That was the news story headline…
“The Luxe hotel was a hot spot for fundraisers. But some L.A. politicians didn’t pay the bill.”
The Luxe hotel mentioned in the March 20,2019 story:
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-dtla-hotel-politicians-fundraisers-20190320-story.html
is located in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. The area is going through a dynamic redevelopment with the Staples Areas, L.A. Live, and multiple high-end hotel chains taking claim of their preferred stake of land. That development is great. Seeing downtown Los Angeles come alive with new, in current safety code buildings is awesome. Bringing in business and thus tax dollars and jobs to Los Angeles, also awesome.
But there is a dark side to this story.
Local politicians not paying their bill and gaining perks, surprised? I’m not! While it is not unique to Los Angeles, that does not diminish the scandal value of this story. Politicians, local and national, have all, always enjoyed benefits that you and I do not even imagine. Do I know this to be true? To a degree, yes I do. My work in law enforcement gave me access to times and places where the elite gathered and mingled. I was able to see how event planning and arrangements were accomplished. Always, the elite had advantages borne into all planning. But this is a case of business and development. That is to say, money! These kinds of things happen all the time. What usually plays out is that the special treatment and benefit is given out and we most often do not hear about it. On some very rare occasions, and generally only when politicians go against each other competing for voters, money and advantage, one, tells on the other. Sometimes audits and stories developed by media investigators/journalists, find hints of the unusual hole in the story. Money was made, but money was not paid. And when that story comes out, there is the story, the brief pause in response as players seek out the way they want to spin the explanation, and then the promise that there was an oversight, and someone pays. But we can be assured, it is not accomplished in the manner you and I might.
Could you or I get away with something like this? No! We would have to pay for our single hotel room bill on arrival at this location, if not when making our reservation. I can recall some years ago while staying at the Laguna Beach Montage Hotel, being pre-charged $4,000 on my card, for things I had not, and ultimately did not use during my stay. Keep in mind, that was separate from my room charge at this great location. And I must add, and admit, I loved my stay there. The hotel and location were magnificent. But that charge included things like the spa and other similar services. In fairness, I was with a client and working, but still. Thankfully, my client, when made aware of the charges, had the hotel return the charge, though the process mysteriously took about a week to complete.
O.K., glad I finally got that episode off my chest
Back to the blog story. If you didn’t see this story on the 20th when it was posted, you should take note and follow what your local elite are up to.
They have it pretty nice, you and I, not so much.