Metropolitan News-Enterprise

 

Thursday, May 6, 2021

 

Page 1

 

No Sparks Fly at Second LACBA Candidates Debate

 

By a MetNews Staff Writer

 

The two candidates for Los Angeles County Bar Association president-elect engaged in a debate yesterday before the Executive Committee of the Real Property Section, with private practitioner Ann I. Park and corporate lawyer Jo-Ann W. Grace agreeing on most matters.

Both expressed astonishment at a report by the programming vice chair of the section, Teresa Hillery, that to attend all meetings of LACBA’s Board of Trustees, via Zoom, she must go through a rigamarole each month, requesting information on how to sign on. Both candidates vowed to seek a remedy.

Park, during a “town hall” debate staged Monday by LACBA, insisted that Grace has “a very serious conflict of interest” in seeking the officer position because she is the association’s “landlord,” while Grace insisted that the allegation of a conflict was “nonsense.” Yesterday, Park credited the move to the building owned by Grace and her husband as a factor in creating a brighter financial pictuure for the association, but again asserted that “there is, undoubtedly, a conflict of interest now.”

On Monday, Park argued that the Council of Sections (which put up reform candidates all of whom prevailed in the 2016 contested election) should be made a part of LACBA.  Grace asserted yesterday that the council “needs not to be a part of LACBA,” explaining:

“It’s a watchdog organization. You do not keep the dog on the leash of people you’re trying to watch.”

Park made a point of having been the choice of the Nominating Committee, while Grace said that entailed getting the majority of the votes of a 14-member committee, while she got on the ballot through signatures of more than 100 members of the association.

Balloting began Monday and continues through 11:59 p.m. on June 1.

 

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