-
Illegal Immigration Watch: LAPD to Review immigration Rally Clash
Telemundo TV Crew Caught In MacArthur Park ClashLos Angeles Times: Bratton oversees LAPD inquiry at critical time
Officers’ use of force after pro-immigrant rallies occurs days before chief is up for reappointment.Only days before officials will decide if Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton deserves a second term, he found himself Wednesday overseeing another high-profile investigation into allegations of police abuse on his watch — this time, whether officers used excessive force against immigrant rights protesters in MacArthur Park.
Even as organizers of the May Day march called for the chief to be fired and police union officials winced when he said he was “disturbed” by some video scenes, Bratton was impressing others, including one member of the Police Commission, the body that will decide his fate, with quick and decisive action.
As he has done in the past, Bratton moved fast to get in front of the controversy, postponing a planned trip to El Salvador and holding two news conferences in two days to assure the public that the latest videotaped incident would be fully investigated.
In the frank style that made him a favorite of the tabloids when he headed the New York Police Department, Bratton told reporters early Wednesday that he was “disturbed” by videotapes that showed the confrontation and thought that the actions of some officers who used batons and foam bullets to clear the park were “inappropriate.”
He later took a barrage of aggressive and challenging questions at a news conference at City Hall, where he voiced “regret” for the incident.
So, the LAPD cops under the leadership of Chief William Bratton and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa go after the news media covering an immigration rally instead of the illegal aliens themselves.
My My!
But, then, when the immigrant demonstrators get caught up in the fray, the LAPD beats them.
LAPD Chief Bratton speaks at a press conference at Los Angeles City Hall today in response to events that occured during an immigrants rights march that ended at MacArthur Park.
What about the assinine LAPD Special Order 40?
Obviously, the new media was an easier target than illegal immigrants who fragrantly break the law.
Good grief…..couldn’t the cops tell the difference between Mark Coogan in a blue suit and this fella…..?
And check out how an LAPD officer manhandled Fox News channel 11 Reporter Christina Gonzales and her videographer here.
Even the Los Angeles Press Club has sent an open letter to Chief Bratton:
Flap thinks someone’s head will ROLL. And that head belongs to Chief of Police Bill Bratton.
Stay tuned……
Previous:
Illegal Immigration Watch: May Day 2007 Immigration Rally Turnout Much Lower than May Day 2006
Technorati Tags: Illegal Immigration, LAPD, Los Angeles Police Department, William Bratton, antonio Villaraigosa
-
Michael Hiltzik Watch: Golden State Column and Blog Discontinued for Ethics Violations
Los Angeles Times: Editor’s note
The Times is discontinuing Michael Hiltzik’s Golden State column, which ran in the Business section, because the columnist violated the newspaper’s ethics guidelines. This follows the suspension last week of his blog on latimes.com, which also has been discontinued. Hiltzik has acknowledged using pseudonyms to post a single comment on his blog on latimes.com and multiple comments elsewhere on the Web that dealt with his column and other issues involving the newspaper.
Hiltzik did not commit any ethical violations in his newspaper column, and an internal inquiry found no inaccurate reporting in his postings in his blog or on the Web. But employing pseudonyms constitutes deception and violates a central tenet of The Times’ ethics guidelines: Staff members must not misrepresent themselves and must not conceal their affiliation with The Times. This rule applies equally to the newspaper and the Web world.
Over the past few days, some analysts have used this episode to portray the Web as a new frontier for newspapers, saying that it raises fresh and compelling ethical questions. Times editors don’t see it that way. The Web makes it easier to conceal one’s identity, and the tone of exchanges is often harsh. But the Web doesn’t change the rules for Times journalists.
After serving a suspension, Hiltzik will be reassigned.
The Los Angeles Times gives Michael Hiltzik a third life. Remember Hiltzik was reassigned to the Spring Street business beat after being disciplined for hacking into and reading a colleague’s e-mails while in Moscow with the L.A. Times.
Why would ANY employer want this unethical jerk writng for them?
LA Observed has the memo sent to Los Angeles Times staff:
By now most of you know that Mike Hiltzik has acknowledged violating the paper’s ethics guidelines. He did so by using pseudonyms to post a single comment on his blog on latimes.com and multiple comments elsewhere on the Web that dealt with his column and other issues involving the newspaper.Because of this violation, we are discontinuing Mike’s column in the newspaper, Golden State, and his blog of the same name. In addition, we are suspending Mike without pay for a period of time. At the end of the suspension, he will be reassigned.
Killing a column is a serious step. We don’t take it lightly. Mike did not commit any ethical violations in his newspaper column, and an internal inquiry found no inaccurate reporting in his postings in his blog or on the Web.
But employing pseudonyms constitutes deception and violates a central tenet of our ethics guidelines: We do not misrepresent ourselves and we do not conceal our affiliation with The Times. This rule applies equally to the newspaper and the Web world. We expect Times employees to behave with integrity and follow our guidelines in all journalistic forums.A columnist has a special place within The Times. Editors, colleagues and, most of all, readers must trust the integrity and judgment of a columnist because of the freedom that comes with the job. Mike often used his column to pillory business leaders for duplicity or violating the trust of employees, shareholders or the public and we are no longer comfortable granting him that special place within our newspaper.
Over the past few days, some analysts have used this episode to portray the Web as a new frontier for newspapers. Some have said it raises fresh and compelling ethical questions. We don’t see it that way. The Web makes it easier to conceal one’s identity, and the tone of exchanges is often harsh. But the Web doesn’t change the rules for journalists.
The Web has created new opportunities for newspapers. It is undoubtedly a big part of our future. It is a competitive and chaotic world. The most important attributes we bring to that new world are our reputation, our integrity and our determination to put out a great
newspaper that behaves in accordance with the highest ethical standards.Dean and Doug (Emphasis Flap’s)
The Los Angeles Times Ethics Policy (newly revised) is here.
Staff conduct
The Times expects its editorial staff to behave with dignity and professionalism. We do nothing while gathering the news that we would be ashamed to see in print or on television. We do not let the behavior of the pack set standards for us.In general, we identify ourselves as staff members when covering news events. There are some instances when offering such identification is impossible, impractical or counterproductive, but in no case should a staff member lie about his or her affiliation with The Times. We should deal honorably with people and institutions we cover, just as we expect them to deal honorably with us.
Times journalists may not use their affiliation with the newspaper to resolve personal disputes or seek special treatment or personal benefits. Emphasis in bold is Flap’s.
Hiltzik has received a slap on the wrist AGAIN.
The only special place within the newspaper Flap would give Hiltzik would be OUT THE DOOR.
Blogosphere:
Patterico: Hiltzik Column Discontinued; He Won’t Be Fired
LAVoice.org: Hiltzik’s Punishment: Pretty Swift, Pretty Firm
Hugh Hewitt: The Los Angeles Times Suspends Hiltzik, Discontinues His Column and Blog
Hot Air: ‘Twas sock puppets killed the beast
Independent Sources: Los Angeles Times yanks Hiltzik’s column and blog
Captain’s Quarters: Hiltzik Loses Column Over Sock PuppetryÂ
Previous:
Patterico “OUTS†Los Angeles Times Blogger Michael Hiltzik
Michael Hiltzik Watch: Stalking Hugh Hewitt?
Los Angeles Times Watch: Hugh Hewitt – Michael Hiltzik in ANGER Stage
Los Angeles Times Watch: Pulitzer Prize Winning Reporter – An UNHINGED Blogger
Michelle Malkin Watch: 2005 IN REVIEW: THE WAR ON BLOGS
Bear Flag League Watch: Patterico’s Los Angeles Dog Trainer Year in Review 2005
Technorati Tags: HughHewitt, MichaelHiltzik, Patterico, PatrickFrey, MSM, LosAngelesTimes
-
Public Memorial Service Planned for former LAPD Chief Ed Davis
Los Angeles Times: Public Memorial Service for Former LAPD Chief Ed Davis Is Scheduled
A public memorial service for former Los Angeles Police Chief Ed Davis, who died Saturday, will be held at 2:30 p.m. next Thursday at the Los Angeles Police Academy in Elysian Park, 1880 N. Academy Drive.
