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| "Why won't anyone say Hello to me?" |
Soon-to-be-former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was destined for political stardom. He served (supposedly) as a key arbitrator with the LA Unified Teachers union and management in early 2019, trying to broker higher pay and more accountability in the district and get the teachers back to work. In January of that year, the LA Teachers all went on strike, the first time in thirty years.
Garcetti was also revving up his potential presidential chances. A lot of politicos and public thinkers, including Trump-Deranged conservative George F. Will, considered Garcetti a viable contender for the Democrat nomination in 2020.
All of that came to an abrupt halt in February 2019, since Garcetti really didn't have the time, money, or gravitas to launch a national campaign. Besides, he would have to contend with other California progressives like billionaire Tom Steyer and US Senator Kamala Harris.
From there, Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and the numerous labor unions in the city turned on Garcetti. They saw him as a corporate sellout who did the bidding of the big money developers while ignoring the progressive activists in the city. Crime skyrocketed during his tenure in office, as well, and the homelessness crisis went from bad to worse.
Garcetti couldn't even run his city. What business did he have running for President, or even seeking federal office in a cabinet post? Two years ago, shortly after Biden was "elected," Black Lives Matter activists actively protested outside of his house, demanding that the Biden administration not even consider him for Secretary of Transporation.
Everyone hates Eric.
And the hate has not abated.
Biden acquiesced to consider him for the ambassadorship to India. That nomination has no proceeded as smoothly as he would have hoped. Two years into the Biden debale, and Garcetti has barely advanced out of committee ... and that was in January, 2022.
Eight months later, and his nomination still languishes.
The two US Senators from Iowa, Charles Grassley and Joni Ernst, have blocked his nomination's advancement due to allegations that the mayor ignored allegations and reports of sexual harassment in his office. #MeToo issues are all too common in California politics, and it's no surprise that Garcetti's weak leadership contributed to a climate of abuse in his own office.
Of course, there's a lot more going on behind the scenes why Garcetti can't get a break in the United States Senate. Republicans are committed to frustrating as many local progressive candidates from getting national attention. The Democratic caucus is woefully split on his confirmation, too, because of ongoing Black Lives Matter lobbying. They see him as too much pro-police, and that he did nothing for the black communities in Los Angeles. Let's not forget that Black Supremacist Melina Abdullah shouted "F--k Eric Garcetti" along with her vulgar hatred of President Trump. She condemned both of them in the same breath, by the way.
It has gotten so bad, that little Eric has asked his daddy, failed former District Attorney Gil Garcetti, to lobby for him, along with his mother. This is just sad on so many levels.
Where does the nomination stand now? Nowhere, and it looks like it is getting nowhere fast.
The Orange County Register reports:
The disastrous story of Eric Garcetti’s ambassadorship nomination drags on and on
It has been more than a year since President Joe Biden nominated Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to serve as ambassador to India.
How much longer will Eric insist on embarrassing himself?
In the year since, Garcetti’s nomination has devolved into nothing short of a political embarrassment for the Biden Administration. As mayor of a world-renowned city like Los Angeles, Garcetti should be a shoo-in for a position like this, but his incompetence is just staggering.
Los Angeles may be world-renowned, but for all the wrong reasons. Skyrocketing crime rates, homelessness crises all over the city. Property crimes, robberies, rapes, arsons, murders are up all over the city.
Most recently, he lied to a Los Angeles Times reporter about the purpose of a recent trip to Washington, D.C.
Eric Garcetti has a truth problem? I am shocked--shocked!
Asked whether it was “now or never” on his nomination, he responded to reporter Dakota Smith, “The meetings I took, I wasn’t in D.C. on this issue.” He insisted he was there to talk about the pandemic, transportation policy and the recent Summit of the Americas.
But that wasn’t true.
Eric Garcetti can't get rid of Los Angeles fast enough. The city has turned into a third-world hellhole on his watch, so bad that the chief of police has to warn visitors that their safety cannot be guaranteed. In fact, LAPD basically had to tell tourists that they should be prepared to forfeited whatever goods or money they have if they are accosted or held up, and that they should refrain from wearing anything flashy or expensive when out and about in the city. What are we now, Minneapolis?!
