LA Times endorsement of Robert Luna is a farce, bordering on the political absurd!
By Nick Antonicello
Endorsements by newspapers are relics of a political past that no longer matter or exist!
Here in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times spends a great deal of time and energy desperately trying to remain relevant in a political environment they no longer can influence or effect in a meaningful fashion.
Monday’s lopsided endorsement of Robert Luna, the retired Long Beach Police Chief and longtime Republican who switched parties to become politically acceptable to liberals and establishment Democrats is indeed disturbing since the LA Times couldn’t offer a single tangible reason to vote for this unknown challenger!
Luna, who was never active as a Democrat and only became one in 2020 after spending most of his voting record as a member of the GOP!
And why wasn’t the former police chief ever asked who he supported for President in 2016 or 2020?
Has he ever supported the likes of a Donald Trump?
Inquiring minds would like to know!
And while Villanueva is constantly labeled as “conservative” by liberal and progressives, this misdiagnosis would be more appropriately characterized as fiercely uncompromising independence who places public policy and people over partisan witchcraft!
And wouldn’t any top law enforcement professional be proud to be described as a “law and order” candidate?
For running a massive county department like the Sheriff’s Office takes true independence from the overtly partisan, LA Board of Supervisors, a gang of five, out-of-control career politicians that know nothing about law enforcement or public safety.
It is no coincidence or revelation that they want Sheriff Villanueva out, and that’s because he is not a puppet to this dysfunctional and out-of-control government bureaucracy that is spending some $40 billion dollars annually as its size and spending habits are bigger than some forty states!
Instead of seeking a directly-elected county executive or expanding the size of the Board of Supervisors from five to fifteen (just like the LA City Council), Chairperson Holly Mitchell and her board allies are obsessed in influencing the outcome of this race as well as seeking total control of a position they know little about!
There is one reason and one reason only voters need to know about Sheriff Villanueva is that when Venice needed him, he was there for Venice!
For if not for Villanueva, the conditions at Venice Beach could have completely metastasized and the level of criminal activity and encampment living would have swelled out of control leaving Venice Beach unrecognizable!
To say Sheriff Villanueva saved the Venice Boardwalk and beach is actually an understatement.
For it is not the job of fledgling newspapers to take sides in a political race and present a narrative that is not only untrue, but downright ridiculous!
Sheriff Villanueva stood tall and stood alone when Venice needed him.
That is a fact that cannot be challenged or disputed!
Ironically, it is Villanueva who is the actual Democrat in this race who finds himself abandoned by his own party because he placed right over might!
The rationalization that more “than two-thirds” of primary voters rejected Villanueva is mathematically contorted as the incumbent finished first and Luna second.
Villanueva received the most votes, as much as his opponents and enemies can’t get their collective heads around that political and electoral reality!
And one can hardly take seriously the notion that Villanueva is not a proponent of the “rule of law,” and since when is the LA Times extracting cheap talking points from the hard right?
If the LA County Board of Supervisors truly cared about the “rule of law,” they would stop politicizing the Office of the LA County Sheriff, and this attempted coup d’état of sorts with ballot busters and the propping up of a Democrat in name only should come to a quick and final close.
Nick Antonicello is a longtime Venetian who serves on the Outreach and Oceanfront Walk Committees of the Venice Neighborhood Council (www.venicenc.org) and covers the political scene and how it impacts the neighborhood of Venice. Have a take or tip? Contact Antonicello online at nantoni@mindspring.com
