The California Democratic Party Hack du Jour is Mayor Roosevelt Dorn of Inglewood. Inglewood is a traditionally working-class suburb of Los Angeles and the onetime home of the Los Angeles Lakers which relocated thanks to the (of course) taxpayer-subsidized Staples Center in downtown L.A.
Notice how even now the corporate MSM praises the "perp" as a "tough guy" judge who "kept juveniles on probation for longer than other judges" and for "delivering on his pledge to make the city more attractive to retailers." In fact, Mayor Dorn was a shameless flack for Wal-Mart and every other "big box" chain.
Inglewood has no term limits, and so, if this guy had just kept his hands out of the cookie jar he might have been 'Mayor-for-Life.' It's another example of my reality: In Los Angeles some of the worse political hacks look like me and why we need the Green Party as the 2nd Party in the big cities.
Published by the Los Angeles Times, January 26, 2010
Mayor Roosevelt Dorn of Inglewood Pleads Guilty to Corruption
by Jack Leonard and Ari B. Bloomekatz
Roosevelt F. Dorn, who earned acclaim and criticism as a juvenile court judge and was an equally polarizing figure in more than a decade as Inglewood mayor, pleaded guilty Monday to a public corruption charge.
The plea ends a political career that saw significant drops in crime, as well as Inglewood's attempt to bounce back from the loss of the Lakers and the Kings. But while supporters hailed Dorn's leadership, critics said he ran the city as a fiefdom.
Dorn, who stepped down Sunday evening, is barred from holding public office for the rest of his life as part of his guilty plea to a misdemeanor conflict-of-interest charge. He was also placed on probation for two years and fined $1,000. Dorn entered his plea as prospective jurors were set to be called for trial in connection with his acceptance of a $500,000 loan through a city housing program.
As a judge, Dorn won praise for his tough-love approach toward young offenders. But others viewed him as imperious, accusing him of stretching the law to fit his personal mission. The 74-year-old jurist displayed the same zeal in trying to reverse the slide of a city mired in debt and shedding retail businesses. He developed a reputation for doing things his own way.
Prosecutors alleged that Dorn betrayed his constituents in a scheme that allowed him to benefit from a low-interest city loan program he helped extend to elected officials.
"He got greedy," said Deputy Dist. Atty. Max Huntsman. "He used every tool in his considerable arsenal as a lawyer and former judge to convince people that he was entitled to this public money."
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1 comment:
It's a shame to see Inglewood going downhill. I lived in Inglewood from 1965-1967 when I was a graduate student at USC. It's a sad affair, sad for the mayor, sad for the city.
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