Five Questions Facing Indicted L.A. Councilmember Richard Alarcón
Comments (0)
Alarcon, top left, is charged with lying about where he lived. (Creative Commons)
The charges against Alarcón allege that he is an illegitimate representative for the City of L.A.'s seventh district since he does not live within that district's boundaries. He did nothing wrong while in office, but as lawyer and former mayoral candidate Walter Moore put it, "The charges relate to whether he should ever have been allowed to occupy office in the first place."
L.A.'s City Charter allows for an elected official to be suspended if he or she is pending trial of a felony or misdemeanor offense "involving a violation of official duties, including, without limitation, a violation of the conflict of interest and government ethics provisions of the Charter or City ordinances."
If his office is vacated, the council would appoint someone to step in until June 30. A special election would have to be held to fill Alarcón's seat from July 1, 2011 until his term expires at the end of 2012.
Even if a false declaration of candidacy charge is enough to call for his suspension, it's highly unlikely to happen with 12 of his 14 colleagues also being Democrats.
"He's well-liked, hasn't made any enemies and he's considered to be one of the 15," said Jaime Regalado, the director of the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs at Cal State L.A. "This is not a very contentious or divided council and that greatly reduces the chances that they oust him from office."
2. How will he pay his legal bills?
Neon Tommy broke the news in mid-July that Alarcón had raised $9,000 to put toward legal expenses. He said through a spokesperson on July 20 that he had no plans to spend any of the money. The situation appears to have changed. We'll know more about how much legal debt he is accumulating when his next financial disclosure statement is due in October.
For now, his and his wife's legal team includes attorneys Fredric Woocher, Roger Rosen and Henry Salcido.
3. Should he settle or go to trial?
Alarcón could face a maximum of 15 to 20 years in prison if convicted on all 18 felony counts, according to a La Opinion article cited by LA Weekly. Such a sentence would dwarf the six months spent in prison by two elected officials in similar cases.
There's some thinking that District Attorney Steve Cooley is pursuing the charges against Alarcón to attract publicity to himself during his campaign for state attorney general.
"If [Cooley's] looking to highlight a case, it would be disingenuous to think that [he] would not go after a juicy target," Regalado said.
That reasoning would suggest that Cooley believes his case is solid, otherwise he would not risk losing a case or spending 15 months on the investigation. But a trial is unlikely to take place before the November general election, so he may not be risking anything at all.
Either way, Regalado said it's in Alarcón's favor not to go to trial. Juries are unpredictable, and any jail time would kill Alarcón's political career. Although convicted felons may still run for and serve in office, he'd face a tough campaign challenge. A jury trial would be a longer process meaning legal expenses would run even higher.
"I don't think he's going to trial," Regalado said. "The more perplexing question in the months ahead is how harsh will a settlement be and if it will force him to give up his council seat."
According to La Opinion, this is Cooley's most high-profile case involving voter fraud or false residency. (See infographic at very bottom)
4. Will he be able to run for state office?
Convicted felons in prison or on parole are not eligible to register to vote, which means they can't run for office. Once out of jail, both of those privileges are restored.
Regalado said most of Alarcón's constituents don't feel his alleged crimes were "a severely wrong thing to do."
Most of those same constituents double as members of the Assembly district Alarcón could run for in 2012. If enough feel that his settlement or sentence sufficiently pays a price for crimes he may have committed, they could easily vote him back into the state Legislature. During any time out of office, his relationship will change with the labor groups, community groups and small businesses that strongly support him, but most of those organizations would be back behind him if he made it back into power.
5. Could his grand jury indictment be compromised?
A screenshot of the expired listing was found through a Google cache of the webpage, which also no longer exists.
L.A. criminal defense attorney Sean Tabibian said if the post was made by a grand juror, then it would raise questions about whether the jury was following the rules and directions of the court.
"The post undermines the whole reason behind a grand jury," he said.
Craigslist's press relations manager has not yet answered multiple calls and e-mails seeking comment. However, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark said in an e-mail Monday he would "further" share the issue.
If the district attorney's office determines that a grand juror did in fact violate rules prohibiting jurors from disclosing information about their proceedings, Tabibian said the judge presiding over Alarcón's case would have to be notified.
While the decision of the grand jury would be in question, it would be unlikely to be enough to exonerate Alarcón. In the interest of exercising an abundance of caution, another grand jury would have to be seated to hear Alarcón's case and possibly bring a new indictment.
To reach staff reporter Paresh Dave, click here.
Follow him on Twitter: @peard33.
