#AnotherDayAnotherCharterScandal
Corruption Adjacent Or Fully Immersed?
The indictment of Mark Ridley-Thomas is just the latest scandal to plague the LA City Council and supporters of the charter school industry.
“There is no compromise when it comes to corruption. You have to fight it.”
- A. K. Antony
The roots of corruption within the Los Angeles City Council were publicly exposed just after the primary election in March 2020 with the release of an indictment against Mitchell Englander. The charges against the former CD12 City Councilman were centered around a night of debauchery in Las Vegas paid for by a developer “seeking to increase his business opportunities in the City.” Englander’s Chief of Staff and eventual successor, John Lee, accompanied him on the trip and is widely thought to be the “City Staffer B” who obstructed justice when the two found out that their trip to Vegas was being investigated.
Later in the year, Englander’s former colleague, Jose Huizar, was also arrested. The charges against him included an accusation that he accepted “$1.5 million in bribes from developers in exchange for his support of downtown building…