In lieu of flowers, the Davis family requests that donations be made to the Los Angeles Police Memorial Foundation, which was established to provide assistance to families of police officers who have been killed in the line of duty. Checks should be made payable to the Los Angeles Police Memorial Foundation, 1880 N. Academy Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90012.
Previous:
Ed Davis: Tough Talking Chief Reshaped LAPD and California GOP
Former LAPD Chief and California Senator Ed Davis: RIP
Technorati Tags: EdDavis
-
Ed Davis: Tough Talking Chief Reshaped LAPD and California GOP
Los Angeles Police Chief Ed Davis is photographed in his office at police headquarters in December 1975. A family spokesman says the former Los Angeles police chief and state senator Ed Davis has died of complications from pneumonia at 89. Davis died of complications from pneumonia Saturday night at a hospital in San Luis Obispo, Calif., said family spokesman Rob Wilcox.
Los Angeles Times: Tough-Talking Chief Reshaped LAPD
Ed Davis, the flamboyant and innovative former Los Angeles police chief who later defied stereotypes by supporting environmental issues and gay rights when he was a Republican state senator, died Saturday. He was 89.
A Morro Bay-area resident, Davis died about 7:15 p.m from complications of pneumonia. He was admitted to Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center in the San Luis Obispo area earlier this month when his wife, Bobbie, was unable to wake him up one morning.
Ed Davis has passed but his plain spoken quotes live on…………THE QUOTES:
Known for his controversial statements, in 1972 Davis suggested reinstating the death penalty in California to punish airline hijackers.
“I recommend we have a portable gallows, and after we have the death penalty back in, we conduct a rapid trial for a hijacker out there and hang him with due process out there at the airport,” Davis said.
The proposal earned him the nickname “Hang ‘Em High Ed.”
Davis, who was chief of the Los Angeles Police Department from 1969 to 1978, gained notoriety for his many controversial public utterances, including his method for dealing with hijackers: Give them a trial, then “hang ’em at the airport.”When he was under a court-imposed gag order not to discuss a legal case, he invited reporters to a news conference, tied a handkerchief around his mouth and mumbled: “I’m one of the few men in the country without freedom of speech.”
“After it was all over, he said it was better police work to save a life than kill someone.”
Still, Davis was a shrewd enough bureaucrat to employ scare tactics when he appeared before the City Council and argued for more LAPD funding. He once advised residents to “bar your doors, buy a police dog, call us when we’re available and pray.”
“When you see the cross-section of the Republican Party, you don’t see America,” he said shortly before he left politics. “If the Republican Party wants to be the majority party, it must be like a church. The church is supposed to open its doors to all sinners, not just Anglo European people.”
“I’m not seeking anything, but people do call me up,” he said in 1996.
And then the quotes about Chief Davis’s life:
“Ed Davis was a dynamic leader in law enforcement,” said Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton in a statement. He credited Davis with helping to formulate the management principles of the LAPD, creating many successful crime-fighting programs and starting the Los Angeles Police Memorial Foundation to help families of police officers killed in the line of duty.
“He realized your true value and success depended on your relationship with the community,” said Councilman Bernard C. Parks, who joined the LAPD in 1965 as a street officer and became chief in 1997. “He realized that if you cultivated the community and they were your eyes and ears and they were the ones that were taking an active role and called when they saw something suspicious, then the Police Department grew by thousands of people taking an interest in the community.”
Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, who took police science classes from Davis at Cal State L.A. decades ago, called him “one of the most intelligent and innovative police chiefs in America.”
At the end of Davis’ tenure, then-Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who had occasionally criticized the chief’s policies, said Davis was a remarkable leader. “Davis commands the respect of his subordinates without question, like nobody in this city does. They’re afraid of him, they love him, they respect him. He’s like the Vince Lombardi of the Police Department.”
One Republican critic denounced him as “the Legislature’s leading crusader for homosexual rights.”
Los Angeles Police Chief Edward M. Davis speaks at a news conference in Los Angeles in June 1974.
