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. Shuler libel trial In the late 1920s, a popular radio evangelist, the Rev. Robert P. "Fighting Bob" Shuler, repeatedly branded Cryer as a "grafter" and the "chief exploiter," called his administration "one of the must corrupt the city ever saw," linked him to vice king Charlie Crawford, and asserted that Cryer went into office as a poor man and came out as a millionaire. Shuler's charges, made both on his radio station, KGEF, and in his magazine, led to a widely publicized libel lawsuit by Cryer against Shuler. The details of the Shuler libel suit were front-page news at the Los Angeles Times for much of 1929. At the trial in November 1929, Shuler's lawyer cross-examined Cryer about allegations that he "pitched dice at in Farmer Page's place," and about his accumulation of wealth during his eight years as mayor. Cryer testified that he had a personal fortune of $160,000 when he took office in 1921 and left office in 1929 with a personal wealth of $450,000 which Cryer credited to "realty deals absolutely uninfluenced by his political position." Asked if he had ever taken a bribe, Cryer replied: "No, sir; never at any