When City Attorney, It Helps To Be Honest

Even when you are an dishonest person, a tiny bit of honesty can go a long way. LA City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo could have avoided a week of scrutiny if he only told the truth a week and a half ago when asked by reporters if his wife was using his city-assigned vehicle when it was damaged and paid for by the taxpayers. Instead, he avoided questions for a simple answer until the LA Times put an incredible amount of pressure on him. But once Rocky fessed up about his woes, it was too late.

The LA Times began asking questions about who was driving Delgadillo’s city car – a big GMC Yukon – when it suffered damage in the garage at Cedars-Sinai hospital.

Simple enough, except that Delgadillo’s answers were clumsily evasive – so the reporters had to keep digging. [LA Observed on KCRW]

Earlier this month, the Los Angeles Ethics Commission approved $11,450 for 30 counts of violating campaign finance laws for Rocky. But it seems in this town, that's just a tiny slap on the hand: no huge foul cries for Former Mayor James K. Hahn, who was fined $5,450 and the Valley's 6th District Councilman Tony Cardenas' $7,250 amount.

But that's not all for Rocky and this is where the dirt is. Check out his other offenses between him and his wife that came out into the public eye this week (note that the LA Times has written a total of 15 articles about Rocky's woes since June 12):

- At time of the GMC Yukon crash, his wife, Michelle Delgadillo was driving on a suspended license, something Rocky publicly said Paris Hilton needed to serve time for (of course, unlike his wife, Hilton's suspension was for a DUI, but still, come on).
- Also, she had an arrest warrant out for not appearing in court on an earlier ticket.
- Not only did his wife drive on no insurance, so did the City Attorney himself.
- Rocky used staff for personal errands and babysitting.
- According to staff, Rocky comes to the Valley offices, like, never.
- A consulting biz run by Michelle failed to file state tax returns and until Friday, she operated without a city business license.
- Rocky lied about his pro football experience: a failed tryout and a small stint at a Canadian Football League training camp. Not to mention lies about getting into Harvard on a football scholarship, something the ivy league school did not give out in Delgadillo's day.

Last Thursday, Councilman Greig Smith called for the City Attorney position to be appointed rather than voted in by the public because that's how it used to be and it seemed to work a lot better than this nonsense. Though, we're not too worried that Rocky is going to make it too far after this. After all, last year when he ran for state attorney general, it was not even funny how bad he lost.

AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian