That same issue also contained a sidebar story on Page 28 "The Million-Dollar Loophole with the subhead "How the Supervisors get away with ˜legalized sleaze.' It said: " ˜You know why you won't find any illegal sleaze around the supervisors?' asks Carlyle Hall, director of the Center for Law in the Public Interest. ˜Because they've legalizd all the sleaze.'
Occasionally some outsiders tried to insinuate themselves into the local scene. One 1988 article (L. A. Weekly for June 17 " 23 1988 Vol. 10 No. 30) titled "Backroom Moves, written by Ron Curran, was promoted this way: "Alan Robbins the controversial Valley pol, is up to his neck in shady Marina deals. Curran casually explained: "But it is Robbin's less-reported power plays to protect and enhance his substantial investments in Marina del Rey " including a recent secret attempt to buy a community newspaper that has scrutinized Marina real-estate projects from which he stands to make million of dollars " that most graphically reinforce criticisms that Robbins spends more of his political time and effort serving his personal interests than serving the interests of his community.
Could anything shady happen in the late Eighties without BCCI (Bank of Credit and Commerce International) being involved? Glad you asked because they got in on the action, too, but the local political methodology caused them to quickly opt out. Jeffrey L. Rabin, writing in the Los Angeles Times (March 19, 1991) put it this way: "A group of wealthy Saudi Arabian investors have filed suit to dissolve their partnership with Marina del Rey's biggest developer, accusing Abraham M. Lurie of engaging in fraud since selling them a 49.9% stake in his extensive Marina holdings nearly two years ago.
In a 1991 page one story (Vol. 13 No. 21), the Los Angeles Business Journal story written by Michael Stremfel and Benjamin Mark Cole, informed readers: "The unfolding BCCI-Marina del Rey scandal, and an increasing realization that the city and county of Los Angeles often literally do not know with whom they are doing business, last week spurred a wide spread call for reform of local public-disclosure laws.
The following year, it was the Los Angeles Times singing the same old journalists song. A three part series started on April 12, 1992 with a headline "Marina del Rey Prospers at Expense of County followed by the subhead: "Developers make big profits thorough favorable long-term leases. Public services lose out. An editorial, which ran about the same time, added: "Nowhere is the arrogant ˜sit-down-and-shut-up' method of governance on better display than at the Los Angeles County Hall of Administration.
A 1994 story in the Los Angeles Times on August 11, written by Fredrick M. Muir and Jeffrey L. Rabin carried the headline: "Grand Jury Asks D. A. to Review Leases at Marina.
In 1997, the Arab Sheik was gone.
In the year 2000, a meager handful of journalists struggled to continue their role in the squabbling. On January 6, the L. A. Times carried a story headlined: "County Extends Political Donor's Leases in Marina.
A few days later columnist Patt Morrison's column carried an old refrain: "Sweetheart Deals Are a Hallowed L.A. Tradition.
Things have quieted down considerably in the era of "fair and balanced journalism and there are only occasional hints that some people still value the Marina's traditions.
One of the latest (last?) efforts to carry on the nearly half century old effort to question the possibility that something is wrong was reported, by Helga Gendell, in the Argonaut newspaper on September 29, 2005, (page 4): "The suit alleges that certain Marina lessees have been unjustly enriched at the expense of the county and taxpayers, and that lessee campaign contributions and payments to lobbyists to influence the Board of Supervisors may have created a climate under which no price control existed due to a concert of action between the county and the lessees.
Currently the lawyer who filed that suit, has to deal with other developments which grew out of the effort. He has been disbarred (and is fighting that move) and is in jail for contempt. See the Superior Court Ninth District's case no. 09-56073 for the latest news on how that is going.
A hotel, which is being considered to replace a public beach, heads a list of new items waiting to be approved for construction in Marina del Rey. The local newspapers the Argonaut and the Venice Beachhead seem to be the only media available to hold up the journalists' participation in the continual squabbling.
Perhaps Los Angeles magazine's assignment editor will read this column and hire a highly qualified investigative reporter (snarky columnists need not apply) to do a comprehensive update to the questions that have been being asked for 48 years.
Some traditionalists might suggest that the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors should adopt one of James Cagney's quotes as their motto: "Where I come from, if there's a buck to be made, you don't ask questions, you go ahead and make it.
Now, of course our disk jockey is going to play us out with George Strait's song "Marina del Rey, but there are bonus points if you know why it's appropriate that he's also going to play both "And That Reminds Me and "Don't You Know, which were monster hits for Della Reese. Like James Hayes, we'll disappear.
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