Just as I was preparing to leave for Haiti, Bernard Parks Jr. called me and, with the giggly glee of a little girl, informed me that his father, Councilman Bernard Parks, had survived unscathed the district attorney’s six-month “review” into his questionable residential status and deemed that the councilman had broken no laws and was, therefore, as innocent as a newborn babe in that regard. Junior wanted to know, therefore, if I was ready to tell the truth about his father, for a change.

Yeah. And here is the truth, as I see it: In the matter of Councilman Parks, District Attorney Steve Cooley is simply pursuing his selective prosecutorial ways which have been the hallmark of his 10 years in office. Obviously, Cooley’s refusal to prosecute Parks for not living in his district and/or allegedly defrauding the county of at least two homeowners’ tax exemptions serves his political purpose, whereas Cooley’s indictment of Councilman Richard Alarcon for the same complaint does not. Cooley has also chosen to ignore years of citizens’ complaints that Inglewood Councilwoman Judy Dunlap actually lives in San Francisco while at the same time sending former Compton school board member Basil Kimbrew to prison for not living in Compton. Cooley made a big splash sending former Compton Mayor Omar Bradley to prison for some kind of malfeasance with a city-issued credit card, yet he has declined to investigate four years of documented and vociferous complaints from Compton residents who claim that their present mayor, whom they are seeking to recall — Cooley’s own employee, Deputy District Attorney Eric Perrodin — is as corrupt as the day is long.

Parks Jr. states in a press release he issued around town that his father had paid back to the county the tax exemption money he had taken and has, thus, cleared the matter in Cooley’s eyes. Well, Cooley indicted former Inglewood Mayor Roosevelt Dorn for borrowing home improvement funds from a city-established employees’ account. The fact that Dorn had repaid the loan — with interest — did not stop Cooley from trying every dirty trick in his book to send Dorn to prison.

So you see, whatever Cooley does or does not do seems to have no bearing on what is right or wrong, legal or illegal. It all depends on what political image he seeks to fashion for himself by each particular act. So, Cooley’s refusal to prosecute Parks is just another bogus, biased and inconsistent decision for which he has become well known. Absent a decent district attorney, the court of public opinion is now the author and finisher of truth.

ADDENDUM — A fundraiser will be held for San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, the Democratic and African-American candidate who is opposing Republican Cooley for the California attorney general post. The fundraiser is scheduled for Oct. 2 in View Park and is being sponsored by a coalition of L.A. County Democratic organizations, local lawyers, educators, elected officials, community organizations, businesses and some really peeved journalists. I’ll tell you more about it later, but in the meantime go to http://kamalaharris.org/donate/event/697 for further information.

WHO SMEARED WHOM? — It has come to my attention that my “sleazy” friend, Damien Goodmon’s “legal difficulties” had ended before Councilman Parks and the Son of Sam smeared him on the Internet and in the 8th Council District newsletter. A letter, dated Aug. 11, was sent to Damien by Renata Valree, hearing officer at the Maria Elena Reyes Criminal Branch on the letterhead of the Office of the City Attorney. The letter begins: “This letter is to inform you that the above numbered case was heard by this office on July 19, 2010. The case was received at this hearing and no criminal charges were filed against you. ... If no further incidents were reported, the case will be closed three years from the date of the incident May 9, 2010. If you have any questions you may contact me.”

If Parks et al. knew that Damien’s “legal difficulties” had been resolved before they publicly branded him as some kind of domestic violence-perpetrating sleaze, then they are mean, they smeared him and they ought to go to jail. If Parks et al. did not follow up on their tip about Damien’s “legal difficulties” to learn of the actual disposition of the matter, then they are stupid, they smeared him and they owe him an equally public apology.

FOLLOW-UP — Assembly Speaker Emeritus and future congresswoman Karen Bass called to inform me that even though the Compassion Care Center’s untenable situation I spoke of in the last Soulvine had gone awry in her office, she is now deeply involved in resolving that center’s problem. Good. I also learned that the center’s Assembly representative, Mike Davis, is also working to get the center inspected and opened. Good.

Despite that fact that very reliable sources informed me that First AME had offered a settlement to that woman who is suing the church and its senior pastor, the Rev. John Hunter, over sexual issues, some equally reliable sources report that the church has made no such offer. I trust both sets of sources, so I don’t know what to do. You decide.

FOR MITRICE — The Crenshaw Car Wash, 4220 Crenshaw Blvd., will be holding a fundraising car wash, Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. to raise money for the Mitrice Richardson Fund to aid in the inquiry regarding the 25-year-old’s mysterious disappearance and death after being released alone and on foot in the remote wilds of Malibu in the middle of the night by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

AND FINALLY --- My virtual lifelong friend, LeRoy Beavers Jr., will be buried Thursday at 11:30 a.m. in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Church of the Recessional. We all knew LeRoy was very sick, but he still looked good. I extend my deepest sympathy to my friends, his children: Deborah, “Little LeRoy” and Kimberly and to the rest of the family. May he rest in peace.