Which Way, L.A.?
Which Way, L.A.?
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Amateur Videos and Police Brutality; Campaign Reform

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LA’s Ethics Commission has passed a new version of campaign finance reform.  But one commissioner says it’s being “loved to death” by people who say they share the same goals.  We’ll hear both sides.  Plus, the LAPD is investigating two videotapes for possible violations of excessive-force policy. Have well-intentioned reforms made it harder to enforce the law? Are the cops just failing to get the message?

Making News

Videos Re-ignite Focus on LAPD Use of Force ()

A video recently posted on the website YouTube shows LAPD officers holding down and punching a man who says he can't breathe. Chief William Bratton says the officers might have been violating department policy on excessive force. Another tape shows an officer squirting pepper spray in the face of a man already sitting inside a patrol car. The district attorney has ruled there was no wrongdoing in that case, and that the officers used "professional courtesy" and "restraint."  Police Commission members are still concerned, and the ACLU calls the incident, "appalling."

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Main Topic

Campaign Reform Advocates Disagree on Reforms ()

Last week's passage of Measure R demonstrated that LA voters care about ethics reform. Yesterday, the city's Ethics Commission passed new limits on campaign spending. They will be considered by the City Council, but in the meantime, one Commission member says it's being "loved to death" by people who say they share the same goals. He writes, "Spare us from the reformers.  Give me a cynical old pol who at least keeps his or her word." We hear both sides.

Guests:
  • Bill Boyarsky: Vice President of the LA City Ethics Commission
  • Susan Lerner: Executive Director of the California Clean Money Campaign and Action Fund
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A CD copy of Which Way L.A.? is a available by calling 1.888.600.5279.
Transcripts are not available.

Underwriters

Which Way L.A.? is made possible in part by the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, and the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation, which supports study and research into policy issues of the Los Angeles region.

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