There's nothing like the government. It doesn't just deprive us of our freedom. It also breeds ridiculous levels of corruption, incompetence and dysfunction.
Meet the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument Authority. It's small, but it's got a lot of things wrong with it.
One of Los Angeles' smallest city departments is being roiled by allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation.
Staffers at El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument Authority have filed six sexual harassment complaints since December, records show.
The department, which oversees Olvera Street and several nearby museums downtown, has about 10 full-time employees and more than a dozen part-time staffers.
Finally, a government deptartment that punches above its weight. But the story only gets stranger.
The man accused in five of the six complaints filed at El Pueblo said he believes he is being targeted in an effort to drive him off the commission that oversees the department.
Crawford said he was told the claims include allegations that he told female employees, "You look good" and "Hello, gorgeous."
"If 'Hello, gorgeous' is sexual harassment, there's something really wrong with people's thinking," said Crawford, who in defending his comments offered that he is gay. "I compliment everyone. I've been doing it my whole life."
Does this whole thing get dumber? Yes, it does.
Crawford said one of the complaints is that he declared himself a "stud" for successfully opening a bottle of correction fluid.
A staffer also complained of feeling "confused" upon receiving Crawford's holiday present of an In-N-Out Burger gift certificate, he added.
We can try to figure out what's going on here, but why bother? The real story is that the government is the shadow under which crazy mushrooms like this grow. And so we have a tiny organization that is about to become linked to a major city agenda.
The discord at El Pueblo comes at a high-profile moment for the department. The El Pueblo Board of Commissioners on Thursday will hear Garcetti's proposal to house the area's homeless people in trailers at a nearby parking lot. It is one of the mayor's most ambitious plans for sheltering the city's growing homeless street population.
I can't think of an agenda that would fit. Or interfere with.
But these types of government employees think that they are thoroughly qualified to run all our lives.