Politics

Saenz not going to Justice after all

President Obama has appointed a Maryland state official to head the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, meaning that Villaraigosa adviser Thomas Saenz didn't get the job. The Daily Journal reported last month that Saenz would be tapped. L.A. County Supervisor Gloria Molina told the Blog of Legal Times yesterday that Saenz was actually offered the post and accepted, but that the Obama Administration then shied away from a possible confirmation battle. "It was a political decision from the White House, because of Tom’s work on immigration rights," Molina says on the blog. Saenz is a former top lawyer at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Molina says, "Our community needs advocacy, and for Tom to be treated in this kind of way speaks volumes of the lack of courage of the administration."

Added politics note: "The Los Angeles elections on March 3 turned out to be more interesting than most of us had expected, especially the role of the Fifth Council District," analyst and professor Raphael Sonenshein says in the Jewish Journal.


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


 

LA Observed on Twitter