Outrageous: Public Police Unions Sicking Private Eyes, Cops On Politicians Who Oppose Them

Vicious stuff, illegal, and fascist.

Costa Mesa Councilman Jim Righeimer had finished speaking at a community meeting last Wednesday, and then headed to a pub owned by fellow councilman Gary Monahan. Righeimer drank two sodas and drove home. After arriving home, a Costa Mesa cop showed up at his door and asked him to step outside and take a sobriety test, which he passed.

That a police officer can ask for a sobriety test after you have returned home is troubling enough, but the details of the case are even more astonishing.

A private eye with connections to the law firm Lackie, Dammeier & McGill of Upland, Calif., which represents the Costa Mesa Police Officers Association and many others across the state, called 911 and reported Righeimer as a possible DUI, representing himself as a concerned citizen. The caller said Righeimer stumbled out of the bar even though surveillance cameras show no such thing. “He’s just swerving all over the road,” the caller stated.

The private eye, Chris Lanzillo, a fired Riverside police officer who showed up at Righeimer’s house in a car without license plates, claims he was not on orders to follow Righeimer. The law firm also denied this but promptly removed Lanzillo's name from its Web site.

The Costa Mesa union fired the firm, moments before a city press conference. But this backpedaling is not credible. The law firm brags publicly about its brass-knucked tactics, and its Web site features testimonials from unions thrilled by how its legal work brings city managers to their knees. There's no sense believing anything said by a man whose claims in the police report are not even close to reality. The whole situation screams set up.

The private eye was fired but that's not nearly enough. A firing of a single guy permits the tactic to continue -- you just need a series of Just One Bad Apple to do this, then you can fire them.

Instapundit's right -- fire them all, bring in apples that aren't yet rotten, and launch a RICO probe.

Of course this will have to wait until January 2013.

posted by Ace at 05:14 PM

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