Ha ha ha...ewww. Man, some people will do anything to close a deal. Ex-Los Angeles city commissioner Leland Wong is on trial for 21 different felony charges and Troy Edwards, an aide to the former mayor, James Hahn, testified yesterday that Wong gave him Lakers tickets and offered to pick up the tab at a local massage parlor as part of a scheme to get the mayor's office to approve a deal for a Taiwanese company. Please file this under "yep, some politicians sure are are sleazy."

Wong was apparently on the payroll of the company, Evergreen, while he was wooing city officials. This trial sounds like a lot of fun:

Sitting on the edge of his seat and blinking frequently during his three-hour testimony, Edwards testified that during his time as deputy mayor, Wong gave him the basketball tickets and treated him to massages at a downtown hotel spa where masseuses sometimes provided sexual favors.


Edwards said Wong aggressively sought his help to secure a favorable deal for Evergreen on its lease at the Port of Los Angeles.


"I knew that Mr. Wong wanted Evergreen to be happy," said Edwards, who testified under promise of immunity from the prosecution that his statements will not be used against him.


Prosecutors in court showed Edwards and the jury tense e-mails exchanged by the two men over several months.


"Where the hell are you? What's the status on Evergreen?" Wong wrote in one July 2003 e-mail. "Troy, you know, your reputation sucks," Wong wrote in an e-mail later that year, adding that he had "lost face" with Evergreen.


"I am pissed and tired of being treated like crap while I fight the fight," Edwards wrote in one reply. "I do not work for you," he wrote in another.

I ask you: what's the point in laying out cash for a guy's massage if you're just going to fire off a bunch of emails to make him all tense again? Doesn't anyone bribe with campaign contributions anymore? Much harder to prove the influence there.