Surprise! Rocky was better off not talking

I take everything back.

Yes, I know I said it was a big mistake for Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo to remain silent about who was driving his city vehicle when it rammed into a pole in 2004, causing $1,222 in damage.

But now that I've heard him try to explain, I think silence was the smarter approach.

When Delgadillo was 30 minutes late to his own press conference Monday, I assumed it was because he was carefully preparing to set the record straight. As it turned out, very little was cleared up. His staff ended up having to scramble to correct the raft of misinformation he blurted out during the latest installment of the Rocky Horror Show.

I'd like to hold back this little tidbit until later in the column, but I can't help myself:

From June 2005 until July 2006, the city attorney himself had no insurance on his personal vehicle.

You see what I mean?

Somebody should have had the sense to duct tape Rocky's mouth shut.

After stonewalling for more than a week, Delgadillo finally admitted Monday that his wife needed to get to her doctor's office in a hurry in 2004, while he was out of town. Her car wasn't running, he said, so she took his city-owned GMC Yukon and accidentally banged it into a pole.

This little escapade could not have surprised anyone familiar with Michelle Delgadillo's driving history, which has included license suspensions, failure to show proof of insurance and in 1998, a bench warrant for her various misadventures.

Rocky Delgadillo's staff handled the paperwork on his wife's 2004 accident, and the city attorney said he was unaware that a required report on the accident was never filed with the city.

Of course that doesn't explain why he thought you and I should pay for the repairs. Delgadillo said he thought it was OK for his wife to use the car. The city's policy, he claimed, is ambiguous.

OK, so I'm putting my San Jose State education up against that of a man who went to Harvard and Columbia. But I've read both the municipal code and the Los Angeles Ethics Commission policy, and I'm here to tell you I find no ambiguity and nothing to suggest that it's OK to let family members drive city vehicles.

"For me there's been no ambiguity," said City Controller Laura Chick, who as an elected official is subject to the same policy as Delgadillo. "It's been very clear."