EDITORIAL L.A.'S VANISHING SCANDAL PR EXECS GO TO PRISON, BUT REAL CRIMINALS GET AWAY.U.S. District Judge Gary Allen Feess threw the book at public-relations executives Doug Dowie and John Stodder Jr. on Tuesday for their role in what was called the City Hall pay-to-play scandal. Dowie, onetime No. 1 at the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. office of Fleishman-Hillard, an international public relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most firm and a key adviser to former Mayor James Hahn For the Iowa politician, see . James Kenneth "Jim" Hahn (born July 3, 1950) is an American politician from the Democratic Party. He was the Deputy City Attorney (1975-1979), City Controller (1981-1985), City Attorney (1985-2001) and Mayor of Los Angeles, California , was sentenced to 42 months in federal prison. Stodder, his assistant who handled the L.A. Department of Water and Power account, got 15 months. Still, justice has been served. Too bad the same can't be said for the countless others involved in this crime -- including some of the city's top elected officials and their staff members, who perfected pay-to-play politics. Corrupt politics has been the rule in City Hall for decades. Dowie and Stodder were hardly the worst offenders, just the only ones to get caught. Fleishman-Hillard wouldn't have been able to get away with overbilling on a $3 million-a-year Department of Water and Power public-relations gig without the approval of former Mayor James Hahn's administration. And no one thinks the firm is the only city contractor to benefit from friendly relations in City Hall. The problem is widespread. But it's tricky to prosecute pay-to-play politics because plausible deniability Plausible deniability is the term given to the creation of loose and informal chains of command in governments and other large organizations. In the case that assassinations, false flag or black ops or any other illegal or otherwise disreputable and unpopular activities become is always maintained. So even though the insiders inevitably end up getting rich on the public's dime, and city services The examples and perspective in this article or section may represent an unduly geographically limited view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. suffer, hardly anyone is ever held to account. After extensive investigation at both the county and federal levels, law enforcement couldn't come up with the goods on anyone but a few P.R. guys -- Dowie, Stodder and fellow Fleishman alum alum (ăl`əm), any one of a series of isomorphous double salts that are hydrated sulfates of a univalent cation (e.g., potassium, sodium, ammonium, cesium, or thallium) and a trivalent cation (e.g. Steve Sugarman, who pleaded guilty in exchange for leniency le·ni·en·cy n. pl. le·ni·en·cies 1. The condition or quality of being lenient. See Synonyms at mercy. 2. A lenient act. Noun 1. . That's it. None of the fundraisers who sell access to politicians, or the politicians who steer lucrative city contracts to their supporters, or the aides and lobbyists who cut the deals. Dowie and Stodder got what they deserved, but many others did not. And until this corrupt political system is brought down, there will always be another Fleishman-Hillard to fleece the public. |
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