If you had lost track of the either right-wing or left-wing political extremist Lyndon LaRouche after one of his unannounced overnight flights to the moon, he — or perhaps his minions — turned up late this morning, vigorously unwelcome, at Tito’s Tacos in Culver City.
For years, the radical LaRouchies, as they call themselves, have been a toxic nightmare for the owner of every business where they ever have sought to camp out and lure unsuspicious political neophytes inside.
Tito’s Tacos owner Lynne Davidson — furious because they had planted themselves directly in front of the hottest eatery in town — called the cops.
Urgently, Ms. Davidson complained that the two LaRouche recruiters were harassing her unending line of customers after they had arranged a detailed and intentionally distracting sign-and-magazine stand.
Police Demur
“I wanted the police to remove the table,” the owner said.
Sorry, m’am, can’t do a thing, she said the police, led by Sgt. Mike Shank, told her.
“They said they couldn’t do anything today,” according to Ms. Davidson. “They said they had to get an opinion from the City Attorney.”
At the outset, she appeared doomed to receive no relief from either the police or City Atty. Carol Schwab.
At issue was a somewhat complex public right-of-way dispute, which Ms. Davidson has visited before. She asserted that the LaRouchies were in violation of several sections of the Municipal Code.
What the Law Says
Ms. Davidson maintained that political partisans were permitted, without obvious accoutrements, to recruit along a sidewalk. But an elaborate furniture set-up was specifically barred, she said, and represented a blatant code violation.
“It is my understanding,” Ms. Davidson said, “you can stand in the public right-of-way and hold a sign. You may collect signatures on a clipboard. And you can hand out handbills on the public right-of-way.
“But you may not put up a display. You cannot leave signs unattended.”
At City Hall, after aides said Ms. Schwab was unavailable, Ms. Davidson eventually reached Heather Baker, deputy city attorney, in mid-afternoon.
Clear Response from Owner
On a day when Tito’s was shorthanded, the low-key Ms. Davidson who usually is out of sight, stepped out front, adjacent to the political apparatus. She positioned herself near the permanent stream of hungry taco customers.
Periodically, she would elevate her soft voice and proclaim, sternly, “Tito’s Tacos does not support Lyndon LaRouche’s racist rhetoric.”
LaRouche himself probably comes closer than any American politician to being regarded, unanimously, by the Right and Left, as a pariah, if not a parasite.
“Most people know these LaRouchies are nuts,” one of Tito’s loyal regulars chimed in. “But not everybody knows, and that is the danger they present.”
The cops made at least three trips to the wildly popular Washington Place restaurant around the noon hour. They made it frustratingly plain to Ms. Davidson they were not budging from Lt. Shank’s conclusive pronouncement.
This only further angered Ms. Davidson.
The owner said Lt. Shank told her “he thought it was their First Amendment right to be there. He said the city did not want to risk any lawsuits until they had cleared it with the City Attorney’s office, and it was not going to be resolved today.”
‘My Name Is Dave’
Meanwhile, out on the sun-toasted sidewalk, two aging gentlemen, one of whom resembled the 86-year-old LaRouche, commanded the outpost.
Not so discreetly, they basked in the attention that had been their objective. They have been in this position before. The act is almost shopworn.
They were pleased with themselves for causing a ruckus with their outrageous homemade signs and stacks of used — that’s right, used — magazines with National Enquirer-type headlines.
The younger gentleman cheerfully volunteered that his parents had christened him Dave at birth. But, having been in near-pinches before, he deftly decided not to disclose his parents’ last name, perhaps because his family would not have approved of the people he was hanging out with.
