June 16th, 2008 by
Alan Mittelstaedt
Even water tricks won’t remove the stain of Roger’s reign
Cardinal Roger “I belong in Hell” Mahony, in a statement issued from his prison cell… (Ok, strike that. But we all can dream and hope for justice for this world-class pedophile protector!) attacked the very legal gay marriages about to be performed in California. But why should we be surprised that the Man in Red and his brethren refuse to embrace the law on gay marriages? Roger is the same guy who wouldn’t call the cops to report heinous sex crimes against children. Abiding by the law seems to be optional for him, and subject to the fund-raising whims of his corporation-like church.
In case you’re looking for some liner for the cage of your rabid pet pig, print out the archdiocese’s statement right here and hope your printer doesn’t cry in shame.
UPDATE: For a radical twist on my crusade for justice for Big Bad Roger, see Joe Mailander’s blog here.
Posted in crime and punishment, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, District Attorney | 
8 Comments »
June 3rd, 2008 by
Celeste Fremon
Love him or loath him, it’s a sure bet that Steve Cooley is going to be LA’s district attorney for a third term. His opponents are non starters and he gets along with both law enforcement and city hall. With all this in mind, my pal, KPCC reporter Frank Stolz, did this mini-portrait of Cooley, past and present
Here’s a transcript clip of one of the more…um…interesting moments in which retired LAPD Detective Jimmy Trahin, who trainedCooley as a reserve police officer in the early 1970s, tells what our DA was like in those years.
Jimmy Trahin: First thing I noticed about Steve is that he was one of these gung ho types. He just couldn’t wait to get out there and pick up bad guys. We’d stop and jack ‘em up, and they were scared of us. And they were scared of Steve.
Stoltze: Trahin recalls one backyard encounter with three robbery suspects.
Trahin: It was an all knock out brawl. And it ended up, other officers came in and Steve backed off, and then he came back in with his baton, and he was doing his number to try to keep these people down, and he ended up hitting half of the other cops that were there with his baton, and we all end up getting medical treatment after that.
Okie-Dokie. (By the way, Cooley swears he didn’t pull his baton.)
All in all, the anecdotes in this intriguing group of audio snapshots may please some, irritate others. But they suggest a complex, interesting man who, in our complex and interesting city has managed to get along well with and be respected by law enforcement, city hall, and the defense bar—-and most of (but not all) of the town’s most outspoken activists.
In any case, he’s our DA for the next four years so click, listen and enjoy.
Here’s the rest.
Photo by Anne Cusack for the LA Times
Posted in City Government, Los Angeles County, law enforcement, District Attorney | 4 Comments »
