Eric Garcetti's Parents Look to Save His Indian Ambassadorship

Good Luck with that.

It appears that the Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti, who has capitalized on his infamous name for most of his life, is doing it again. What else does someone who is not well liked (politically or personally), has zero political capital, and even less working experience, do when the ambassador position he practically groveled for is on the rocks?

Get his wealthy and well-connected parents to get him across the finish line. And at this point, he’s out of any other options.

From POLITICO:

The parents of Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti have enlisted the help of prominent lobbyists to aid their son’s beleaguered nomination to serve as U.S. ambassador to India.

McGuireWoods Consulting registered to lobby on behalf of Sukey and Gil Garcetti on Thursday for the purposes of “Outreach Related to Confirmation for Ambassadorship Nomination.” The lobbyists on the account include a former chief of staff to Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) Ryan Bernstein and Garcetti’s own former deputy mayor and longtime advisor, Breelyn Pete.

The registration is the latest sign that Garcetti’s allies are turning over every possible stone to get his nomination across the finish line.

Bernstein did not immediately return a request for comment.

As RedState reported last week, after months of delay, Garcetti’s Indian ambassador appointment ran even more off the rails. In January, Garcetti’s nomination cleared the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, but Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) put a pause on Garcetti’s nomination in light of allegations that Garcetti was well aware of the sexual harassment allegations lodged against his former advisor Rick Jacobs and did nothing about it.

That nomination has floundered amid accusations that the mayor’s top aide, Rick Jacobs, had sexually assault women on the staff. Garcetti has insisted that he knew nothing of Jacobs’ conduct, which came to light because of a whistleblower report and includes allegations from his former Communications Director Naomi Seligman that Jacobs grabbed and kissed her in front of other city staffers.

According to an April IndiaWest Journal, the Biden administration stands by the Garcetti nomination. But after Grassley mounted his own detailed investigation, he concluded that Garcetti likely knew about a top aide’s alleged sexual misconduct. Grassley also expressed that he would be a “No” vote in clearing Garcetti’s nomination. Reportedly, other members of the Democrat caucus are not fully behind this nomination. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), the Arizona team of Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), and Ms. #MeToo herself, Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) have also voiced concern with what Garcetti knew about Jacobs, and how his office is run.

Or… not run.

With a 50-50 Senate, every vote is a necessity. If Grassley’s “No,” means No, and the four Democrats do not fall in line, then Garcetti can kiss his ambassadorship goodbye. He knows this, and so do Papa Gil and Mama Suky; which is why they are using their considerable money and connections to at least influence the four Democrat holdouts, if not a few Republicans, to vote for their embattled boy and clear his path to India.

Privilege and nepotism at work, nothing new to see here.

India appears nonplussed, even though the U.S. Ambassador post has been empty since Biden was installed in January 20, 2021. At this point, The slow walking of Garcetti’s nomination has gone beyond a mere ambassadorship. Somebody, somewhere is getting payback on the Biden administration, Eric Garcetti, or both.

I hearken back to 2018, when California Senator Dianne Feinstein and Sen. Grassley were both on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sen. Feinstein allowed herself to be the agent of destruction in that nomination. Feinstein covered up a letter from Christine Blasey Ford that accused then-nominee to the Supreme Court Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, then brought it out like a smoking gun at a time when the nomination hearings should have been coming to a close and Kavanaugh brought up for vote in the Senate.

We know the circus that resulted after that. It wasn’t pretty, and the Democrats pulled out all the stops to no avail. Judge Kavanaugh was confirmed anyway, and may well overturn some judicial precedent that will make liberal heads explode.

There have been several Biden appointments and nominees tanked: Neera Tanden and David Chipman come to mind. Good riddance, to bad rubbish.

As the senior senator, Grassley is showing everyone that it doesn’t really take a circus, all it takes is pouring salt into the gas tank.

We’ll see if Gil and Suky Garcetti can manage to overhaul this engine and save their feckless son’s clown car of an ambassadorship.