Recently in politics Category

Here's a letter I received just a few minutes after writing a story about the passage of Proposition 8, which bans same sex marriages in California:

Frank, I live in Texas and wanted to get some election results, so I googled "prop 8 results" and your story came up. I am glad it passed, but wow, what a biased slant you give ! You pick up and continue the media line of prop 8 "bans" something, and then throw in the "hate" junk. Please, that is so lame.
Try thinking for yourself.
Nothing about judicial activism that struck down the will of the California people, or goes against nature, and 5000 years of human history !
Try researching and thinking a bit, rather than just blindly following the pied piper.
John
San Antonio, Tx

The District Attorney's office is going after a professional petiution circulator accused of registering to vote at addresses where he doesn't live, according to a press release issed Monday by Steve Cooley's office.

Mark Jacoby, 25, used the fake addresses to circulate petitions statewide, the DA alleges.

Jacoby was charged with two felony counts of perjury and registration fraud on Oct. 3. He faces five years state prison time if convicted.

He was arrested on Saturday in Ontario and released after posting $50,000 bail, officials said. Jacoby was affiliated with a company known as "Young Political Majors."

A debate is a debate ...unless Batman and the Penguin are involved. Hat tip to mediabistro.com Fishbowl LA

In light of Robert Urteaga's no contest plea to Grand Theft charges back in 1999, I got to thinking about a case that involved Walnut City Councilman Joaquin Lim back in 1997.

Lim was accused of petty theft after he allegedly left a grocery store without paying for $27 in groceries. Ultimately Lim testified in his own behalf and was acquitted in the case. Some of the original reporting is on the jump.

Reporter Amanda Baumfeld did extensive research on a story that found Montebello City Councilman Robert Urteaga was once charged with forgery and grand theft. In a 1999 plea deal he plead no contest to grand theft. He's expressed remorse.

Here's the top of the story:

MONTEBELLO - A fight over a trash contract turned to mud slinging when a group opposed to the plan put materials from a City Councilman's criminal record on the Internet.

In 1998, Councilman Robert Urteaga pleaded no contest to grand theft of personal property totaling $30,000, according to court documents.

"When I ran for office, I knew eventually someone would dig into my background and dig this up," Urteaga said. "I just don't think that this incident happening 10 years ago is a true reflection of who Robert Urteaga is."

You have to read down to the bottom of the entry. Basically. blogger Jim Treacher posted a pre-debate bit of satire Tuesday. This afternoon, talk show host Sean Hannity, heard locally on KABC 790, used the bit without attribution, Treacher said.

<snip>

P.P.P.S. I'm told Hannity used this without attribution on his 10/2 radio show. If that's the case, and if you enjoy my work, could you please let him know he should give me credit for it? If he's going to criticize SNL, he should try a little harder than they do.

You can read the rest of entry here.

More cutting and pasting. This time there's three sources. First, Kate Kealy, night editor, reports:

Marcelino Corniel lost his life in the Iraq war. IndyMac then lost between $71,000 and $36,000 of the $370,000 life insurance policy Corniel purchased to ensure the livelihood of his family.

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I can't say that I was shocked so much as I was disappointed when I viewed reader responses on our website. Some comments blamed Corniel's mother, Elaine Lopez, for investing poorly, while others seemed to equate losing a son in war with winning the lottery.

I don't dispute that Lopez could have invested her money more wisely, but at the same time it's not like she went out and bought a Cadillac. Lopez placed $70,000 in a money market checking account and the remaining $300,000 in a CD, from which she used the $1450 a month interest yield to sustain her family.

I believe Lopez, when she says that IndyMac Bank managers persuaded her not to withdraw the money by claiming the addition of a third beneficiary would insure the entire sum.

The Monday after the news of Indy Mac's financial trouble broke, I went to Indy Mac and spoke with patrons. My questions were met by belligerent customers who informed me that bank representatives warned them against speaking with the press, and cited the media as a cause for Indy Mac's problems. Funny, I don't remember receiving a check from Indy Mac for managing their stocks to 23 cents a share, what they were prior to any article running.