“When Smith pointed out that he also met with the Hispanic Caucus, and told the mayor he wasn’t being truthful, Garcetti walked away,” the Times reported. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus itself announced having met with Garcetti and went out of its way to publicly discredit itself by issuing a statement backing Garcetti’s nomination.
So, Garcetti wants to play the race card, as if that will help his chances. What good is there talking to the House of Representatives, anyway? Is Eric so clueless, that he forgot that it's the United States Senate that is supposed to confirm his nomination?
“The mayor was also seen last week in D.C. with Breelyn Pete, a lobbyist hired by Garcetti’s parents, Sukey and Gil Garcetti, to advocate for the mayor’s nomination,” the Times further noted. “The lobbying firm where she works reported Thursday $30,000 in income during the second quarter tied to Garcetti’s parents. The firm lobbied the White House, Senate and House, according to the firm’s filing.”
Yikes.
Wow! $30,000 to hire some people to tell some other people to make Eric Garcetti an ambassador. Yet for all that time and money, nobody wants him.
Meanwhile, the Times also recently found that a report about the city’s COVID response “softened or removed” criticism of how Garcetti handled the pandemic.
For example “a sentence noting that there were complaints from staff at the Emergency Management Department, or EMD, about their work tasks being ‘politically driven’ was removed.” Further, a reference to the observation of “several department leaders who attended Garcetti’s weekly ‘cabinet’ meetings … that the meetings ‘often felt more like dictations rather than discussions’” was removed.
Garcetti resorts to doctoring reports about his mayoral governance, too.
Yikes.
Just add all of this to Garcetti’s greatest hits.
Like the Politico report that Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly felt “strong-armed over his refusal to relent on Garcetti’s nomination.” He was reportedly threatened he could be “cut off from donor networks” if he didn’t back Garcetti.
Now they are using donors to bully US Senators. How is this going to play with the rest of the caucus? Call me crazy, but I don't think that federally elected officials respond to well to being bullied in this fashion. The way that most progressive lawmakers think in Washington DC, they see the cities and states as their serfs, not their sovereigns. After all, they have no respect for federalism, the rule of law, or constituent service generally.
Or the warning from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, that, “I have received numerous credible allegations from multiple whistleblowers alleging that Mr. Garcetti, while Mayor of Los Angeles, had knowledge of sexual harassment and assaults allegedly committed against multiple city employees and their associates by his close advisor, and that he ignored the misconduct.” A follow-up report found that Garcetti “likely knew or should have known” about such misconduct.
Me too.
Last year, columnist Doug McIntyre raised the point that, “Those of us who live in L.A. have additional concerns: Did the mayor also not witness the corruption that’s rampant in the city he runs? For nearly 20 years Garcetti has been in the thick of things, including 12 years on the City Council, six of them as council president.”
EEK! How could I forget that Garcetti was a swamp-creature city councilman in Los Angeles all this time? Since I mentioned his father, I cannot forget that the only reason little Eric made it in LA City politics was due to his family name. He had nothing resilient or spectacular on his resume. He never really hustled or worked the precincts that he wanted to represent on the council, either. He is a total machine hack, a selfish golden boy politico with a silver spoon in his mouth, who got where he got because his daddy got lots of money and a shot at countywide office in 1992, only to lose to a Republican in a year that was not that great for Republicans across the country (2000).
Garcetti shouldn't even be a name of any note in LA politics, but here we are.
Enough is enough. Garcetti should do the decent thing and withdraw from the process. If he can’t muster the integrity to do so, Democratic senators should speak out and make clear Garcetti doesn’t deserve the position.
Oh please, if only! Then again, his mayoral tenure is almost over (thank goodness), so he'll have plenty of time to keep begging, pleading, and arm-twisting US Senators in the vain hope that he can get a vote for his nomination.
