Jose Huizar's Plea Is a Final Nail in the Coffin to the Old Guard of Los Angeles City Corruption

(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
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It’s the end of an era in Los Angeles politics, and not a good one. While the rampant corruption that has plagued City Hall appears to be getting its comeuppance, it is being replaced by the drumbeat of socialist activism, including the city’s new mayor.

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Since his City Council days, former mayor Eric Garcetti made an art form from this corruption, until he reached the end of his tether. Now on the road of disgrace, he is currently begging for an ambassadorship to India from an administration that, despite their protestations and the re-submission of his application, simply want to be rid of him. Garcetti is still plagued by his complicity in the alleged sexual harassment of his former advisor Rick Jacobs–allegations corroborated by Garcetti’s former communications director Naomi Seligman, who is also suing Jacobs and the City of Los Angeles. Even with the walls closing in, Garcetti still tacitly denies he had any knowledge of Jacobs’ harassment.

His Chief Communications Officer Dae Levine said: “No new facts were uncovered in this report, and Mayor Garcetti strongly reaffirms the simple truth that he never witnessed or was made aware of sexual harassment. The opinion reached in the report does not reflect the truth about the experiences of so many people who have testified under oath and spoken candidly to the senator’s office. It is based solely on false, repackaged allegations that have been proven false by multiple unbiased investigations and reviews.”

Like a domino effect, the elected officials with filthy hands from decades of corruption are falling. Garcetti’s former chief of staff and protégé, Mitch O’Farrell was voted out of his formerly cozy, CD 13 council seat (by DSA-backed Hugo Soto-Martinez), and his compatriot Mitch Englander is stewing in prison after pleading guilty to bribery and fraud.

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End of an era indeed, and another compatriot, former CD 14 councilman Jose Huizar’s recent plea deal looks to be another nail in that coffin.

Former Los Angeles City Councilman José Huizar pleaded guilty on Friday, Jan. 21 [sic], to two federal charges stemming from a City Hall-based bribery and money laundering scheme in which he took more than $1.5 million in cash, gambling trips and escorts in exchange for his support of a planned downtown hotel project.

Huizar pleaded guilty in downtown Los Angeles to racketeering conspiracy and tax evasion. The charges could carry a sentence of up to 25 years behind bars, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The plea agreement, which was filed Thursday in Los Angeles federal court, says the ex-councilman agreed to a prison sentence of no less than nine years, but prosecutors said they will request a 13-year term in federal prison.

Huizar will also be ordered to pay restitution of about $1.85 million, the document states.

U.S. District Judge John Walter scheduled sentencing for April 3.

It took them 90 minutes to read through the laundry list of charges and the trail of corrupt deeds Huizar left in his wake.

According to a 42-page factual basis for his plea, Huizar, as an elected member of the City Council, led a criminal enterprise in which he used his position at City Hall to enrich himself and his associates, and unlawfully gave favorable treatment to developers who financed and facilitated bribes and other illicit financial benefits.

In addition to the RICO conspiracy, Huizar’s plea agreement describes instances of honest services wire and mail fraud, traveling interstate in aid of racketeering, bribery, money laundering, making false statements and tax evasion.

Huizar, 54, of Boyle Heights, initialed each page of the document.

Two trials already arising out of the indictment against Huizar and his associates have ended in convictions.

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Los Angeles, a once model city, is officially gutted, and these corruption convictions are the final bombs dropped. In the wake of the LAtinX Scandal, two seats on the City Council have already been overtaken by Democrat Socialists of America-backed members. Eunisses Hernandez divested CD 01 from Gil Cedillo’s grasp, even before his complicity in the racist scandal was discovered. Also wrapped up in the LAtinX Scandal, and the man who took Huizar’s place in CD 14, refuses to resign; his pension and, aside from his involvement in that conversation, his own corrupt dealings remain under wraps… for now.

New Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass was in D.C. last week for the U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting. On top of being one of the speakers, she was there to beg the Biden administration for federal money for her homelessness initiatives. As if billions have not already been poured into the blight, which only grows worse. So, while one era of corruption is being buried, a new one is rising in its wake.

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