City Attorney Represents Private Citizen in Civil Suit
LA Mayor Approves Taxpayer Funds for Assistant’s Ex-Wife

Los Angeles: In what can only be considered a shocking verbal confession in response to questions on why the Office of the City Attorney would represent Maria Blackman as her private attorney in a current civil case, Deputy City Attorney Vivienne Swanigan disclosed to the Honorable Richard Rico that she was acting under instructions and approval from City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and LA Mayor Villaraigosa, who assigned her to represent Maria Blackman (a private citizen), using taxpayer funds.

Deputy City Attorney Swanigan told Judge Rico in his chambers that City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo is an elected public official and “can do what he wants!” A formal ethics violation complaint regarding the misuse of the City Attorney's office in appointing or otherwise allowing Deputy City Attorney Swanigan and Hugo Rossiter to represent Mrs. Blackman has been filed with the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission. Apparently, as learned from Deputy City Attorney Swanigan’s revelations, Mayor Villaraigosa and City Attorney Delgadillo are calling the shots on behalf of the Blackmans’.

Maria Blackman, the ex-wife of current deputy mayor Jimmy Blackman, is using Vivienne Swanigan and Hugo Rossiter, both deputy City Attorneys, as her own personal lawyers in attempts to violate the rights of two animal rights activists legally picketing in her neighborhood.

The two activists, Pamelyn Ferdin and Lindy Greene, along with others, participated in neighborhood demonstrations and leafleting near the residence owned by Jimmy Blackman (LA Mayor Villaraigosa’s Deputy Major and Chief of Staff), and where Maria Blackman currently resides. The events are calculated to educate the neighbors about Blackman's involvement in the corrupt appointment of the department of Los Angeles Animal Services (LAAS) General Manager Ed Boks and Blackman's refusal to implement the NO KILL EQUATION in Los Angeles animal shelters.

The needless killing of animals inside LAAS and the appointment of Ed Boks as general manager, who most in the humane community believe is a fraud, liar and completely incompetent, is a very contentious issue amongst animal advocates in the city of LA. In October 2005, Mayor Villaraigosa and Jimmy Blackman told the humane community and the board of Animal Defense League-LA that they would be hiring Nathan Winograd of No Kill Solutions to consult, and would hire a general manager who would implement No Kill protocols, programs and policies that have been proven to drastically cut the kill rate in municipal shelters across the Nation. But the officials reneged, apparently because billionaire Gary Michaelson offered a huge donation to Villaraigosa if he would hire his then- buddy Ed Boks. Boks had been asked to leave as General Manager in Maricopa County, AZ and his contract in New York City for the same job was not renewed by a unanimous vote of the NYC animal commission.

Since Ed Boks was out of a job, his friend Gary Michealson landed him the one- hundred and sixty- five thousand dollar per year appointment as general manager in Los Angeles. Since Boks appointment in LA, he has expanded on his history of lying to the public and "cooking the books" regarding his successes; the humane community has been outraged at Mayor Villaraigosa and Jimmy Blackman, the Mayor’s Deputy charged with overseeing the Department of Los Angeles Animal Services (LAAS) for the Mayor.

Though neither Ferdin, Greene, nor any other picketer or demonstrator has been detained by police or cited during the picketing and leafleting in Jimmy Blackman's neighborhood, Maria Blackman has been attempting since July 2007 to stop legal protests in her neighborhood.

The humane community is furious that Maria Blackman is getting the free legal services of the City Attorney's office (paid for by the tax payers,) in her attempt to obtain a restraining order against Ferdin and Greene, though there is absolutely no evidence of any wrong doing by either of them.

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