Boyle Heights, the neighborhood just east of the Los Angeles River, has a long and storied history.  Today, residents of this largely blue-collar neighborhood have been pushing to keep expensive development projects out, because their presence would price them out of their own homes. 

Elected representatives are in a perfect position to act as impartial intermediaries between the incoming developers and the citizens who already live there.  With this in mind, many tried reaching out to their local representative.  But Jose Huizar, councilmember of District 14, was far from impartial.

The reason Boyle Heights residents seemed to be busy doing the councilmember's job for him became more apparent when the Justice Department alleged that Huizar had received up to $1.5 million in bribes to push through building proposals in Los Angeles at the expense of more affordable housing. 

This isn't the only instance of apparent corruption, either.  Both Huizar and Mitch Englander, who recently pleaded guilty as a member of the District 14 scheme, also had some fishy dealings with illegal billboard owners across the city.

L.A. voters owe a great debt to the FBI, but the systems that allowed Huizar to pervert our republic haven't changed. Super-PACs doled out $1 million in L.A. City Council elections, including $480,000 on de León, Huizar's successor for D-14.  Take a wild guess how that election went.

The whole purpose behind representation is to ensure that elected officials are beholden to their voters.  But the source of their campaign funds forces these officials to court the interests of a select few, the wealthiest of their donors, the neo-nobility of America.  Dark money, secret political spending funneled through groups like LLCs to avoid disclosure and scrutiny for conflicts of interest, will still have a huge influence on the fate of Boyle Heights, Salt Lake City, and other parts of the nation. 

There are ways everyday Americans can fight back.  We can work for complete solutions like a constitutional amendment, but also for immediate solutions such as preventing someone trading political contributions for our tax dollars by at least requiring immediate disclosure. 

We can also build up grassroots organizations that are able to get information to voters throughout the community and at least make an elected official choose between the votes of their constituents and the money from outsiders who try to get taxpayer money from localities or get tax breaks and throw out zoning protections for a community in order to maximize profits at the town's expense.

In the end, dark money is given to candidates who buy advertisements to trick the local residents into re-electing them, who will do their bidding.  Average voters have zero chance against outside money flowing into their local races, which is why it unfortunately takes the FBI to help shine a light on corruption like that of Councilmember Jose Huizar.  The system must change in favor of citizens. 

Taylor Gottbetter is an L.A. resident and CA state coordinator of TakeBack.org.  trgottbetter@gmail.com

Jim Winstead