For a progressive and proactive Attorney General, the office could be a powerful tool in deciding social and legal equities such as those presented in SOUTH CENTRAL FARM dispute between corporate developers and community farmers. The office of the state's Attorney General is far more than just about "fighting gangs of East Los Angeles," as the LAPD-financed candidate Rockio Delgadillo has been proclaiming through his $2-million-dollar TV ads – paid for by generous donations from California prison guards and LAPD's unions.

On the opposite side of the political spectrum, the environmental group SustainLane.com, known as "the web's best community resource for healthy and sustainable living" has rated Mayor Jerry Brown's City, Oakland, as one of its top-rated environmentally sustainable cities in the U.S. In its report, the environmental group said: "Oakland is emerging as a sustainability leader. Mayor Jerry Brown, whose second term ends in January 2007, has overseen a plan to bring 10,000 new residents into a redeveloped city center. The plan is dramatically increasing the downtown population, reducing sprawl, and making public transit more efficient—all while giving the city’s urban center a dose of energy. Farmers markets, community gardens, and green buildings further support the city’s move toward sustainability."

In part of its report which may directly be relevant to the ongoing popular struggle to save the SOUTH CENTRAL FARM (LOS ANGELES), SustainLane.com reported: "The city’s eight farmers markets and 36 community gardens support its #9 ranking for food and agriculture."

Under California law, a proactive Attorney General Jerry Brown with a proven 30-year track record in integrity, honesty, and public service would have significant legal authority and power to influence the course of events such as those occurring today around the SOUTH CENTRAL FARM controversy. Unfortunately, the present justice bureaucracy of California has become more functionally disabled over the past 25 years as the power and influence of the state prison guards and LAPD's unions have rapidly increased. Both groups have particularly experienced tremendous increases in their political muscle strength during the presidency of George W. Bush. Janet Reno who took LAPD to federal court for "having established a pattern of constitutional violations of citizens' rights" is no longer there. Reno’s successors, John Ashcroft and Antonio Gonzales, reversed her adversarial attitude towards the LAPD when George W. Bush suddenly declared LAPD as his "partner in war on terror" even though no credible investigative report had yet been drafted concerning the LAPD's Rampart Corruption Scandal.

The present weak and dysfunctional state of the Attorney General office has significantly assisted the LAPD+CCPOA alliance and those other powerful groups that are identified invariably as belonging to the most extreme right side of the political spectrum. Under the present weak and dysfunctional Attorney General, regionally-powerful reactionary groups such as LAPD and CCPOA have been privileged to engage in violation of law – even in its most egregious forms - with impunity. Under such deliberately dysfuctional system, irresponsible corporate polluters and developers who, for example, contributed heavily to election and re-election of Los Angeles County Prosecutor Stephen Cooley, get to massively pollute the environmental and repeatedly violate the law and enjoy complete impunity. Under a weak and dysfunctional Attorney General office, powerful but corrupt prison guards and renegade police officers comit murder and engage in egregious violations of constitutional rights of citizens without fear of prosecution.

Public records show that, for example, Republican Stephen Cooley, Los Angeles County Prosecutor, who received significant percentage of his election and re-election campaign funds from large corporate polluters, LAPD and prison guards’ unions, has persistently failed to initiate criminal prosecution against such violators. Cooley’s refusal to criminally prosecute those corporate and organizational donors who bank-rolled his 2000 and 2004 campaigns surpasses the threshold of his criminal conspiracy.

Contrary to TV advertisements of LAPD's Delgadillo, an ethical, progressive, proactive, and popular State Attorney General is much more than just fighting gangs. It is a powerful position that encompasses almost every aspect of the society’s social and legal functions and interactions. It is not just about fighting gangs. It is a state-wide office with tremendous ability and power to set major policies on environment, public transporation, infrastructure, local government, state and local level campaign reform, organizational corruption, and conceivably conducting investigation in cases such as the ongoing SOUTH CENTRAL FARM controversy through determining social and legal equities of the concerned parties.

The environmental group SustainLane.com in its report on selecting Jerry Brown’s Oakland as one of the most sustainable cities of the nation says: “Oakland has created a plan to source 30% of its food locally. Oakland has demonstrated its leadership in supporting the expansion of farmers markets, community gardens, and school gardening programs.”

It should be clear that as a progressive and proactive state Attorney General, as demonstrated by his above-referenced track record in support of the expansion of community farms and gardens, California Attorney General Jerry Brown may have quite a different "opinion" on the SOUTH CENTRAL FARM matter. "Opinions" of State Attorney Generals normally have the force of Law.

Anyone still awake after reading all that political fluff. Neither of the two parties really gives a damn about you, wake up. People like you are the reason most citizens in this country do not even vote.


Progressive = Liberal.
proactive = reactionary.

Tell Mr. Brown to visit the Farm, to stay on the Farm. Then he's got my vote.

Delgadillo is no friend to the Farmers, true. But the rest of your peice is conjecture. The Farm doesn't need conjecture. It needs warm bodies and hard cash. Including yours and Mr. Brown's.

I'm awake... and i vote... the reason people don't vote is because the candidates suck... not because the campaign isn't flashy enough... the already spend a sh*t load on "flash".... also... Jerry Brown DID VISIT THE FARM.... he does support it... but Delgadio has political clout.... and was originaly responisble for selling the property for 5 mill, even though 10years prior the City sold it to themselves for $11 (before the alameda corridor was built)... the city Government is, and has been corrupt... Rocky should be investigated for this and other criminal charges.... Contributions to Rocky Delgadio, Los Angeles City Ethics Commission