Gadfly Extraordinaire John Walsh Finally Turns to Blogging

Longtime Hollywood resident John Walsh may not be as famous as such bloggers as Perez Hilton or Matt Drudge, but among gadflies, community activists and City Hall insiders in Los Angeles, he's something of a legend.

Kevin Scanlon

Hollywood gadflies (l-r) John Walsh, Chris Shabel, and Miki Jackson

​
For years, Walsh has been feeding reporters juicy, and accurate, tips about local politicians and the MTA, and he even took to the public access TV airwaves to castigate some of this town's most powerful people, co-producing a popular show with fellow gadflies Chris Shabel and Miki Jackson called Neighborhood Point of View.

But when a state law kicked in at the beginning of this year and essentially killed public access TV in Los Angeles, and the L.A. City Council was slow (some say deliberately so) to save it, Walsh had to find other ways to reach his public. Somewhat reluctantly, the gadfly decided to finally give blogging a try. The result is a king-hell hoot of a read.

While Walsh isn't a blogger in the traditional sense -- he doesn't write tons of posts every day, preferring to rant every few weeks -- he still lets it rip like few of his peers can.

Called "Walsh Confidential: A blog by John Walsh . . .aka America's Least Wanted," the gadfly goes after Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, City Council President Eric Garcetti, and public school teachers' union honcho A.J. Duffy, among others. And he writes it all in big, capital letters -- NPOV alum Miki Jackson designed the blog and writes her own column, Miki's Pointed View.

For example, on September 1, Walsh wrote this screed:

"LA TEACHERS ARE PREPARING TO HANG UTLA PRESIDENT A.J. DUFFY IN EFFIGY IN FRONT OF UNION HQ. WHEN SCHOOL STARTS. SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS CREATED AN ANATOMICALLY CORRECT EFFIGY OF PRESIDENT DUFFY BUT NOBODY COULD LIFT IT. IN HONOR OF DUFFY, THE 7,000 TEACHERS WHO HAVE HAD THEIR SENIORITY STOLEN AND LOST THIER OPPORTUNITY TO WORK AS THE SCHOOL YEAR STARTS, WILL STAGE A FIRST EVER BINGE EATING STRIKE. THIS IS THE OPPOSITE OF A HUNGER STRIKE. SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS WILL PROTEST DUFFY BY GATHERING IN FRONT OF UTLA HQ AND BINGE EATING DAY AFTER DAY UNTIL THEY ARE AS MORBIDLY OBESE AS OUR PRESIDENT STUFFY DUFFY. FOR DETAILS REGARDING TIME  AND DATE OF THIS DEMONSTRATION; (323) 469-4178."

On the same day, Walsh also went after Garcetti and LAPD chief Bill Bratton:

"LAPD HOLDS SNUFF VIDEO: THE SNUFF VIDEO WAS TAKEN BY A HOLLYWOOD BLVD. SURVEILLANCE CAMERA  THREE WEEKS AGO AT THE HENRY FONDA THEATER SIDEWALK.  MR. RODAS, THE ALLEGED ASSAILANT IS CHARGED WITH STABBING TO DEATH TWO PEDESTRIANS AND SLASHING TWO OTHERS IN A FOUR HOUR CRIME SPREE. MOST EMBARRASSING FOR COUNCILMAN GARCETTI AND BRATTON THIS  HAPPENED WHILE THE TWO WERE HOLDING A BIG PRESS CONFERENCE A FEW BLOCKS AWAY TO BOAST HOW THE HOLLYWOOD MURDER RATE HAD DROPPED. INCIDENTALLY, FOR THE RECORD, MR. RODAS IS AN ILLEGALLY RETURNED DEPORTED ALIEN."

City Hall insiders, we understand, can't get enough of this stuff. 

Contact Patrick Range McDonald at pmcdonald@laweekly.com.