L.A. County district attorney opens inquiry into Villaraigosa’s gift-taking

[tomm2thumbs]

Source: LA Times

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley has opened an inquiry into Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's practice of accepting free tickets to sports events, concerts and award shows – and whether he should have reported those tickets to the city's Ethics Commission.

David Demerjian, head deputy of Cooley's Public Integrity Division, said he contacted the commission after receiving a complaint that referenced several stories by The Times and by KTTV-TV Channel 11 about the mayor's tickets. "Obviously, the issue is whether the mayor received gifts which he failed to report," Demerjian said. State and city laws require politicians to report gifts they receive — and say who gave them. Those laws limit the value of the tickets from exceeding $420 from any one source in a year.

<snip>

The mayor's practices stand in contrast to his predecessor, James Hahn, who publicly reported tickets he received to similar sporting events and award shows, including the Academy Awards, the Grammys, a Rose Bowl game, Dodgers and Angels games, a Lakers game and a UCLA- USC football game. Billionaire New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, pays his own way to entertainment and sporting events, including Yankees games.

Villaraigosa's office also has not produced any documents that would show that the financial value of those tickets or whether he took guests who also received free tickets.

Read more: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/06/la-district-attorney-opens-inquiry-into-villaraigosas-gift-taking.html

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Seems like misguided thinking -- just buy a ticket, even the base ticket and support your city's events.



added: First noted article in Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/22/villaraigosvillaraigosa-t_n_621315.html

[jaysunb]

1. DA Cooley is running for AG

He's a Republican. Also an asshole that has been (somewhat successfully) trying to disrupt medical cannabis sales.

It's hard to believe we ever elected him in the first place. :evilfrown: