Not so good. If City Hall was a sandbox, one imagines they'd be pouring buckets over one another's heads.
The latest conflict is over the $2.7-million settlement that the city attorney recommended and the council approved in the lawsuit brought by Tennie Pierce, the black firefighter who alleged that his colleagues fed him spaghetti sauce laced with dog food in a racist stunt in 2004.
After photos emerged of Pierce engaging in firehouse pranks of his own, Villaraigosa vetoed the settlement last Monday, setting the blame game in motion.
Some council members, such as Bernard C. Parks, said that the settlement was in the best interest of city coffers and that Pierce's prankster ways were discussed. Other members of the council -- most notably Jack Weiss -- said that they would never have approved the settlement had the city attorney shown them the photos and told them about the extent of Pierce's pranks in the past.
The city attorney's office countered that the photos were indeed discussed in June during a council session that was closed to the public because the subject involved city legal strategy. And, said the city attorney, they've got a snippet of audiotape to prove it.
Thus, the Thanksgiving Day press release: "Did the council know there were photos? ... We continue to urge the council to waive attorney-client privilege in this matter to put these questions to rest, once and for all." That would free Delgadillo to reveal the discussion, which he otherwise could not do without breaching legal ethics.
Weiss' stance is interesting. Even when the Pierce photos came out, Weiss was rounding up votes against reconsidering the settlement. It wasn't until Villaraigosa began mulling a veto of the settlement that Weiss changed his tune; Weiss plans to run for city attorney in 2009 when Delgadillo is forced from office by term limits and wants the mayor's backing.
"Look, all I can tell you is that I readily admit that I was wrong," Weiss said after the veto. "But when I made these initial decisions, the council didn't have all the evidence in front of it."
The standoff continues, with the council due to take up the issue at its meeting Tuesday. Weiss has asked that Delgadillo turn over all evidence in the case for the council's review. Delgadillo's office, meanwhile, continues to push for the release of the partial transcript of the June closed session.
