[guest post by JVW]

Note: The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office is bringing this case against Councilman Curren Price, so I want to take special care to point out that this post is being written by JVW and not by Patterico, nor did I (JVW) discuss this matter with our host before drafting and publishing this post.

It’s good to know now that the Los Angeles City Council has been embarrassed by public revelations of what they really stay to one another behind closed doors, they are getting back to the simple graft for which they have long been known. From the Los Angeles Times:

Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price was charged with 10 counts of embezzlement, perjury and conflict of interest on Tuesday, becoming the latest in a years-long parade of elected city officials to face public corruption allegations from state or federal prosecutors.

Price, a 10-year veteran of the City Council, is accused of having a financial interest in development projects that he voted on, and receiving tens of thousands of dollars in medical benefits from the city for his now wife while he was still married to another woman, according to a statement issued by the L.A. County district attorney’s office.

He was charged with five counts of grand theft by embezzlement, three counts of perjury and two counts of conflict of interest, according to a criminal complaint made public Tuesday.

Does the wife in question own her own consulting firm which received $150,000 between 2019-21 from housing developers not listed on the councilman’s financial disclosure forms? Yep. Are the developers in this matter also involved in the affordable housing scam which funnels tax dollars to the well-connected in return for lowering the rent on a few units in an otherwise overpriced development? Righto. But that’s run-of-the-mill as far as Los Angeles pillage is concerned. Councilman Price upped the pilfering game by stealing from the taxpayer in a more inventive (and brazen) manner:

Price is also accused of bilking the city out of roughly $33,000 in medical premiums by listing Richardson Price as his wife on city forms from 2013 to 2017, according to the complaint. Prosecutors allege he used public funds to pay for her healthcare despite the fact that he was still legally married to Lynn Suzette Green. The council member and Richardson Price did not legally marry until 2018, records show.

I have no idea (and the article doesn’t say) what the qualifications are for enrollment in this particular health care plan. Was the councilman required to list his current wife — whom he didn’t divorce until February 2018 — as his spousal dependent during that time, or did she have health insurance provided by a different job? Did he list Ms. Richardson Price (who was his girlfriend) as his spousal dependent on the form during those years, or did he actually have both women on his taxpayer-subsidized enrollment? It won’t surprise me at all to learn that whatever he did was not allowed yet city officials just let it pass. That would be an effective defense, I would think.

In fact, I’m sure this is all a colossal misunderstanding which will be rectified by Councilman Price amending his disclosure fines and writing a quick reimbursement check for the health care mix-up. Then we can all get back to the business of extorting from businesses, cutting sweetheart deals with developers, and obediently doing whatever is asked by the public employee unions and anyone else who fills their campaign coffers.

Councilman Price will unfortunately likely be suspended while he faces these charges. He’s not due to face reelection until 2026, so theoretically if his case drags out through the courts and if the council keeps him on suspension but doesn’t vote to expel him, his district (South Los Angeles reaching into the southwestern part of Downtown Los Angeles) will be without representation for up to the next 42 months. Frankly, that is what a community deserves when it elects corrupt public officials.

– JVW