Friday, October 3, 2008

When "Investigation" Goes Nowhere

I find it interesting that people put so much stock into "investigations," particularly when it comes to their local elected officials.

This comes to mind after reading about Baldwin Park Mayor Manuel Lozano being "investigated" by the Fair Political Practices Commission, and Baldwin Park Councilman Anthony Bejarano being "investigated" for being drunk in public.

Well, the term "investigation" makes some sexy headlines, as well as remarkable hit-piece fodder. You could just pick and choose those headlines, stick them on a mailer, and there you have it: The perfect mail strike.

People who put together hit pieces generally are reliant on the fact that you won't bother to get your lazy ass up from the latest episode of "Flavor of Love" to check the facts on that mailer and take it as gospel. That's what I ALMOST did last November when I was going to stupidly cast my vote for Steve Herfert and some blonde broad who thought having a firefighter husband made her an expert on public safety. (By that logic I'm an expert on coral bleaching results when the symbiotic zooxanthellae are released from the original host coral organism due to stress. Hi, Honey!)

I've shared the story before.

What I'm getting at is this: It's not hard to get anyone "investigated." All you gotta do is file a complaint against the person you want investigated. The end. The investigation could last two hours or two years. It is far too easy.

In Bejarano's case, the DA found he did nothing wrong, but is that going to stop his political adversaries from using this highly suspect arrest on future mailers? Absolutely not.

The moral of the story: Do your own research. Don't believe hit pieces. It really doesn't take that long; I'm sure "Flavor of Love," "Rock of Love," "I Love New York," "Real Chance at Love" will re-run the episode.

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