Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s David Zahniser, with an assist from Dakota Smith, Julia Wick and Rebecca Ellis, giving you the latest on city and county government.
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The first thing that stood out was the sheer boldness of the move.
Los Angeles City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson received a letter from former Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, asking the council to reinstate her, partway into Thursday.
Harris-Dawson, a close ally of Mayor Karen Bass, the person who ousted Crowley, moved swiftly to schedule the vote on Crowley for the following day, giving the public just 24 hours’ warning about a 5 p.m. meeting on Friday in Van Nuys.
Holding the council meeting so quickly would have given Bass, already under fire over her handling of the Palisades fire, a way to put the Crowley question to bed quickly, at a time used by politicians to break news they want buried or ignored.
A fast-track process also would have left Crowley with little time to prepare her case. On top of that, Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, an outspoken Crowley supporter, would not have been able to attend.
Rodriguez had an excused absence from Harris-Dawson for the regularly scheduled council meeting earlier that day. She told The Times that she was out of town and unable to make the 5 p.m. meeting.
At one point in his career, Harris-Dawson balked at such scheduling maneuvers. In 2022, he objected to then-Council President Nury Martinez‘s attempt to ram through the appointment of Heather Hutt to temporarily fill the seat held by Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas, arguing that the public needed time to engage with such a major decision.
This time, with Bass struggling to regain her…