Councilman Bernard Parks Likens Union Leaders To Slaveholders

By Gene Maddaus Mon., Feb. 28 2011 at 4:28 PM

Bernard Parks: Not going to take it anymore

Update: 4:30 p.m. Parks' opponent, Forescee Hogan-Rowles, calls Parks' slavery analogy "a racist tactic." More below.

The gloves are coming off in the 8th Council District. Councilman Bernard Parks unleashed a righteous vent on Twitter on Sunday, apparently fed up with the $750,000 labor campaign against him.

He actually went way over the 140-character limit, so he turned to TwitLonger, the site for those who "talk too much for Twitter."

And boy, did he have something to say. For one thing, he likened two union leaders to slaveholders. But that's not all...

To give some context, the labor-funded mailers in the 8th District are starting to get pretty negative. A recent one showed graffiti, broken windows and a pothole. The caption read, "While Bernard Parks is helping downtown special interests, our community suffers."

Forescee Hogan-Rowles

Parks responded on Sunday by going after Brian D'Arcy, the business manager of IBEW Local 18, and Paul Weber, the president of the L.A. Police Protective League. (They are important players in the independent campaign in favor of Parks' opponent, Forescee Hogan-Rowles. But Parks left out the most important figure: L.A. County Federation of Labor head Maria-Elena Durazo. It'll become clear why in a moment.)

"They have rounded up a little-known member of our community who, in exchange for them spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote her candidacy, has sold out to them and to their agenda," Parks wrote.

In case his Twitter followers do not know what the LAPPL is, Parks introduced it this way:

"Who is the Police Protective League? To give you a quick historical overview, this is the same group that said they would encourage police officers to retire from the department if Tom Bradley was ever elected mayor."

That was in 1969, but Parks decided that in order to properly capture what's going on in this campaign, he had to reach back even deeper into history:

"Hundreds of years ago, people were allowed to own people. Paul and Brian don't own me and they will never own my vote to consistently protect your interests."

He also called D'Arcy and Weber "puppet masters," but it seems likely that comparing them to slaveholders will prove to be more memorable.

Looks like it's going to be a nasty campaign from now until March 8.

Update: Paul Weber, the president of the LAPPL, responded this morning:

"I think it's pathetic that he's going back to 1969 and trying to smear us for something that occurred when I was 8 years old," Weber said. "The vast majority of my membership wasn't even alive in 1969."

As for the slaveholder remark, Weber said, "I think that's offensive. I've never even talked to the man. He doesn't know me."

Parks, a former police chief, also claimed in his Twitter post that he had uncovered the Rampart scandal.

"That's an absolute lie," Weber said. "He didn't discover Rampart. Rampart was occurring under his command."

Afternoon update: In an interview, Forescee Hogan-Rowles said she was "astounded" by Parks' comments in reference to slavery, which she described as a "racist tactic."

"My great-grandparents were slaves," she said. "They worked very hard and were freed and had to make it with nothing. Just to take lightly my heritage, and that of many African-Americans... that was atrocious."

Tags:

Bernard Parks, Brian D'Arcy, Forescee Hogan-Rowles, Maria-Elena Durazo, Paul Weber

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Humbertopitones

park must hit the road.

Mike

There is a saying in Sacramento about the Los Angeles Police Protective League. "When the League moves, the whole state shifts." The LAPPL has incredible power in the state, not just the City of Los Angeles. Any bill they oppose in the legislature doesn't get passed and every bill they support passes. Every state representative and member of the LA City Council wants to be on the good side of the LAPPL. The LAPPL is the most powerful public employee union in the state.

STEWIE

WHAAAT ?? PARKS FORGOT HE WAS BACKING THE GUYS THAT CREATED THE RAMPART SCANDAL ?? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R...

Delphin2216

Parks, has served his time, yet, lets not praise the Protective League, many minorities employed by the Department are not even members, rarely do they defend the minority officer or see their point of view. Its all about getting more for my guys, at a time the City and State is broke, now is the time to get the City back on some sort of track. Perhaps the time has come.

Goodxxxz

cops and firefighters haven't had a raise in 2 years. Everytime an officer has to go to court now it actualy costs him/her money out of their own pockets. Yeh we get compensated with comp time, that is comp time that we can't use because we are so under staffed.. I personaly have over 250 hours of comp time built up, and have been turned down the last 5 times that I asked for an extra day off. How long do you think that BS is going to last before cops stop writting tickets and shy away from arresting people, when they can't get paid for their ot and can't even use their comp time? And your comment about minorities not being members or protected by the league is gross misinformation. Fully over 90% of the minorities on the dept are members, and if anything, they are over represented! I've seen dozens of more qualified people passed over for coveted spots simply because the dept needs to fill the politicaly correct quota.

impoundguy

Parks is totally down on the PD and will do "nothing" to help them since he was given his walking papers...and he got that pink slip because he deserved it.....moral was in the toilet the entire time he was Captain of the ship...the day he left, was the day things started looking up again and it has been moving higher ever since.

PetCareRx Scam

I doubt Brian even knows who his candidate in this race is. I wonder if they've even met. Clearly, he doesn't know how unqualified she is.

Jay

The IBEW and PPL are more like thugs and their candidates are puppets. Check the voting records of those candidates they have supported and their marionette strings will become evident. Out governments are going bankrupt as these puppet masters are raising our DWP rates, raising wages to their employees and lining their pocket books. Brian D'Arcy is the scariest man in local politics. I doubt he even knows who his candidate in this race is. I wonder if they've even met. Clearly, he doesn't know how unqualified she is.

Brian Says

actually they are more like pimpsand their liberal candidates theit ho's

Robert

Excuse me but wasn't it Parks who because of his dictator management style lost 1,000 officers and never really cared about his own police dept. What other ex Chief slams police officers harder then he does? Parks is as corrupt as the rest of council. THanks to papers like this LA Weekly for putting the facts out there. Do a search of Councilman Parks and read all the shady dealings he has had. Poor Bitter Bernie never seemed to move on after his sorry ass was not re appointed LAPD Chief for a 2nd term.