Mayor Karen Bass appointed Deputy Chief Dominic Choi as interim chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), becoming the first Asian and first Korean American in the position.
Once again, the outgoing boss Michel Moore was seen very crestfallen when Mayor Bass made the announcement of his replacement, and removing him from office early will affect the amount of his pension. Hence they are leaving him as a consultant for a while to at least compensate him financially.
The other news is that it is said that the next chief of the LAPD could be a woman and African-American, which would send Mayor Bass’s bonuses through the roof. Imagine the first female director of the LAPD, and of minorities.
Remember we live in women’s times. Los Angeles has a female fire chief, an all-female board of supervisors, a female mayor, and a female director of the LAPD, would round out the picture perfectly.
Write down the name of the deputy chief of the South Los Angeles Bureau, Emada Tingirides, with almost 30 years of experience in the ranks of the LAPD. Emada is married to Philip Tingirides, a retired police chief.
Emada’s only sin is having supported Rick Caruso in the election for mayor of Los Angeles, but after electoral times, that is a peccata minuta (a small fault) that can easily be forgotten for a greater political gain. For now, they are organizing community meetings to prepare the ground.
Democratic rebellion
Senator Alex Padilla, despite being an ally of President Biden, led the rebellion of five Democratic senators who did not support the legislative package that combines border security with aid to continue the wars in Ukraine and Israel.
And for the son of Mexican immigrant parents, the package did not include any path to legal residency for people brought to the United States as children or other groups such as agricultural workers, so there was no way for him to approve it.
One thing is important to clarify, the senator is not against giving more aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, but he does not want to do it at the expense of bad border policy.
Republican Senator Bob Menendez, who was found with gold bars in his home, also voted against. In fact, Padilla and Menéndez were the only two Latino senators to vote against Biden’s border plan.
Hard head
Congressman Adam Schiff has already begun to hit his Republican opponent, former baseball star Steve Garvey, hard in the head in his television commercials, which Democratic Congresswoman Katie Porter did not like because it sends the message that the election will be between two men: Schiff and Garvey.
Honestly, Schiff would have an easier time in the general election with an opponent like Garvey. Congresswoman Porter has a history of catching her opponents in very close races; and she is always underestimated, but in the end she wins.
Congressman Schiff knows that Congresswoman Porter is not a tough nut to crack; Therefore, attacking the former ballplayer is a strategy that whoever takes away and gives results.
A debate without the pointers
The absence of Councilman Kevin de León was notable in the debate on Saturday, February 10 in Boyle Heights regarding the election for District 14 of the Los Angeles Council. Maybe his advisors thought that if he attended, he would lose more than he could win, because those who dream every night about his seat were going to grab him for a pinata.
Who was also conspicuous by his absence was the assemblyman, Miguel Santiago, who we assume did not appear because perhaps he does not want to burn his cartridges ahead of time; and he is betting that figures like state senator María Elena Durazo and former mayor Antonio Villaraigosa who support assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo will join him after the primaries.