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LACBA Candidate Accuses Rival of Racial Insensitivity
Park Predicates Allegation on Publication in METNEWS of Nationally Syndicated Column
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Ann I. Park, a candidate for president-elect of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, has argued that she be elected over her opponent, Metropolitan News-Enterprise Co-Publisher Jo-Ann W. Grace, based upon the newspaper having published a column by Ann Coulter which evinced sympathy for Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of the murder of George Floyd.
Park’s salvo came in a late-night email on Friday over LACBA’s election listserv. Grace responded to the listserv on Saturday that Park had displayed “an abysmal lack of judgment and fairness” by ascribing to her the views expressed by a nationally syndicated columnist whose conservative views are published by the newspaper, as are liberal views of other columnists.
Grace, who is president and general counsel of the Metropolitan News Company, handles business matters, while her husband heads the news operations.
Park’s Allegation
Park wrote:
“Jo-Ann Grace is the President, General Counsel, and Co-Publisher of the Metropolitan News-Enterprise. On April 23, 2021, the Met News published the attached editorial by Ann Coulter, which decried the conviction of Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd as ‘A Travesty, Prosecutors Violated Rules That Protect Us All.’
“Among other things, Coulter criticized widespread praise for the Chauvin guilty verdict, stating ‘there wasn’t this much triumphalism when Ted Bundy was convicted! He murdered 30 women, escaped from jail twice, and killed again before finally being brought to trial . . . . maybe we’ve gotten less decorous in the past few decades. But how about celebrating the conviction of a gangbanger who killed an 8-year-old girl in a drive-by? Would the media be as giddy about that? Not likely. Wild celebrations are in order only for the railroading of a cop.’
“Later on in the editorial, Coulter states that Chauvin should have just Tasered George Floyd instead of using a ‘less aggressive restraint’ of a knee to the neck. She writes: ‘Heart disease is rampant in the African American community. Combine that with drug use and behavior problems —- and there are a lot more George Floyds out there waiting to happen. . . . Got a resisting arrestee? Zap him with the stun gun and heave him the back of the police van. Whatever happens after that, at least you won’t have a chubby EMT screaming at you and taking videos.’
“If you don’t have a problem with these views, Jo-Ann Grace is your candidate. But if you believe these views are wrong and unacceptable, and should not be tolerated by—let alone published and disseminated by—a President Elect of the Association, I respectfully submit that the choice is clear.”
Grace’s Response
Grace responded:
“Displaying an abysmal lack of judgment and fairness, Ann now wishes to attribute to me views expressed in the METNEWS in what she terms an ‘editorial’ by Ann Coulter. An ‘editorial’ is an expression by a newspaper of its own views. Ann Coulter does not express views of the METNEWS. She expresses the views of Ann Coulter. She is not an employee of the METNEWS. She writes a nationally syndicated column which we happen to carry. Coulter is a conservative; we also carry columns by liberals.
“Ann Park is pursuing a ‘guilt by association’ effort. She seeks to portray me (as she has done in a long-running whisper campaign) as opposing diversity. This is based on a conversation I had with her in 2017 in which I alluded to views expressed in a book on diversity—one recommended to me by a former president of the John M. Langston Bar Association.
“I deplore the irresponsible and crafty techniques Ann has employed from before the campaign even started. I am hopeful the membership will see these ploys for what they are.”
Council of Sections
In an earlier email, Grace alluded to her work with the Council of Sections which guided reform efforts within LACBA. In her late-night email on Friday, Park wrote, repeating phrases in an earlier email Grace sent:
“Jo-Ann and I share much in common. I, too, am proud to have been part of the Council of Sections. I, too, am a LACBA stalwart who wishes to bring fiscal responsibility, transparency, and responsiveness to the needs of the sections and membership in general. I, too, plan to work with Brad Pauley and our highly able Executive Officer Stan Bissey—in continuing to make progress in revitalizing LACBA, rebuilding membership and getting its finances in order, and keeping it focused and on track.
“There is a fundamental misconception here in believing that I am in any way opposed to these goals. In fact, as I think was made clear in the Town Hall on May 3, 2021, I will be far more effective in achieving these goals. As Melissa Algaze of O’Melveny & Myers posted on LinkedIn today: ‘Ann is the right choice for the future of the association. She’s forward looking and thinking, not wasting energy dwelling in past history. Ann is what the 21st Century Bar looks like.’”
Council’s Endorsement
In her response on Saturday, Grace wrote:
“Ann Park asserts that she would be more effective than I in advancing the goals of the Council of Sections. Why is it, then, that the Council of Sections has endorsed me?
“In fact, Ann complained in a ‘town hall’ debate on Monday that the council has, over the past year, ‘ostracized’ her.
“In 2015 and 2016, as a trustee, I spotted problems with the way LACBA was operating. It was losing money. It refused a request of the Senior Lawyers Section for copies of its financials. ‘Incredibly,’ to employ a term Ann uses incessantly, it declined my request, as a trustee for copies. LACBA is a mutual benefit corporation; the trustees are member of a corporation’s board of directors; there is no right to deny such access, but arrogance prevailed. As a former attorney for the Internal Revenue Service, I knew how to get the financials and did—from the IRS.
“The Council of Sections in 2016 spearheaded a movement to secure the election of reform-minded officers and trustees over members of the ‘Old Guard’ who were favored by the Nominating Committee. She was on periphery of that movement; I was in the center of it. The membership voted into office as president-elect Mike Meyers, who became president in 2017. He endorses me as do his three reform-minded successors, and as do other leaders of the movement.
“Ann has no claim to have played the same role in that movement as I have.”
Grace added:
“In fact, Ann, apparently out of spite, in the debate Monday, called for a move that would cripple the council. She advocated making it a part of LACBA. My position is that it cannot perform its ‘watchdog’ function if it is on the leash of those it’s watching.”
Park said in an email on the listserv yesterday:
“I am incredibly honored to announce that I have been endorsed by a true giant of the Los Angeles legal community, Seth Hufstedler.”
Copyright 2021, Metropolitan News Company