You will certainly, if you’ve been following the issue, recall the fact that the zillionaire-sponsored effort to subvert by any means necessary the Skid Row Neighborhood Council formation effort was in full bloom by early 2017. And the Downtown BIDs were deeply involved in the whole mishegoss. In January, Blair “I don’t know nothin’ ’bout no Brown Act compliance” Besten of the Historic Core BID, Estela Lopez of the Downtown Industrial District, and furtive hereditary downtown zillionaire Michael Delijani were meeting with their sorry little Councilboy, encouraging him to ignore both law and decency in his effort to stop the SRNC.
By March, as we’ve seen, the zillionaires had formed an anonymous Delaware LLC known as United DTLA and hired walking morality-free-zone and former Los Angeles City Attorney Rockard Delgadillo to lobby the City against the SRNC. March 20, 2017 was a milestone day in the campaign. On this day, Fashion District BID executive directrix Rena Leddy began sending out emails to the property owners in her district to rally them against the SRNC. She sent this one out at 11:44 a.m.. At 12:24 p.m. she sent this one out, complete with a copy of Rockard Delgadillo’s infamous letter to the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, which is the locus classicus of the arguments which ultimately prevailed over the SRNC.
I know this isn’t much information, but it is something, and it’s a core belief of the staff of this blog that every little piece of the puzzle is valuable. In this particular case, definitive proof that Rockard Delgadillo spent 45 minutes2 engaged in lobbying activities3 contributes to the case against him for unregistered lobbying. The law requires him to have engaged in 30 hours of compensated lobbying activities over three consecutive months before being required to register.4
This, of course, is exceedingly difficult to prove against someone whose employer is not subject to the public records act. This is why, even as I was able make a comprehensive case against Liner LLP, Rockard Delgadillo’s employer, for various violations of the Lobbying Ordinance, I could do no more than suggest to the Ethics Commission that they investigate Delgadillo himself. But if I can collect enough of these provable instances of lobbying activity I’ll be able to present them with conclusive evidence. That’s the idea, anyway, and that’s why this little tidbit, as minuscule as it is in itself, is nevertheless important.
Image of Rockard Delgadillo was originally from here and now it’s been transformed and is ©2017 MichaelKohlhaas.Org.
- I haven’t yet published the entire release, mainly because some of them were stupidly and illegally redacted, something for which the Fashion District is infamous. I will publish all of them when I get the controversies straightened out, and meanwhile I will publish them piecemeal as necessary. If you need or want them, drop me a line and I’ll be happy to share what I have.
- The meeting started at 11 a.m. but by 11:44 Rena Leddy was sending out emails to various property owners. I take it as axiomatic that she’s not so rude as to send out emails while she’s on the phone, hence the phone call lasted no more than 44 minutes.
- His participation in this phone call on behalf of his clients was a lobbying activity as defined in the Municipal Lobbying Ordinance at §48.02, which includes under that heading such carryings-on as “seeking to influence the position of a third party on municipal legislation or an issue related to municipal legislation by any means, including but not limited to engaging in community, public or press relations activities.”
- Also at §48.02 and at §48.07(A).
