Beachcombing

I first met Jim McDonnell at Jerry’s Donuts at PCH and Clark Avenue about 20 years ago. Given the ongoing humor about cops and donuts, it seemed like an appropriate place to interview the LAPD first assistant chief for a Beachcomber story, especially since I learned that Jim and his wife, Kathy, live in our neighborhood.

He was down-to-earth, charismatic and intelligent. The interview went well. Afterward, he handed me a challenge coin, which typically are collected by service members and law enforcement personnel. Historically, challenge coins were presented by unit commanders in recognition of special achievement by a member of the unit. They can also serve as a means of identification if the bearer isn’t in uniform.

Jim’s was engraved with his name, title and a green clover on one side, which seemed appropriate given his Irish American background. The flip side shows a replica LAPD badge over an American flag, plus the words “Los Angeles Police Department” and “To protect and to serve.”

In subsequent years I followed Jim’s appointment as LBPD chief in 2010 and election to LA County Sheriff in 2014. It came as no surprise when Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass recently announced that she had chosen McDonnell to lead the city’s police department.

When my wife passed more than two years ago, Jim came to her celebration of life. Given that she had a clerical position in the homicide bureau with the LBPD before retiring in 2013, his presence spoke volumes about his character and leadership.

We wish him great success in his new position and know that he will serve the citizens of Los Angeles very well.

Words of Wisdom:

• In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress. – John Adams
• If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed. – Mark Twain
• Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself. – Mark Twain
• I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. –Winston Churchill
• A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. – George Bernard Shaw
• A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money. – G. Gordon Liddy
• Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. –James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)
• Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. – Douglas Case, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University.
• Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. – P.J. O’Rourke, Civil Libertarian
• Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. – Frederic Bastiat, French economist (1801-1850)
• Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. –Ronald Reagan (1986)
• I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. – Will Rogers

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