Is it justice? No, it’s Fleishman-Hillard.

Criminal justice takes on a new meaning

Los Angeles Daily News, PR firm settles for $6m Fleishman-Hillard issues apology to citizens of L.A. by Beth Barrett.

Los Angeles Business Journal, Fleishman-Hillard Agrees to Settlement to End Claims it Overbilled L.A. Departments. By Amanda Bronstad.

Los Angeles Times, PR Firm Settles DWP Billing Suit for $5.7 Million. By Patrick McGreevy.

Don’t let this settlement fool you. There is no justice here. This is a perfect demonstration of two totally different perspectives and the politicians ability to spin off accountability.

From Fleishman-Hillard’s perspective they have their reputation and fiduciary duty to their stock holders. There are real consequences. People lost their jobs. Some have had their careers ruined. The settlement money comes out of their pockets. And hopefully, if appropriate, there are criminal penalties to deal with.

From the city’s perspective, they too have a reputation to uphold as tattered as it is of late. But that is about where it ends. The City Attorney’s office draws on endless funds and resources. It is common knowledge, don’t fight City Hall. They have no qualms of spending millions in taxpayers money to save hundreds on boondoggles. And as far as fiduciary duty to the citizens, honestly, I don't see anything resembling accountability.

If you listen to the experts, Hahn and Villaraigosa, they point to each other. The sad part is they are both right. But the only one confessing and paying the price is Fleishman-Hillard.

Why are we focusing on Fleishman-Hillard and not on the agents with the assigned responsibility for administering our tax money and city services? If we put all the responsibility on the vendors, we are creating a monster. Think about it. Who used their political clout to secure the contract? Hahn says Riordan started it. If we look at Riordan’s situation and what was going on at that time and place, it was the middle of deregulation. The DWP was going to be entering into competition with other energy providers. Consequently, an argument can be made there was a need for marketing. But once the deregulation fears were ended, there was no need for a marketing contract. It should have been terminated or left to expire with no additional expenditures. But, it wasn’t. Why?

Who were the agents administering the contracts? Did they continue to ask for the services? Did they complain about the services they received? Did they check the invoices? Did they do anything along the way to indicate some unhappiness with either the services received or the price paid? Or did they just maintain an accomplices’ silence until they were caught? It stands to reason that we should expect these agents should be charged with misuse of city funds, dereliction of duty, or incompetence for failing to administer these services. If they didn’t, I would keep moving up the chain to find the root cause. Was anyone deemed negligent? I for one am not going to settle for a lame excuse like, “Well the guy retired already.” I thought we established that this was supposed to be a just society and that we would not rest until justice prevailed. Justice doesn’t just happen all by itself. Delgadillo is making big claims that he will pursue any “vendor” ripping off the city. I noted that he is very careful to limit his search to one side of the transaction. I applaud Delgadillo’s zeal but it is obviously weak on the concept of “blind justice” and “justice for all.” I would like him to pursue the insiders, the instigators, and the perpetrators, too. The mismanagement of this PR contract and one sided enforcement gives reason to investigate the city’s legal services contracts as well.

Curtailing this kind of gross negligence and wanton mismanagement is much the same as any other crime. Take for instance prostitution. As long as law enforcement continued to focus on and arrest the vendors, prostitution merely adjusted and reached a workable new equilibrium. It continued to flourish because we failed to control the instigators—the Johns and the enforcers. As soon as the enforcers were directed to hold buyers accountable, the situation began to improve. It is the same with the city’s agents. If the agents have the option of behaving badly and taking all their booty, promotional perks, and retirement without consequence and the attorneys maintain relationships with the perpetrators and only prosecute the vendors, we have ensured continued mismanagement of tax dollars and the exodus of citizens, businesses, and employers that expect no less than good faith and fair dealing from city leaders and administrators.

The fact that the City Attorney’s office has unlimited funds, selectively controls the application of city laws, and has considerable influence on all the city’s departments and enforcement bodies is a recipe for disaster. When investigators like Dan Carver get fired for investigating the City Attorney’s Office clandestine operation, it is a clear indicator that this policing agency has gone awry. We surely can’t expect them to police themselves. Anyone in Fleishman-Hillard’s shoes would have to make the same decision given the odds against justice. Didn’t Delgadillo and company also benefit from Fleishman-Hillard’s services? The settlement is not justice. It is a blatant display of the imbalance of power and unabashed political clout running this city.

The rhetoric we hear from Hahn and Villaraigosa, has reduced evidence of city corruption to baby banter:
“Look what he did!” “He did it first!”
By the sound of things thus far, I anticipate few if any definitive character changes and no significant changes in plot or story line for the city.