Experts™ Strike Again
David Houston of the Los Angeles Daily Urinal appears to have stolen another page from the Dog Trainer’s playbook: when injecting one’s own opinions into a story, cite anonymous “experts.” Last Thursday, on p. 2, they reported that interim Los Angeles County Counsel Raymond G. Fortner faces diminishing prospects due to his seven-page “legal opinion” on the alleged unconstitutionality of the Los Angeles County Seal. By all accounts, that opinion, which I have thus far been unable to locate on the web, reads like an ACLU talking points memorandum, devoting only two paragraphs to any arguments cutting in favor of the seal’s constitutionality.
Although most legal experts believe Fortner’s advice was solid, the politics surrounding the opinion could ratchet up pressure on the Board of Supervisors to open up the process - as some good government advocates are suggesting - and conduct a nationwide search to replace Lloyd W. Pellman, who retried [sic] earlier this year.
As usual, none of the Experts™ question are named. My guess is that if you were to ask Mr. Houston which Experts™ he had interviewed while preparing this report, you’d learn that he had consulted one or both of the following groups of Experts™:
- “Some law professor named Chemerinsky, and three guys from the ACLU.”
- “Me, myself and I.”
