Poor Councilman Richard Alarcon. All this time he was being environmentally aware and this week he gets dinged for it. Tisk tisk on the Los Angeles Times for reporting grand jury testimony indicating that water use at his home was so low that it represented about two toilet flushes a day.

Haven't they ever heard of the saying, “If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown flush it down?” So this guy's political career and possible criminal record hinges on him being green? It's a sad city we live in sometimes.

You see, Alarcon is in deep doodie after the District Attorney's office alleged that he hasn't lived in the home in question — inside his council district. The water use could be evidence.

“Water use doesn't lie,” Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Attorny Jennifer Lentz Snyder is quoted as telling the grand jury. “If they lived there, they didn't flush the toilet, they didn't use the sink, they didn't wash their hands and they didn't take showers.”

We hear prison toilets are pretty low-flow.

We hear prison toilets are pretty low-flow.

Alarcon faces 24 felony charges for allegedly lying about his place of residence — the Panorama City home — on voter registration forms and other government documents.

Neighbors have said they hardly saw him at the house, and Alarcon admitted that he moved temporarily to his wife's home one district over after a squatter was found in the Panorama City digs.

We say Alarcon shouldn't be prosecuted based on his earth-friendly flushing policies. Obviously he cares. If Alarcon, his wife, and a part-time squatter can live on two flushes a day, they should be given a key to the city, one of those plaques Mayor Villaraigosa gives out so he can attend Lakers games, or at least a gold-plated toilet seat … in recognition.

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