Jail Is Not a Star Turn

Staunch labor union supporter and Los Angeles City Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg wanted to be counted among the protesting masses of janitors two weeks ago in their fight for a decent wage. So there she was in the throng of marchers in Westwood, helping to bring traffic to a standstill at a sit-in on busy Wilshire Boulevard near Gayley Avenue, where she was dutifully arrested, as she intended, along with other elected officials and community leaders.

Problem was, Goldberg wasn’t really interested in the rest of the civil disobedience process. She was more the star athlete who agrees to run the first mile of a charity race and then drops out. This was a mass arrest and the process took eight hours and involved personal questions, leaving Goldberg outraged.

First, the demonstrators were arrested by Los Angeles police and taken to the West Los Angeles station and then put on a bus to the Twin Towers jail. One police source said Goldberg was offered a chance to get off the bus but refused.

Now, Goldberg wants LAPD Chief Bernard C. Parks and County Sheriff Lee Baca to appear before the City Council to answer questions about her brief stint as a jailbird. As if both men didn’t have far more important things to do these days.

Goldberg’s outrage is absurd. She wanted to be close to the action; she got it.