Flap first met California State Senator Ed Davis in 1982 after Flap lost his first race for elected office (November 1981), Area 2 of the Ventura County Community College District. Flap was interested in some dental/regulation tax issues and Flap called his district office who recommended that I meet with the Senator and discuss the issues. We met at the old Thousand Oaks City Hall on the Hill and we talked for at least an hour about politics. He was ever encouraging, sitting smoking his pipe and imparting his words of political sage.
It always amazed me how open Ed Davis was. He was never pretentious and “told it like he saw it.”
Flap could always count on the Chief for political help. I became one of the Davis cadre, along with others: Tom McClintock, Michael Bradbury, Colleen Toy White, Hunt Braly, Scott Wilk, Eric Rose, Rob Wilcox, Marlee Means and others who Flap will apologize for not mentioning. The 1980’s were exciting times. Reagan was President, Dukemejian and later Wilson were California Governors and Ed Davis was the political “KING” in Ventura County.
Ed Davis revitalized Flap’s political career, encouraging me to run for the Ventura County Republican Central Committee. Now, it was improper for an incumbent Republican office holder to endorse a candidate in the GOP primary election but Ed was ingenious. He gave me his printer and allowed me to send direct mail with Flap and him shaking hands to all Republican households in Thousand Oaks. Flap won. And Flap won re-election until he was appointed to the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission in 1987 and then elected to the Ventura County Community College District in 1989 – all with Ed Davis’s help, recommendation and encouragement.
In Flap’s last campaign in 1992, Ed Davis, did Flap a final favor: television commercials for Flap’s unsuccesful Thousand Oaks City Council race.
In the meantime, Ed’s former chief of staff Tom McClintock was elected to the California Assembly. Tom now holds Senator Davis’s former California State Senate seat and is a candidate this November for Lt. Governor.
Chief,,,,,,Rest in Peace……
Los Angeles Police Chief Ed Davis announces at a news conference in Dec. 1969 that warrants have been issued for the arrest of a man and two women in the slayings os seven people, including actress Sharon Tate and four others at her home.
MSM:
AP: Former LAPD Police Chief Ed Davis Dies
L.A. Daily News: Iconic ’70s LAPD Chief Ed Davis dies at 89
Ventura County Star: Ed Davis, ex-L.A. police chief, state senator, dies at 89
San Francisco Chronicle: Ed Davis — former L.A. police chief
Previous:
Former LAPD Chief and California Senator Ed Davis: RIP
Technorati Tags: EdDavis
-
Former LAPD Chief and California Senator Ed Davis: RIP
L.A. LEGEND: Ed Davis, pictured here in 1989, defied stereotypes by supporting environmental issues and gay rights when he was a Republican state senator.
Los Angeles Times: Former L.A. Police Chief Ed Davis Dies
Ed Davis, the flamboyant and innovative former Los Angeles police chief who later defied stereotypes by supporting environmental issues and gay rights when he was a Republican state senator, has died. He was 89.
A Morro Bay area resident, Davis died about 7:15 p.m Saturday from complications of pneumonia. He was admitted to a Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center in the San Luis Obispo area earlier this month when his wife, Bobbie, was unable to wake him up one morning.
Flap remembers Senator Davis attending many town hall meetings at the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce in Thousand Oaks. Always affable and direct, the Chief, was a political mentor of many Ventura County politicans, including his former chief of staff, State Senator Tom McClintock and former District Attorney Michael Bradbury.
The Ventura County Star has Ed Davis, former LAPD chief and Republican state senator, dies
Davis is survived by his wife, Bobbie; a son, Michael E. Davis, a Los Angeles County prosecutor; two daughters, Christine Ann Coey and Mary Ellen Burde; and several grandchildren.
Senator Rest in Peace……
Technorati Tags: EdwardMDavis, EdDavis, LosAngelesPoliceDepartment, LAPD
-
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Watch: Los Angeles Unified School District Takeover Would Bypass Voter Approval
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa delivers his State of the City speech at the Accelerated School in South Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Times: Mayor’s School Takeover Would Bypass Local Voters
Villaraigosa plans to ask legislators for control. He would lead a council that approves the budget and decides the superintendent’s fate.
