As I reported earlier this month, President Joe Biden had Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on his shortlist for an ambassadorship to India. According to Axios, it is pretty much a done deal.
President Biden is ready to nominate Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti as his ambassador to India, sending a trusted political ally to the world’s biggest democracy, people familiar with the matter tell Axios.
Driving the news: Biden is planning to name his first slate of political ambassadors as soon as next week, rewarding political allies like Garcetti, as well as big-dollar donors, many of whom covet postings in elegant European capitals.
The White House is still finishing the vetting process for potential ambassadors, including Garcetti, whose office called an Axios report earlier this month that he was being considered for an ambassadorship “speculative.”
When the vetting process is complete, Biden is expected to formally send more than a dozen names to the Senate to begin the confirmation process for his first batch of political ambassadors.
I guess all those years of driving Los Angeles into the ground was just Triple-A ball. Now, Garcetti moves to the major leagues, where he can really do some damage! KFI radio personalities John and Ken have dubbed Garcetti, “Mayor Yoga Pants”; now Garcetti gets to spend his time in Yoga’s birthplace. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
The reactions to the news of this blessed event are more priceless than Garcetti’s actual departure. The majority sentiment: Don’t Let the Doorknob Hit Ya, Where the Good Lord Split Ya!
Byeeeeeeeeeeee
— i need a nap. (@yramlala) May 26, 2021
This Mayor is so universally despised, that he was booed on baseball’s opening day at Dodger’s Stadium.
As a human I say hasn’t India suffered enough. As an Angeleno I say good riddance.
— Cynfulfan (@Cynfulfan) May 26, 2021
But he’s been gunning for a piece of the pie in a presidential administration for some time, and Biden is finally rewarding Garcetti’s obeisance.
Perhaps Biden noticed Garcetti’s crackerjack handling of the COVID pandemic. As of this writing, there are lawsuits filed by California Educators for Medical Freedom against the Los Angeles Unified School District for its forced vaccinations and medical tracking of employees, by the parents of California Students United against the Los Angeles Unified School District for its limited and restrictive school reopenings, by restaurant owners over the COVID-19 lockdowns and closures, the list goes on.
Im surprised! After all those promises to #Angelinos after all those #Taxes to fix our problems. @ericgarcetti will be known as the @MayorOfLA Who reneged on this oath of office. The chatter is that the investigations to his political #consigliere would’ve tank him regardless. pic.twitter.com/VjsuDvsULO
— Luis Alvarado (@latinostrategy) May 26, 2021
A major lawsuit involved the office of the Mayor directly. Garcetti stood idly by while his closest advisor, Rick Jacobs, sexually harassed the people in the Mayor’s employ, including an officer in his protection detail:
According to the claim, LAPD officer Matthew Garza began working in Garcetti’s protection detail in October 2013. As part of the role, the officers in the detail accompanied the Mayor at all times, which included driving him to and from his various engagements and traveling with him on out-of-town trips.
Garza alleges that Garcetti’s aide, Rick Jacobs, a longtime political advisor to the Mayor, repeatedly sexually harassed him on the job for years while in the presence of Garcetti.
The lawsuit states that between 2014 and 2019, Garza was allegedly “subjected to unwanted sexual harassment by Jacobs, who is openly gay.”
Call an ambulance this man has fallen up lol
— . (@keenanarmstrong) May 26, 2021
Garcetti’s crowning achievement as Mayor of Los Angeles is his expansion of the homeless crisis to monumental proportions. After Garcetti was initially kicked to the curb and rejected as a Biden executive cabinet pick, he claimed he would renew his focus on the city.
Faced with an out-of-control homeless crisis, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Monday will propose spending nearly $1 billion in the coming year to get people off the streets, build housing and clean up squalid encampments that have spread into nearly every neighborhood in the city.
The proposal for record-level spending comes as City Hall has faced widening criticism for its inability to restrain the growth of homelessness, even though city investments in programs aimed an unhoused people have soared nearly sevenfold since 2016.
Like many big cities, Los Angeles has struggled for decades with a homeless population. But while it was once largely confined to the notorious Skid Row neighborhood in downtown, rows of tents, cardboard shelters, battered RVs and makeshift plywood structures are now familiar sights. The famous drive down palm tree-lined Sunset Boulevard is dotted with encampments small and large, often surrounded by heaps of trash and discarded clothing.
Now, Biden has called again, and Garcetti is practically peeing his pants to answer. See that cloud of dust over Palm Desert? It’s Garcetti exiting the state.
With his abysmal record, one would think Garcetti would have had the decency to finish out his final term, then slink into the sunset. Instead, he’s finally found the exit door that he’s been seeking his entire political career. For Angelenos, it couldn’t come sooner.
Eric Garcetti has been training and preparing for this Ambassadorship to India for more than a decade.
Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, Erichttps://t.co/63s8ttNkxP pic.twitter.com/8oC5iyZ90R— Kevin Dalton (@NextLAMayor) May 26, 2021
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