The Manafort case is now several days old and it’s apparent the jury is ultimately going to have to decide whether it believes that a lying liar is lying on the stand to try and save his rear end, or whether it believes the other lying liar who may not even take the stand has lied in the past—and all beyond a reasonable doubt. It’s apparent that neither Manafort nor Gates is going to get a Boy Scout badge for good character. In fact, even I was surprised how sleazy they all are. There is a part of me that’s still a defense attorney and I always got upset when the government granted immunity to its witnesses in return for what it called their objective testimony. Sure they do. The government witness on the stand has a choice to remember it all as the U.S. Attorney remembers you remembered it, or you can spend the next 30 years in jail. No pressure—you just tell us the truth.
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There is a big political test of Trumpism today* when several states go to the primary polls and also with one battle for a House seat in central Ohio, in a district that was formerly very Republican and, in fact, went strongly for Trump in 2016. The House race is polling very close and if the Democrats flip it or even come very close, it probably points to a possible blue November in the House races. Trump even came to town to try and boost the Republican candidate, but he also managed to insult LeBron James, who is an Ohio legend, so tonight may tell us the strength of Trumps coattails.
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The highway death toll in Malibu looks to be on the rise as you can see by just reading the front page of this week’s newspaper. I notice it just trying to get out of the garage of our condominium in the Carbon Beach area. Morning traffic is just one continuous stream and the only break is when traffic stops for a red light. There is no easy answer to this other than increased enforcement, particularly in the summertime when traffic volume jumps. The problem is that increased enforcement generally means just giving out tickets, but what we really need is higher presence of sheriff’s cars in the traffic flow to slow it all down. Maybe the city has to buy more sheriff’s traffic cars in the summer for the principal job of traffic control.
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Kudos to the city and City Manger Reva Feldman, who were able to work out an interim deal with a Ventura County firm to keep Malibu Dial-a-Ride active while we look for a more permanent solution for the city. The city stepped up, and did it quickly and well.
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There is currently a lawsuit going on between the Malibu Township Council (MTC) and the City of Malibu that has been around for about five years and has earned the title of Malibu’s most expensive lawsuit. The lawsuit was initially about whether or not the city violated the Brown Act and a few other things when they made a swap of land with the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (SMMC). But to make sure the swap was a good deal for both, we gave the conservancy a lease on Charmlee Park (which the city owns) for five years and they gave the city a lease on Bluffs Park (which SMMC owns) for the same period. At the end of the period, if we were all satisfied, the swap would take place. That hasn’t happened yet and may very well never happen. First, our relationship with the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and its handmaiden, the Mountains Recreation and Conversation Authority (MRCA) and its leader Joe Edmiston (Uncle Joe to those who know), has deteriorated somewhat lately and besides, the entire swap is probably dependent on what we can do with 83 acres of Malibu, which won’t be known until the environmental impact report (EIR) is completed. So bothering with an expensive lawsuit about something that may never happen escapes me. Recently, I was made aware of the current costs of litigation in Los Angles County. It’s been probably 35 years since I’ve tried a case and it’s apparent that the cost of litigating just about anything has doubled or tripled or even quadrupled in the interim. These days, in any kind of contested litigation, you’re easily going to spend a half to one million dollars for costs, attorney’s fees, expert witnesses, videos, movies, reconstructions, jury experts, multiple depositions, etc., etc. So you better think twice before you ever decide to sue the SOB.
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Fire season is upon us with a vengeance. There was a time when fire season was just that—a season usually between the fall and winter. Today, fire season is year round and there is no such thing as a safe season.
For one thing, we have less rainfall and the temperatures are hotter. Each year, we seem to be setting new temperature records. When the moisture levels in the plants get low enough, every plant is a potential beginning of a wildfire. When the fuel load gets heavy enough, things burn and burn uncontrollably. Before, this year’s Ventura County fire was the largest in the history of California and now it has been quickly topped by the Mendocino fire. We are going to be writing about fire in the weeks and months to come. Unfortunately, Karen and I have had some sad personal experience with fire. We had our home burn down in the 1993 Topanga/Malibu fire and if you haven’t done so already, clear the brush around your home. There are lots of things you can do and we’ll be talking about them in the weeks to come.
*Editor’s note: This column was written on Tuesday, Aug. 7, ahead of election results.