Finally showing his hand after months of deliberation, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced Tuesday that he would ask the Legislature to give him overwhelming authority to run the city’s embattled public schools.
Villaraigosa unveiled his takeover strategy in his first State of the City address, during which he called for a “council of mayors” to oversee the sprawling Los Angeles Unified School District, second-largest in the nation.
That council — including leaders from the 26 smaller cities served by L.A. Unified and a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors — would hire the superintendent and approve the district’s multibillion-dollar budget.
But Villaraigosa would retain the reins of power because council votes would be in proportion to the member cities’ population and Los Angeles is bigger by far than all the others combined.
How do you spell IDIOTIC POWER GRAB?
And how will this bureaucratic shuffle help the students of the Los Angeles Unified School District?
Mayor Villaraigosa tried to take over the Metropolitan Water District and now LAUSD – NO WAY!
The elected Los Angeles Board of Education would not be disbanded but would be relegated to advocating for parents, ruling on student discipline and preparing annual reports on the effectiveness of schools.
The mayor launched his ambitious and politically perilous campaign from the gym of a gleaming new charter school in South Los Angeles.
By offering a program that depends on approval by state legislators rather than local voters, he shifted the contours of the debate from a ballot fight in Los Angeles to a struggle in Sacramento.
Well, Republican legislators will never approve of Mayor and former Democrat Assembly Speaker AV’s lust for CONTROL.
And will the California Teachers Association and other major state unions approve?
Doubtful….
The text of the Mayor’s speech is here.
The Quotes:
“I believe we need to wake up and shake up the bureaucracy at LAUSD,” Villaraigosa told an audience of city officials, educators, labor leaders and students in a 30-minute speech.
“The buck needs to stop at the top,” he added. “Voters need to be able to hire and fire one person accountable to parents, teachers and taxpayers, a leader who is ultimately responsible for systemwide performance.”
Los Angeles School Board President Marlene Canter dismissed the mayor’s call for a new governing scheme, saying that it would deprive voters of any meaningful right to select the district’s leadership.
“The last time I checked,” she said, “this country was still a democracy.”
Mayor Villaraigosa has been AWOL for decades while LAUSD schools have disintegrated into chaos. Superintendent Roy Romer has poured in hundreds of millions of dollars in school construction funds to primarily refurbish and newly constuct schools for the children of Los Angeles illegal aliens, of Mexican decent, like the mayor.
Now, the Mayor wishes to control the system without LAUSD voter approval.
Shameful and frankly it won’t happen.
Previous:
Illegal Immigration Watch: Flush Illegal Alien Amnesty
Los Angeles Unified School District Watch: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Details Plan for Schools
Technorati Tags: AntonioVillaraigosa, LosAngelesUnifiedSchoolDistrict, LAUSD, MarleneCanter
-
Los Angeles Unified School District Watch: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Details Plan for Schools
The film is based on the true story of a group of Chicano students who staged a walkout in 1968 to against protest the injustices of the public high-school system in East Los Angeles. The movie premieres on HBO on March 18.
Los Angeles Times: L.A. Mayor Details Plan for Schools
Villaraigosa would keep an elected board — but in a lesser role — and hold the power to appoint superintendent and other top educators.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Friday outlined his most detailed plan yet for taking control of the Los Angeles schools, saying that he would keep the elected Board of Education but in a reduced role and appoint the superintendent and other top district leaders.
Villaraigosa, continuing his steady criticism of the Los Angeles Unified School District, said mayoral oversight would bring public accountability to a system lacking a “sense of urgency” or a “culture of reform.”
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s latest powergrab = Los Angeles Unitied School district. He attempted to take over the Metropolitian Water District with the Richard Katz fiasco and failed. Los Angeles parents and voters should do the same here.
“I don’t see, frankly, right now the kind of leadership in that school district that is really engaged in reforms and making the bold decisions we need to get results,” Villaraigosa said at a City Hall news conference. “What we have isn’t working, pure and simple.”
Of course, Los Angeles Unified School District has been BROKEN for years and needs to be dismantled into many separate school districts with their own elected boards.
