TheFoothillsForum

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/polit ... california

A Los Angeles City Council committee voted Tuesday to demand more environmental review before a hotly contested Home Depot can open in Sunland-Tujunga, ignoring accusations that the opposition campaign is being funded by Do it Center, a hardware competitor.

On a 2-0 vote, the council's Planning and Land Use Management Committee sided with critics of the project who said that the city erred in issuing a building permit to Home Depot, which hopes to move into a 93,000-square-foot building on Foothill Boulevard that once was occupied by Kmart.

The panel took its vote despite criticism from Home Depot lobbyist Lucinda Starrett, who said the opposition campaign was part of a larger effort by Do it Center against her client's expansion plans.

Abby Diamond, a leader of the Sunland-Tujunga Alliance, agreed that her group had split the cost of its lawyer with Do it Center but insisted that it hired an attorney only after the opposition had reached critical mass.

If true, this is disconcerting. I don't disapprove of teh tactic, I would have done the same thing. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend". Works for me.

But conversely, I would not have criticized HD for paying people to represent them at meetings, rallies, etc.

Representation. The job descriptions are similar - the lawyers just get a bigger paycheck.

Sorry guys, they got the story wrong. We are splitting the cost of an attorney with Do It. The most Do It has ever given to the NHDC is about 50 Poinsetta
plants for a fund raiser around xmas one year.

DaveR,
You're missing the point. Don't you understand the difference between a business of the area participating in legal representation regarding their business interest and other case of HD bribing uninterested persons, from outside areas, pretending that they are interested and impacted by the issue?

Paying those HD attendees was bribery, not compensation. IMO, it is naive to think otherwise. Or does anyone favor paying people for votes, under the guise of ??? It was not representation, but misrepresentation.

Don't you understand the difference between a business of the area participating in legal representation regarding their business interest

Then why was that legal representation not disclosed prior to this article? I believe Joe, and therefore can see no reason why it should have not been above board from the outset, since as you correctly state it was all legal.

and other case of HD bribing uninterested persons, from outside areas, pretending that they are interested and impacted by the issue?

Bribe? Please. Pure sensationalism on your part. You obviously want to infer that something illegal took place here, as evidenced by your "vote buying" comment further on. But unless your lawyers are working pro bono, I'm betting they're getting "induced" (definition #2 below) to the tune of $500 per hour or so.

bribe –noun
1. money or any other valuable consideration given or promised with a view to corrupting the behavior of a person, esp. in that person's performance as an athlete, public official, etc.: The motorist offered the arresting officer a bribe to let him go.
2. anything given or serving to persuade or induce: The children were given candy as a bribe to be good.
–verb (used with object)
3. to give or promise a bribe to: They bribed the reporter to forget about what he had seen.
4. to influence or corrupt by a bribe: The judge was too honest to be bribed.
–verb (used without object)
5. to give a bribe; practice bribery.

Paying those HD attendees was bribery, not compensation.

In your humble opinion. Reality, not to mention the applicable statutes, would suggest otherwise. But please, have the courage of your convictions, go make a criminal complaint for bribery and see how that works out for you.

Look, let's face it. I have the luxury of being totally detached from this issue. I therefore note for the record that I have absolutely no skin in the game, OK? But it's because I am detached that I can look at it objectively and therefore have seen both sides go off the deep end at certain times.

Let's take this latest incident as an example.

Fact: there is absolutely nothing illegal or unethical with splitting attorney's fees as Joe has described here. Period.
Perception: You guys were trying to hide it for whatever reason.
Fact: You guys let a non-event become newsworthy. Bad move.
Outcome: Score one for the bad guys in the court of public opinion - which is largely driven by perception, not facts.

Whether you agree with me or not, I continue to wish you the best of luck.

DaveR,
This type of disagreement can be argued forever!!! It's often quite entertaining, too. But, it's not for me. (looking back, I do apologize for my tone, though).

Stan,
Completely unnecessary, though certainly appreciated. Very classy move in any case. Thank you!

We don't have to agree on everything to still share the same goals.....
Dave

The splitting of attorney fees has been pretty common knowledge for some time. I am sure it is mentioned several times on the old forum, and has been mentioned on our website as well. HD just brought it up again as a distraction and to imply that we were being funded by Do it.
They still can't win an argument over the technical issues, so they are saying anything and everything to try and get a vote or two in their favor.

Joe:
The LA times article says "Abby Diamond, a leader of the Sunland-Tujunga Alliance, agreed that her group had split the cost of its lawyer with Do it Center but insisted that it hired an attorney only after the opposition had reached critical mass."

Can you quote the part of the LA Times story that is wrong? I'm not sure I understand who got the story wrong or what part is wrong.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-me-depot8aug08,1,5324847.story?coll=la-news-politics-california&ctrack=6&cset=true

Also, what part of the Daily News story that was published yesterday was wrong, if we could have that for the record, too.
http://www.dailynews.com//ci_6568813?IADID=Search-www.dailynews.com-www.dailynews.com

thanks

[quote="DaveR}

We don't have to agree on everything to still share the same goals.....
Dave[/quote]

aint that the truth !

But still I think showing a deceptive pattern of behavior is what is going to cost Home Depot .
In fact it already has. They should have just followed the law and so much money on their part would have been saved. It was not in the best $$ interest of the lawyers and Dakota to suggest that to them.
And this company has the ear of our mayor ??!! Yikes !!

Home Depot paid outside people to pretend that they lived in the S-T area. How does that equate with asking for donations to hire a lawyer to help fight a tyrant like HD. Every rational person that contibuted to the N2HD fund is a S-T Patriot. Those who didn't help, are the slag you have to put up within a modern society. Those S-T people that gave of their time to attend the meetings were not paid for their services. They were concerned citizens.

When the chips are down and you can't do any more yourself, you hire help. If you don't have money to pay that help, you beg. Do-It Center and every local business that donated funds to the cause helped the fight continue.

There's a wonderful old saying "Put your money where your mouth is!" Don't criticize those who did something to help the community.

and you know, too , doc, it's not like do-it is a competitor that has their sites on the same property as HD or something like that. Saying N2HD accepting money from do-it is as unscrupulous as HD hiring outsiders to pose as support is as relevant as saying our family is participating in a scam when we donate $$ to N2HD because we don't want the quality of life in our neighborhood and ultimately our property values to drop !

That is the truth for every member of this community...
those in this community that donate to N2HD are simply paying someone to represent that truth.

Home Depot is paying alot of people to wear orange shirts and essentially tell a whopper of a story without sayng a word, that they support a homedepot in S-T during every important meeting . It's a lie.

And when you've got the truth on your side no ones muddled logic or story telling can change that.
put that in your pipe and smoke it Home Depot !!

I'm all for any businesses around here that choose to help with the cause!! This affects our entire community. Do-It Center has proven to be a great neighborhood store. NOT a store that you would find in industrial areas such as Home Depot...Do-It Center fits into communities and does not impact them negatively....

...Home Depots should stay in industrial areas where they belong!

There's a post on Mayor Sam's blog about Do It Center putting up $325,000 to keep Lowes out of Westlake Village.
------
"However it wasn't Home Depot that put major money against the pro-Lowe's measure but - you guessed it - Do It Center! To the tune of $325,000, Do It Center forces, operating under the warm and fuzzy name of "Save Westlake Village," managed to defeat the measure 45% to 55%."
   
http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/2007/08/ho ... oturf.html

oh for goodness sake, DoIt Center is like a 7-11 compared to HD and Lowes and OSH. As if !
Move on
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