Corruption Hits Cities in L.A.'s Shadows

AP & Newsday ^ | MICHAEL R. BLOOD

[kiriath_jearim]

LOS ANGELES -- A string of gritty suburbs in the shadow of Los Angeles has produced a growing parade of public officials jailed for corruption, and prosecutors say illegal schemes on a scale more commonly associated with big Eastern cities have devoured tens of millions of taxpayer dollars.

The latest to be led away in handcuffs is the former treasurer of South Gate, sentenced this past week to 10 years in prison.

Already known for clotted freeways and fading neighborhoods, the area south of Los Angeles now is drawing additional notoriety for thieving, bribe-grabbing public officials.

With little civic involvement by residents and only glancing media scrutiny, the cities "essentially laid themselves open for corruption, not through any fault of anybody's, but more or less through some sense of benign neglect," said Jennifer Lentz Snyder, an assistant head deputy in the Los Angeles County district attorney's public integrity division.

She believes the corruption is more pervasive than prosecutors have uncovered.

South Gate Treasurer Albert Robles aspired to build a "power machine" to secretly control cities throughout the economically struggling area, according to trial testimony. One now-jailed former mayor from the area sought to steal $6 million by steering city contracts to a shell company he owned.

South Gate and other towns including Lynwood, Bell Gardens, Maywood, Huntington Park and Vernon dot an area that once was blanketed with cauliflower and berry fields, until it was marketed decades ago as a suburban refuge where homes were affordable, the weather mild and opportunities rich.

Within a generation, a largely white, middle-class population has mostly vanished, replaced by many Hispanics, including a large immigrant population. However, corruption charges have cut across racial lines.

[kiriath_jearim]

Wow! No wonder Gwyneth Paltrow wants to dine with the Brits! /sarc

[BurbankKarl]

South Gate joins Vernon, Compton as convicted corrupters....also take a look at Maywood and Cudahy.

[kiriath_jearim]

"South Gate joins Vernon, Compton as convicted corrupters....also take a look at Maywood and Cudahy."

***

Well, I guess that lets City of Industry and Norwalk off the hook! /sarc

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

The cities mentioned are "Diverse"(read Mexico Del Norte.) The corruption in question has merely changed geographical location. Since by all current indications the American population cannot resist the invasion my advice is 'get used to it!'

[sidegunner]

Are they Clintoon 'Rats..if so they're just " getting well ", that is a quote from a " Clintoonista ". I forget which one.

[VOA]

Within a generation, a largely white, middle-class population has
mostly vanished, replaced by many Hispanics, including a large
immigrant population. However, corruption charges have cut across racial lines.

Nice try AP, but no cigar.

The fact is that the cities are becoming copies of the corruption of Mexico
(and points south). It just happens that power-brokers that are not
Hispanic in the area have learned quickly from the lessons in corruption
provided from south of the border.

And no manner of obfuscation can disguise that fact.

[Regulator]

The cities mentioned are "Diverse"(read Mexico Del Norte.) The corruption in question has merely changed geographical location

That's it in a nutshell. There's nothing "diverse" about those places now - most are well over 80% "hispanic"...er, Mexican.

And business as usual in Mexico is what is now happening there.

The arrests will happen for a while, but once they "overwhelm" the few remaining Gringo's with their birthrate and illegal immigration driven population increase, that will end too. The police and the government attorney's offices will be dominated by them both through numbers and "affirmative discrimination" hiring.

They will see to it that nothing is done, and that the thug gangsters who pay them consolidate their power and control over those cities and others (gee, wait...who's "El Alcalde de Los Angeles" right now?).

It will be Mexico in everything but name.

And then they will work on changing that little problem.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

You Got It!

[television is just wrong]

that is what they are spreading their Mexican dirt into the U.S. And yes, if nothing is done, GET USED TO IT...

There is NOTHING DIVERSE ABOUT COMMUNITIES THAT ARE 90 TO 99% HISPANIC. IT IS A CROCK.

Say welcome to the replacement population. WE ARE BEING
REPLACED.

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

South Gate and other towns including Lynwood, Bell Gardens, Maywood, Huntington Park

The cream of the crop. Why not change their name like South Central did and the problem goes away?

[DumpsterDiver]

Are they Clintoon 'Rats.

I'm assuming that they're Rats. Robles has a Clintonian excuse for his misdeeds.

"There are different levels of hoodwinking, but I didn't think hoodwinking was a crime," [South Gate Treasurer Albert] Robles said in court. He was recalled by voters.

For more on Robles:

CA: Former South Gate Treasurer Indicted (Albert Robles)
November 20, 2004

The recall capped a tumultuous period in South Gate history in which one councilman was shot, Robles was accused of threatening to kill political opponents and the city neared bankruptcy.

[Mark was here]

It will be Mexico in everything but name.

El Paso West. I was telling some friends today that they haven't even heard of the Chicanos yet, but it's coming.

[sidegunner]

(..hoodwinking..)

I gotta' remember that one!! LOL

[martin_fierro]

Maxine is shocked, SHOCKED.

[goldstategop]

One word: DEMOCRATS. A fact you don't see high-lighted in the Drive By Media/MSM. They want you to believe only Republicans are guilty of corruption and abuse of the public trust. Yeah, right.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[lonewacko_dot_com]

Maybe the L.A. Times could look into this:

http://www.fulldisclosure.net/Programs/478.php

[org.whodat]

more commonly associated with big Eastern cities

I think its more associated with mexican cities.

[starbase]

...not through any fault of anybody's, but more or less through some sense of benign neglect," said Jennifer Lentz Snyder

It ain't nobody's fault, esse',We don't need no stinking badges!!!

[Niteflyr]

Mexico=corruption.....
the inhabitants move here..
what does anyone expect?