While he patiently awaits a cushy position in the Biden Administration via his dear friend, Vice President Kamala Harris, he continues to blithely give the old middle finger to anyone who would dare take issue with any of his political stances even though so many of them inspire passionate dissent among many of his Long Beach constituents.

In fact, to list all the audacious dissembling he employs in such matters should be left to those in academia deciding to do their doctorate papers on governmental duplicity.

Indeed, there are times I swear Mr. Garcia is conducting his business from a tyrant's playbook with his clandestine maneuvers that have become such a sacred, if not scary part of his controversial mayoral tenure.

I mean Mr. Garcia actually kept City Hall's decision to bring in more than 1,000 undocumented migrant minors for sheltering at the Long Beach Convention Center a secret until it was fait accompli.

Why?

That's what a lot of people around town want to know, and also a lot of people like the principled publisher of this publication, Mr. Bill Pearl, would like to know how the entire process unfolded.

Natch, when Mr. Pearl sought such information from City Hall leaders---at least from the ones at the top like Mr. Garcia and his private marionette, city manager Tom Modica---he was met with only deafening silence.

Where's the transparency?

Why are Messrs. Garcia and Modica so paranoid about the public finding out who instigated---Long Beach officials or federal agencies---the proceedings that resulted in downtown Long Beach becoming a hostelry for more than 1,000 undocumented kids?

Their reluctance to come willingly forward with the truth leads me to believe that they don't want those in Long Beach upset with the development to know that it was they who originally made overtures to the feds that LB gladly would be amenable to turn a vital section of downtown into a lodging sanctuary even though it would inevitably have a negative impact on long-struggling nearby hotels, restaurants, taverns and many other businesses.

Of course, it's only a hunch on my part, and I could be completely wrong in my assessment even though Bill Pearl has been forced to resort again to using state and federal information laws in an attempt to dredge the veracity out our City Hall leaders whose media stonewalling has become so irritatingly routine.

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Mr. Pearl also has gone that route in what seemingly was a well-orchestrated, if not illegitimate course in the April 6 aftermath of the special City Council meeting to give its preordained approval by the standard 9-0 vote ---in which, incredibly, almost all of the 20 available speaking slots on the matter were overwhelmingly taken up by people who thought Messrs. Garcia and Modica should be accorded the Nobel Peace Prize for their divine and compassionate actions.

Alas, there's a strong suspicion that the fix was in, and that Mr. Garcia's political cronies, even his own brother, for crimneysakes, wound up with the first 13 slots, much to the delight of Mr. Garcia.

It's the unfortunate view here that Bill Pearl will be waging a thankless, uphill battle in his brave, never-ending journalistic quest to unveil the truth in turning to the freedom of information laws, as, at best, he will face interminable delays. And, at worst, the bits of information he does secure might well be quite innocuous---I hope I'm wrong!---since those in charge of releasing it are almost certain to be aligned politically with Mr. Garcia.

Clearly, Long Beach has become Robert Garcia's private fiefdom, as the founder of the Long Beach Young Republicans in 2005 who became a Democrat in 2007 seems to get everything he desires, from slashing the budget of the police department, to ordering his top cop, Robert Luna, to stand down his troops last Memorial Day that resulted in 210 LB businesses being looted, to turning control of the Queen Mary from the City Council to the Harbor Commission (inspiring still another Bill Pearl freedom of information move), to turning the LB City Council into a bunch of trained seals with its customary unanimous support of Mr. Garcia's agenda.

You would think there would be one person in this group who would offer a contrary view to Mr. Garcia's---I wrongly thought the 3rd District's Suzie Price would offer vocal dissent on occasion---but no one dares cross Mr. Garcia.

Clearly, the guy has a magical political knack, in light of the way the Nine Unworthies, aka the LB City Council, bend to all his whims, even the ones that are so often nonsensical.

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