Controversy Over Gates

So now that our City Charter is being “abused,” Councilman Joel Wachs has the courage to stand up and defend it against all attackers (Commentary, April 10). Funny, where was Wachs’ outrage when Gates was slandering practically every racial and sexual minority in our community? Where was his Op-Ed piece when the LAPD brutalized more than 50 demonstrators during the Justice for Janitors march last summer in Century City? Where was his eloquence when Gates suggested to Congress that casual drug users should be taken out and shot? Where was his stirring speech when $8-10 million a year was being shelled out by the city to victims of police abuse?

Now, finally, he and his fellow council members have been moved to action. Not by the flagrant and brutal violence perpetrated against the citizens of Los Angeles by the LAPD, but by the alleged “abuse” of the City Charter, that same document which has effectively shielded Gates from any effective citizen oversight.

ROB SULLIVAN

Los Angeles