Not Only in L.A.

I'm not sure why the city of Hawthorne suddenly started sending me e-mailed press releases today. But I'm not not griping when the content is this juicy. It's a statement from Hawthorne's City Manager Jag Pathirana about how the Grand Jury indictment of Councilmember Louis Velez makes for such a "horrible" day for this city. (FYI, Hawthorne is one of those southern LACo cities that no one notices until someonse's indicted for public corruption or extortion or gun running.) (FYI #2, the bold is my emphasis).

"We understand that the indictment stems from an alleged conflict of interest issue. ...
Councilmember Velez rented his family residence from a local developer who later had projects come before the City Council. His rental terms were and are consistent with the current rental market value. Councilmember Velez has fully cooperated with the District Attorney's office and has provided them with evidence that he paid his rent in full monthly.
Before voting on the developer's projects or otherwise participating in the city's review of the developer's proposal, Councilmember Velez explained his rental relationship to legal counsel and to the Fair Political Practices Commission. Councilmember Velez was told that there were no legal obstacles to his participation in city deliberations concerning the developer's proposals.

Welll, that's not how DA's office tells it. According to our sister paper, the fine Daily Breeze down there in south county, it's just the first charge to come from a wider investigation. Here's the full story:

The charge is the first indictment to come out of the current investigation by the District Attorney's Office into allegations of corruption on the Hawthorne City Council. The district attorney's Public Integrity Division began to investigate Velez's dealings with a local housing developer about a year ago.