How will Mayor MEChAS plan improve the schools – besides that Antonio gains the CONTROL to appoint the Superintendent and other school staff?
NOT AT ALL…….
The head of the Los Angeles teachers union said that any power-sharing structure could ultimately backfire in a school district in which the needs of children and billions of dollars are at stake.
“If I had a problem at a school that I needed to work on, would I go to the local school board elected person? Or would I go to the mayor?” asked A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles. “As a citizen, and a consumer of public education, I’m confused already.”
A poor plan which should be rejected out of hand.
Villaraigosa is a meglamaniac desiring to exert his influence outside the power of Los Angeles City Hall. Antonio first things first……..
Technorati Tags: LosAngelesUnifiedSchoolDistrict, AntonioVillaraigosa, MEChA
-
Global War on Terror Watch: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Says He was “Blindsided”
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa listens to a question about President Bush’s immigration policies, as he comments on Bush’s State of the Union address Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2006, outside the mayor’s official residence, the Getty House, in Los Angeles. Villaraigosa, in a nationally televised Spanish-language speech, faulted the White House Tuesday for policies he said pushed more Americans into poverty and failed to address a crisis in education.ASSociated Press: L.A. Mayor Blindsided by Bush Announcement
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Thursday he was blindsided by President Bush’s announcement of new details on a purported 2002 hijacking plot aimed at a downtown skyscraper, and described communication with the White House as “nonexistent.”
“I’m amazed that the president would make this (announcement) on national TV and not inform us of these details through the appropriate channels,” the mayor told The Associated Press. “I don’t expect a call from the president — but somebody.”
“I go to work every day knowing that we are a target,” Villaraigosa said.
The mayor said homeland security needs better funding, including for the protection of high-risk targets in Los Angeles. He said some funding could be redirected from the war in Iraq, but he did not advocate an immediate withdrawal of troops.
Mayor AV is whining……after your partisan comments on the President’s State of the Union address what do you expect?
RESPECT?
No way……..
Mayor AV you can do better……..
Technorati Tags: MayorAntonioVillaraigosa, GlobalWaronTerror, PresidentGeorgeWBush, AlQaeda, Terrorism, LosAngeles
-
City of Los Angeles Watch: Power Outage Caused by ERROR Not Terror
KNBC Television reports DWP: Workers Trigger Outage By Connecting Wrong Wires.
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power officials said an outage Monday afternoon was linked to human error at a receiving station.
Power officials reported outages from the San Fernando Valley to downtown Los Angeles. Workers connected the wrong wires, causing a surge of power that led to shutdowns at three power generating stations, according to officials.
Receiving stations take high-voltage power from generating stations and convert it to lower voltage. It can then be used throughout the city.
Ron Deaton, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said the system is designed to shut down when it receives too much power.
“They connected it to another line that was not expecting that much electricity,” said Deaton.
Power to DWP customers went out at about 1 p.m.
The cable has been rewired, according to authorities. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said that power was restored to 90 percent of Los Angeles customers within two hours of the outage.
Authorities said power will be restored to all areas by Monday night.
Oh OK!
Well, better than a terrorist act.
-
City of Los Angeles Watch: Major Power Outage Strikes the City
The ASSociated Press has Large Portion of Los Angeles Loses Power
A large portion of Los Angeles was hit with a blackout Monday afternoon. The city was investigating the cause and extent of the outage. But Sgt. Catherine Plows, a police spokeswoman, said terrorism was not suspected.
Electrical power was knocked out shortly before 1 p.m. after two power surges, and traffic was snarled at intersections throughout the city when stop lights went dark. The lights also went out at downtown high- rises.
The Police Department went on “full tactical alert,” meaning no officers were allowed to leave duty.
The blackout came a day after ABC aired a videotape of a purported al- Qaida member making terrorist threats against Los Angeles and Melbourne, Australia, on the fourth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Heavy usage on hot days can lead to blackouts. But the weather in Los Angeles was not unsually hot Monday.
Fox News is reporting that an electrical line was accidentally disrupted by a DWP crew.
DWP is still investigating the outage.
Parts of the San Fernando Valley have already had their power restored.
