when they sour on their leaders, an established process of political succession that does not include murder.
And columnist Gregory Rodriguez examines the societal costs of loneliness and alienation.
We have to stop looking at declining civic participation as a primarily political problem that is solvable through increased activism. Although activism may increase participation, which in turn translates into less social isolation, it does not get to the deeper problem of the quality of connections we form with the people who surround us on a day-to-day basis.
*Photo: Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times
Hollywood Hills is right about Robert Greene. Who I'd never heard of until he participated in an election wrap-up on KPFK explaining his choices, and the smug sarcasm combined with any awareness of or research into the one he did endorse was scary and quite remarkable for a big- city paper.
He clearly bought into the self- serving biases and nasty campaign attacks of Nooch -- while the only things he's been known for so far are defending every USC football player/ jock who gets into trouble and that's quite a lot. Pete Carroll was known to have him on speed dial until two years ago (when Nooch's daughter didn't get in so he's protesting, how petty).
The L A Weekly 11/23/05 piece Peter Carroll's "First Call"
by Jeffrey Anderson is QUITE illuminating. As well as about his very curious dealings with Rocky Delgadillo, quitting and suddenly rejoining his own law firm as benefits himself and his client being prosecuted by the city... conflicts of interest, pompously arrogant boasts and that' just the tip of it. Far from "cleaning up city hall corruption" as he claims, he jumped into it deep and heavy. (More details not to be revealed here.) While the picture he paints of Weiss is all lie after lie.
He quit the DA's office 20 years ago to make his millions, defending the worst criminal toxic polluters and environmental scofflaws, and argues that these accused rapists and thugs deserve a lawyer too. Sure they do, but funny it's always him, as long as they pay well and/ or are high profile. Just don't pretend you aren't what you are and v.v.
You don't suddenly claim to be an "environmental attorney" on the ballot and commit to pursue rapists and make DNA kit testing top priority as Weiss has quietly for 6+ years. Nooch has always been "highly controversial" at best. Transparently phony and self-serving. Known as someone who slimes rape victims in the process -- maybe part of that job but NOT the amoral person we want for city attorney.
The phony "not the front-runner but the people's lawyer" PR appearing on free article websites, picked up by the ignorant Daily News and Greene here at the Times, was made up by Nooch himself, using the name of someone not affiliated with any legit news media -- how pathetic for the Times to fall for that too.
Got to give Nooch points for almost-convincing acting when it comes to professing piety in light of all this and more -- but he overdoes the victim thing by far, when it's his mailers, website and personal appearances that have been nasty about Weiss, who hasn't even mentioned him so far. But he really needs to start -- no gentlemen's match here.
Check out his video on PopModal.com, the "conservative alternative to YouTube" made election night.
Posted by: sad day | March 07, 2009 at 01:45 PM
Bratton's the best public official LA's had in years, if not decades. He has every right to state his opinion on local issues.
Robert Greene writes a little more like Jill Stewart every week. And you've got to give Jill credit... at least her agenda-driven hit pieces aren't dripping with wearying sanctimony.
Posted by: hollywood hills | February 25, 2009 at 07:55 AM
Lest someone think otherwise, I do NOT represent any campaign nor are my views endorsed by anyone. I just follow the news whether local or international and express my personal opinion. As such I've read this paper daily for many years, used to rely on its point of view and am now concerned by some directions it's taken. I hope it regains its moorings before it ends up going the way of our once-proud NFL football team.
Posted by: jill | February 23, 2009 at 03:10 PM
The Uighurs have been mischaracterized as a terrorist group to suit the Chinese government's attempts to destroy Uighur culture,like they've done with the Tibetans - both by force and more recently, by moving Han Chinese into the area with huge financial incentives, and lifting the ban against more than one child, for those who do. In order to out-populate them.
The Uighurs are the real indiginous people of that region of NW China, a TurkoCaucasian people, and the Chinese have done everything they can to destroy their culture and claim falsely that Han Chinese were there first and should retake the land. The Bush Admin. went along with this as quid-pro-quo trying to seek help for its own war against Muslim terrorists, but it's a sell-out. Of course any who are real terrorists should be tried accordingly, but that's not who most Uighur activists are, just people exercising their right to free speech and to let the world know what's going on there.
ENDORSEMENT: As for the Bratton endorsement: you never griped when he endorsed Obama, or even about endorsing Villaraigosa (your candidate) or Garcetti for Council. ONLY about Weiss because your editorial page endorsed someone else, the right-winger recruited, groomed and promoted by his pal, Republican DA Cooley, and supported by others like them. This is a politically-motivated endorsement of someone whose real record is the opposite of what's needed -- it's YOUR endorsement that casts doubts on your motives and credibility.
YOUR chosen candidate, the Republican right-winger whose last 30 years in private practice as a criminal defense attorney (defending polluters, killers of baby seals, the pro-gun lobby) working against city gun and environmental ordinances, has off-the-bat resorted to a negative campaign of self-promoting distortions and nasty lies about Weiss and his record. Someone who knows the truth must have wanted to set the record straight for voters.
The Chief has worked with Weiss closely for years and just tells the public what he knows. Maybe he's fed up with the lies against Weiss from YOUR Op-Ed section's candidate (the same people attacking Weiss over this endorsement) about the DNA issue, work with gangs, etc. You wouldn't be griping about Bratton's endorsement if he endorsed one of YOUR candidates.
Meanwhile, DA Steve Cooley, the County official, is acting in a very openly unseemly way, having personally recruited HIS good buddy/ YOUR candidate (another rightwing Republican like himself) and is non-stop pushing all his friends to endorse and support the guy.
County Sheriff Baca has also weighed in, endorsing first Weiss then Trutnuch, but you never complained about them. But with these two county law enforcement heads weighing in, you pick on Bratton alone.
The man has the same right to an opinion and as head of LAPD, a CITY force, is the one who knows what the city needs best and who has served it, not Cooley. When he tells us he doesn't even know Trutnuch (despite his claims to be active fighting gangs, because that was 30 years ago) it's information the pubic did NOT get from your paper, which falsely endorsed him as a prosecutor and "environmental attorney." (The Trutnuch's camp's claims that Bratton is being forced to say anything against hs will are ludicrous: widely called "the nation's top cop" he doesn't have to beg for a job and in fact is courted around the world for his advice and with job offers. He's here because of his commitment to improving LA, and he has a right to say who shares that commitment based on his experience and expertise.)
Unlike the nasty attacks on Weiss from the camp of the unknown Trutnuch, in mailers, his website and in person every chance he gets, Weiss is running on his record and what he's done and will do -- this guy is a total unknown in the public sector and what he does reveal about himself doesn't inspire confidence.
The complaints about this endorsement are coming from the Trutnuch camp, and from those who tried and failed to remove Mr. Weiss from office because he had the guts to stand up to them and do what he believed was right, not let them bully him and push him around. Maybe the Times was fooled into thinking that a noisy small group represent "the district" but they don't. One thing he and Chief Bratton have in common -- straight shooters who tell it like they see it, and with the goal of doing what they believe is best for public safety and L A. Your attacking them because you're pushing another candidate is just transparent andwrong.
Posted by: jill | February 23, 2009 at 02:07 PM