Galanter’s Record
Development is not the main issue in the 6th District City Council race. The main issue is the sleazy way Ruth Galanter has conducted herself in office.
As chair of the Ethics Committee, she opposed ethics legislation. She said the public shouldn’t believe “all politicians are scumbags.”
In February, she had a “max-out” fund-raiser for developers and lobbyists. She says she won’t take money from developers of controversial projects, but she does.
Her planning deputy, Jim Bickhart, was a founder of a nonprofit corporation that depends on money from a development, Channel Gateway, which Galanter supports. A member of Galanter’s advisory council gets a six-figure payoff from the same developer and still sits on the advisory panel.
A local activist publishes dimensions of the gargantuan Playa Vista project and the planning deputy writes disinformation letters to local papers attacking the activist, Rex Frankel. Of course Frankel’s figures are conservative.
Mary Lee Gray announces her candidacy for Galanter’s seat and in the audience, on the public payroll, is Galanter’s press spokesman, Rick Ruiz.
In an effort to show Galanter has community support, her planning deputy and her Venice deputy, Linda Lucks, participate in an illegal takeover of the Venice Town Council.
Perhaps Ms. Galanter is correct about the public’s perceptions of politicians.
LARRY SULLIVAN
Venice
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