George E. Cryer - Allegations of Corruption

Allegations of Corruption

Though Cryer had been elected to office as a reformer who would eliminate public corruption, Cryer's administration became the target of corruption claims. Cryer defended his integrity against such charges and asserted when he left office that "Los Angeles is now the cleanest large city in the country, far superior to any city anywhere comparable in size."

Some historical accounts indicate that Cryer was controlled by the city's political boss, Kent Kane Parrot, and a coterie of bootleggers and criminals, including "vice kingpin" Charles H. Crawford (a model for some of Raymond Chandler's villains). Indeed, the loosely organized crime syndicate operating within the city government became known as "the City Hall Gang" during the 1920s. Some have written that Cryer was a mere figurehead and that Parrot was the "de facto mayor" who ran the Harbor Commission and the Los Angeles Police Department, even transferring personnel without consulting with the city's police chief.

Cryer's opponent in 1925 focused attention on Parrot's role in city government: "I ask, as I shall continue to ask through this campaign: 'Mr. Cryer, how much longer is Kent Parrot going to be the de-facto Mayor of Los Angeles'?"

By 1927, the Los Angeles Times was openly critical of the relationship between Parrot and Cryer, referring to Cryer as Parrot's "personal mayor". Though the Times had been a strong backer of Cryer, the paper in 1927 published an editorial referring to the city government as "Our Local Tammany", a reference to Boss Tweed's Tammany Hall machine that controlled New York politics in the 19th Century. The article ignored Cryer and focused its attack on the "clumsy" corruption of the political machine run by "Boss Parrot":

"Evidently Boss Parrot's subordinates are not well trained. Give him a few more years in control and he will, perhaps, do better. He must learn to think up plausible reasons for the actions of the organization and not let the purely political motive stick out like a sore thumb. Perhaps he thinks the voters of Los Angeles are so lacking in intelligence that this is unnecessary; if so, he is mistaken. It does not pay to be so raw anywhere."

A campaign to recall Cryer in 1927 was led by the City Planning Commissioner, Estelle Holman, and rumors spread that Cryer was "tired" and "weary" of the job, and that an "Unknown Committee of Twenty-Five" had formed to tell "the Parrot-Cryer lame-duck city 'administration' to ease the Mayor out of the side door of the City Hall."

By 1929, relations between the two principals of "the so-called Parrot-Cryer political machine" had been severed. Parrot leaked a report to the Los Angeles Record that Cryer would not seek re-election, and those close to Cryer openly charged Parrot with betraying the mayor. Cryer himself announced in late February 1929 that he would not run for re-election as mayor.