Despite my Ivy League education, the hours I spent reading regulations, the two interviews I conducted with securities lawyers, and numerous calls to the Federal Deposit Insurance Company, I still fail to understand how the FDIC is not returning somewhere between $36,000 and $71,000 of Lopez's money.

Sure, Lopez was naïve for taking the word of a bank manager. But I bet she wasn't the only one to lose money because of promises made by IndyMac representatives. It's possible that IndyMac's employee's weren't intentionally deceiving Lopez. Maybe bank officials just didn't comprehend the same regulations that two securities lawyers, and a financial adviser failed to understand well enough to answers my questions.  But should incompetence excuse so-called officials from accountability?

When did regulations start to cloud our understanding of right and wrong? After all regulations are created by men, frequently flawed, and certainly subject to change.

Some have argued that Lopez should feel lucky to still have $300,000. Why? Because her son went to great lengths to protect his family? The $370,000 wasn't a gift from the government or a death benefit, but something that Corniel payed for with both his money and life.

Despite promises that he would be a recruiter, and by the spring of 2005 Corniel was back in Iraq, stationed with the 184^th Infantry out of Fullerton, CA..The 184^th was sustaining heavy causalities when Corniel decided to purchase the additional $170,000 in life insurance.

As an Iraq veteran, I knew a lot of servicemen who declined to pay the $40 a month for the  $250,000 in Serviceman's Group Life Insurance. At the same time I was never aware of anyone who sought additional life insurance. But Corniel, who was the patriarch of his family, wanted to ensure that his two younger sisters and mother were taken care of in the event of his death.

On New Years Eve  of 2005, most 23-year-old-Americans were drinking themselves into stupors while Corniel was defending their freedom to do so. As a former Marine attached to "Killer" company, Corniel had already seen a good deal of combat. But unlike some men, he didn't try to get a family hardship discharge and avoid his second tour. Corniel sacrificed his life for our freedom, with the knowledge his family would be able survive in his absence.

Corniel's legacy was intended to send his sisters to college, and support his illmother, not pad the bank accounts of rich men, as some would argue his service did. I urge Americans to remember Corniel as they drive their yellow ribbon adorned sport utility vehicles. And think about the regulations that qualify the loss of his legacy, while justifying the outlandish incomes of IndyMac's executives.  In the end you can blame Lopez for mismanaging the money, but don't think it couldn't happen to you.

Mayor's son questioned in car theft case.

An unidentified person was detained at Mayor Ron Beilke's home Wednesday as part of an auto theft investigation, authorities said.

<snip>

Beilke said deputies questioned his 17-year-old son, who visited the same house as Sonny Costello, a 19-year-old transient, who is accused of stealing a 2002 Chevy Suburban on Tuesday night.

Monrovia plans outside investigation of claims against PD.

MONROVIA - Police Chief Roger Johnson said Wednesday that an outside agency would investigate sexual harassment allegations contained in a lawsuit filed against a Monrovia police officer.

Rudy Ramirez, 25, a former Monrovia jailer and member of the Monrovia police Explorer program, filed the lawsuit last month. He claims Sgt. Dan Verna sexually abused and harassed him beginning in 2000 while he was a minor until November 2006 when Ramirez was terminated by the department.

"Any of these allegations are going to be reviewed by a law enforcement agency independent of the Police Department to determine if there's been any wrong-doing," Johnson said.

<snip>

To bolster claims in his lawsuit, Ramirez states that Verna helped a suspected gang member, Salvador Parra, get released from Monrovia city jail on two occasions in 2006.

Sheriff's officials on Wednesday said a deputy saw Verna and Parra in 2006 inside of a parked car in Fish Canyon.

On patrol May 2, 2006, Deputy Mike Silva spotted the pair, authorities said. When he saw a gun in the car, the deputy detained Verna and called for backup, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Capt. Richard Shaw. 

Man shot and killed in Hacienda Heights.

