Politics

Pondering Bernie Parks

| 2 Comments

Deposed police chief, now councilman, Bernard Parks and his probable run for mayor are examined in a nicely done profile by Robert Greene in the LA Weekly.

He’s not just one of the last high-ranking black L.A. officials, or just another ex-cop. He embodies a potent political force barely noticed in these times of the Latino-labor-left coalition.. Parks likes business. He wants market-rate housing. He preaches more personal responsibility, less regulation. In the new L.A., Parks is old school. And old school is big.

He has mastered City Hall by working long hours and paying scrupulous attention to his colleagues. Open and witty, he seems to love the politics that once appeared to have so completely disgusted him.

But every now and then, in council debate or off the cuff, the easygoing demeanor can drop away and reveal a hint of the defensive and defeated chief who dressed down the council in April 2002.

Also in the Weekly: An excerpt from Joe Domanick's new book, Cruel Justice; a short feature on historian Mike Davis' new young readers book, Land of the Lost Mammoths; and an introduction to Caryn Coleman and Sean Bonner's website art.blogging.la.


More by Kevin Roderick:
Standing up to Harvey Weinstein
The Media
LA Times gets a top editor with nothing but questions
LA Observed Notes: Harvey Weinstein stripped bare
LA Observed Notes: Photos of the homeless, photos that found homes
Recent Politics stories on LA Observed:
David Ryu and candidate Mike Fong
Tronc buys (NY) Daily News, La Tuna fire aftermath and more
Helping in Houston, new lion cubs, Garcetti's back
Garcetti has weekend date in the Hamptons
Garcetti hitting the road to New Hampshire
LA Confederate monument coming down
LA Observed Notes: Back from vacation and into the fray
Rendon fights for neglected Southeast
Previous story: At lunch with Orlov

Next story: Troy Edwards resigns **


 

LA Observed on Twitter