LA Pays $1.8 Million to Garcetti Aide Victim

Wednesday, the Los Angeles City council approved a $1.8 million settlement payment to the LAPD officer former Mayor Garcetti’s political fixer Rick Jacobs sexually harassed while the mayor sat by and did nothing.

Jacobs repeatedly and explicitly harassed Mathew Garza while Garza was a member of Garcetti’s protective detail; in the original lawsuit, Garza alleged Garcetti witnessed the harassment.

Jacobs said in a deposition he may have made off color jokes but denied harassing Garza.

That defense was widely seen as a laughable lie, as Jacobs was notorious around City Hall for engaging in repellent aggressive sexual behavior aimed at both men and women.

Garcetti claimed not only that he was unaware of Jacobs’ egregious behavior but also that he had never even heard about the problem.  That statement, made in front of a U.S. Senate committee during Garcetti’s ambassadorial conformation process, brought howls of protest from a number of people – including Garcetti former staffers –  familiar with the situation.

Garcetti’s nomination took nearly two years to get through the Senate, in large part due to the Jacobs allegations, Garcetti clearly lying about them, and the generally corrupt cesspool of a City Hall he presided over. He was only confirmed when a number of Republican senators inexplicably gave in.

The settlement is seen not only as a vindication of Garza but also of the allegations made by a number of other Garcetti staffers about the mayor and Jacobs.

Jacobs was Garcetti’s political hit man and a top fund raiser and one of the most powerful people in the city during Garcetti’s tenure.

Besides Garza’s case, other accusations against Garcetti and Jacobs still remain in the public eye.  Whistleblower Aid – a DC-based group dedicated to helping employees right workplace wrongs – praised the settlement as an example of the importance of holding the powerful accountable.

“People who subject subordinates to sexual pressure and humiliation can only continue the abuse if someone at the top enables it. The taxpayers of Los Angeles should not have to pick up the tab for Eric Garcetti’s derelict leadership,” said Naomi Seligman, former Garcetti aide and Jacobs victim who now works with Whistleblower Aid. 

Seligman has said previously that Jacobs left her pretty much alone until she and her husband attended a function together and Jacobs walked up to her and aggressively kissed her in front of her husband.

“It was a power move,” said Seligman, especially considering Jacobs is gay but acts sexually aggressive to any and all.

Seligman added that on one occasion Jacobs “dry humped” a Garcetti lawyer in a Capitol Hill elevator – making his harassment bi-coastal as well – until the mayor finally responded to the woman’s pleas for help by telling Jacobs to “cut it out.”

And of course there as this:

“Garcetti failed in his fundamental duty as mayor to keep city employees safe,” Seligman said.” Today’s settlement acknowledges that at last.”