Police responded to the 1100 block of Finegrove Avenue to reports of shots fired around 9:50 p.m., according to Deputy Aura Sierra of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

They found a Latino man, 30, with multiple gun shots wounds in his torso, Sierra said.

CHiPs OIS follow up; woman identified.

Two CHP officers patrolling the eastbound 10 Freeway just after 11 p.m. initially noticed the woman as she passed them in her car, driving at a high rate of speed, Dolson said.

The officers thought she might have been under the influence, so they pulled her over at Hellman and Garfield avenues, just off the freeway, Dolson said.

When one of the officers approached the vehicle, the woman pulled out the replica handgun, prompting the officer to fire one round, he said.

The fake handgun was later recovered at the scene, said Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Oscar Butao.

"It looked exactly like a righteous firing gun," Dolson said. "You would probably have to handle it and examine it for a short time to realize it wasn't real."

In the course of researching a column for Friday's paper, I ended up interviewing Munir Sirhan, brother of Sirhan Sirhan, the accused assassin of Robert F. Kennedy who died 40 years ago Friday.

Munir had some interesting things to say and introduced me to some people who believe there's more to his brother's story than the lone gunman narrative.

Among those taking up Munir's cause are Summer Reese, who is affiliated with KPFK radio, and Dr. William Pepper, who has a pretty interesting history of his own, and knew both Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy.

Pepper and several other researchers interested in the Kennedy assassination are getting together tonight near LAX to discuss new theories and information that's become available in recent months.

Here's a YouTube video about the organization known as COPA.  

It's nice to see that the Sheriff's homicide bureau and Mike Antonovich's office finally agree that a reward should be offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Sammantha Salas' killers.

Salas was killed Jan. 26 and by my math that makes five months of investigation without a resolution. Homicide detectives felt that incremental releases of information and ultimately the reward would keep publicity in the case from waning. Based on the story's position Friday in our most viewed stories list, it appears that they were right about sustaining publicity in the case.

The supes will still have to vote on the reward. It's should be on **Wednesday's agenda,** but hasn't been added yet, i'll keep monitoring that.

6:05 p.m. Friday **Antonovich's flack, Tony Bell, tells me that the Supes meet Wednesday instead of Tuesday next week in deference to Tuesday's primary election.**

As for the two being sought, the electronic files containing two composite drawings of men* sought in connection with the Salas case and another shooting are named ... 

Brian Miller pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges of telephone harassment. A poster here the other day claimed Miller pleaded guilty in the case. The poster was wrong.

Here's a portion of Dan Abendschein's story:

POMONA - The ex-boyfriend of a woman who has disappeared with their three children was pleaded not guilty on Thursday to making annoying telephone calls to the fugitive's father.

Brian Miller , the son of Rep. Gary Miller , R-Brea, allegedly made harassing calls to Jude Lopez of Diamond Bar, the father of Jennifer Dejongh, who had three kids with Miller .

The charge is for making repeated calls with "intent to annoy another person at his or her residence."

Dejongh has been a fugitive for several months after disobeying a custody order and disappearing with the kids in November.

RCJ Parry has a lengthy post on TheFCBlog about how the Monrovia Police Officers Association has been ill treated by the city even after the shooting of Sgt. Dan Verna early Sunday.

From Parry's commentary:

Regardless of your opinion of the Monrovia Police Officers’ Association’s tactics, the City of Monrovia has clearly taken the most egregious steps possible in attacking not only the MPOA, but the Police Department itself.

The City Council voted Tuesday night to study three measures which would utterly destroy the police department - one of which would directly impact crime fighting efforts and, in fact, will unquestionably bring the current anti-gang effort to a screeching halt.

The proposals reflect the council’s complete and utter ignorance of police work, an astounding failure to understand markets (or intentional sabotage of MPD) and the individual council members’ personal contempt for the officers of the department. Remarkably, all this came barely three days after MPD Sergeant Dan Verna came within a fraction of an inch of dying at the hands of a common thief.

“This is strictly punitive,” Phil Nelson, MPOA president, told me. “It has nothing to do with improving police services in this community.”

The whole enchilada is here.