Dymally and his stinking badges

When Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally got in trouble recently over issuing fake badges to friends and campaign contributors, he called the fellow Democrat who was assigned to investigate, Hector De La Torre, a racist. Not just any racist, but "the most racist legislator I have encountered in over 40 years." What's really going on, says Political Muscle's Robert Salladay, is a feud that dates back to Dymally's defense of dirty South Gate political boss Albert Robles. At the time, Robles — now in prison on corruption convictions — was accused of threatening to rape then-state Sen. Martha Escutia, shoot her husband and kidnap then-Assemblyman Marco Firebaugh "drive him to Tijuana and shoot him in the head." While Dymally spoke up for Robles, De La Torre was a South Gate city councilman who clashed often with Robles. More over at the blog.