LOS ANGELES — For months, the sexual harassment allegations against a former top aide to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti have seeped into public view by fits and starts.
It began nearly 21 months ago, when a lawsuit filed by a member of Garcetti’s LAPD security detail alleged that mayoral adviser Rick Jacobs meted out unwanted hugs, massages and crude sex banter. More allegations against Jacobs trickled out via news accounts, then in leaked deposition testimony in Officer Matthew Garza’s lawsuit against the city.
Now the Jacobs furor has landed at the U.S. Senate, which must decide whether Garcetti told the truth when he testified twice, under oath, that he knew nothing about complaints about his longtime aide’s behavior, until the lawsuit thrust it into public view. The mayor needs a majority of senators to confirm his nomination to become U.S. ambassador to India.
