BYD appeal to Garcetti

By Paige St. John

When Metro staff re­com­men­ded giv­ing a 60-foot bus con­tract to a com­pet­it­or, BYD and its lob­by­ist ap­pealed dir­ectly to Metro dir­ect­ors to over­ride the re­com­mend­a­tion. Los Angeles May­or Eric Gar­cetti re­ceived an email to his per­son­al ac­count from BYD mar­ket­ing dir­ect­or Shaun Kadlec, a former part­ner of long-time Gar­cetti aide and ad­viser Rick Jac­obs. Jac­obs left his post as deputy chief of staff for the may­or to be­come his polit­ic­al strategist and head up Ac­cel­er­at­or for Amer­ica, con­sidered a plat­form for Gar­cetti’s ex­plor­a­tion of a run for the pres­id­ency. The email was provided un­der a pub­lic re­cords act re­quest by the Times.

Sources: Los Angeles mayor’s office