Opinion by Reason Foundation
(9 Hours Ago) in Society / Drug Law
The most illuminating ride-along I’ve ever gone on was a three-hour bus tour of South Los Angeles with City Councilman Bernard Parks, who represents the area that before two deadly riots was known as South-Central L.A. and Watts.
Parks is not exactly my favorite public official. He draws a combined taxpayer-funded salary/pension of more than $400,000 a year, and as L.A.’s police chief in the 1990s he stonewalled corruption probes while alienating good officers with petty penalties for minor internal violations. But Parks is far more willing than his colleagues on the city council to deviate from the local Democratic consensus on issues from rent control to eminent domain. Above all, he’s a blunt-spoken fellow, providing a rare warts-and-all glimpse into a certain governing mind-set.
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