Rocky Delgadillo Should Be Fired

Rocky Delgadillo And His Wife Are Receiving Special Treatment

New leak: Rocky Delgadillo who drove without insurance a whole year.

Times editorial: “Here‘s a sobering observation. Any police officer who committed Delgadillo‘s offenses would be fired, and appropriately so. Why does the city‘s top law enforcement official get a better deal than its rank and file?”

Hypocrites Rocky Delgadillo and his wife deserve the harshment punishment, just like one they imposed on Paris Hilton who committed unconscious offenses.

When Paris Hilton was sprung from jail early, few were as outraged — and as outspoken — as the prosecutor who put her there.

Soon after Hilton was sent back to jail earlier this month, he acknowledged his wife had committed a similar infraction — driving with a suspended license. Among other things, he also admitted sticking the taxpayers with the bill after his wife crashed his city-issued car in 2004, and acknowledged that staffers have occasionally run personal errands and baby-sat his children.

The disclosures have led the California bar and the city Ethics Commission to open investigations of one of Los Angeles‘ highest-ranking law enforcement officers.

Delgadillo is a 46-year-old up-and-coming Democrat whose close advisers are said to refer to themselves as “Team 1600,” a reference to the Pennsylvania Avenue address of the White House.

He was a deputy mayor to Richard Riordan and an entertainment attorney for powerhouse legal firm O‘Melveny & Myers, where former Secretary of State Warren Christopher practices.

Apart for some questions about his claims of gridiron glory, including a boast he played pro football (he tried out for New York Giants but didn‘t make the team), he had had little trouble in office up until two weeks ago.

On the same day, he acknowledged that his wife, Michelle, got a ticket for driving with a suspended license in 2005.

More than a week later, amid mounting pressure from the Los Angeles Times and other local news media, he disclosed that his wife banged up his city-issued GMC Yukon in 2004 while driving with a suspended license and that he left the taxpayers to foot the $1,222 repair bill. He reimbursed the city last week.

Then it emerged that his wife had an outstanding arrest warrant for failing to appear in court on charges of driving without insurance and other offenses dating to 1998. She resolved the case Wednesday by pleading no contest to a misdemeanor.

It turned out she wasn‘t the only one in the family who drove without insurance: Her husband later acknowledged he had gone a year without coverage.

The Times, which followed Delgadillo‘s troubles in an editorial page fixture it called “Rocky Watch,” also reported that the city attorney had used members of his staff to run personal errands and baby-sit his two young sons. A spokesman for Delgadillo confirmed that staff members have tended to some family and personal needs, but on their own time or during lunch breaks.

Finally, it was discovered that a consulting and business development company operated by his wife failed to file state tax returns for several years and did not have a city business license. On Friday, she paid an undisclosed amount in fees and penalties for not registering her company with the city, but said she reported the consulting income on her personal tax returns.

“Here‘s a sobering observation,” the Times editorial page wrote. “Any police officer who committed Delgadillo‘s offenses would be fired, and appropriately so. Why does the city‘s top law enforcement official get a better deal than its rank and file?”

AP