| Editorial Elba Guerrero States in her Candidate Statement That She "Will Be A Voice of The People" January 18, 2005 Editor, WatchOurCity.com Huntington Park, CA - WatchOurCity.com will be checking the veracity of each candidate’s statement as they were submitted to the City Clerk's office. The candidates must be aware that their candidate statements become a matter of public record: typographical errors, resume padding, patently false statements, bad grammar, impossible-to-keep campaign promises, brown-nosing of senior citizens and police department, and claims to solve the city's ills in one fell swoop, and just plain bad English, are all a reflection of the candidates, and it's all here for everyone to see. It seems that council candidates will say just about anything to sound attractive to what they consider to be dull, gullible and unintelligent voters who never check the facts. Take the case of council candidate Elba Guerrero, whom Mayor Noguez "enthusiastically" endorses. Her candidate statement notes that she “will be a voice of the people”. Well, let's put her statement to task. She has had plenty of opportunities to be that voice. Consider the following - Elba was appointed by the team of Noguez / Escareño to the Arts and Culture Commission. It's nice resume padding too. She is involved with a cancer awareness group. No one doubts that she's a great mom. Where was her voice when the city raised fees for Little League from $30 to $60 per kid? A 100% increase by the city. Elba Guerrero and every appointed commissioner in the city gets over $100 per meeting. Councilman Escareño’s outrageous overspending on travel and cell phones would have paid for every kid’s little league fees probably three times over. But there was never a voice advocating for them and for the public interest. The $30 raise in little league fees must go to subsidize those poor Arts and Culture Commission volunteers who get over $100 per month. By the way, Huntington Park stands out in the handsome amounts it pays it's "Volunteer" commissions. Few other cities pay their commissioners a stipend. Most cities consider them to be truly no-pay volunteer appointments. With the combined fees that Vicente Ortiz and Victor Caballero make from the “Volunteer” Arts and Culture Commission, approximately $3,200 per year ($150 per month for 12 months for each), four entire little league baseball teams can enroll for free. Instead, each kid now pays $60 dollars to play. That is a shame. Elba Guerrero's voice was perhaps silent because her fellow Arts and Culture Commissioners, Meta 2000 founder Vicente Ortiz (owner of Tacos Chente, an excellent taco eatery, by the way) and Victor Caballero of Fiesta Taxi, who are not even city residents, got $30,000 in a cash gift, no audit strings attached, for Meta 2000, courtesy of their friends in city council: Noguez, Escareño, Gomez and Hernandez. Never mind that Victor Caballero is also a city contractor, having received a nearly $4 million questionable transportation contract, along with George Cole of Oldtimers Foundation, thanks again to their good friends in city council: Noguez / Escareño and team. Where was Elba Guerrero's voice for the people when fees for adult baseball league was raised from $6,000 to $30,000, a whopping 500% increase? Her voice for the people was nowhere. Elba Guerrero also states that she will increase incentives for students with scholarship programs. Where was her voice, and her money, when the local State Senator was struggling to raise scholarship money for local high school graduates? Only 10 kids received a paltry scholarship of $1,000 each. Elba Guerrero did not give a dime, records show (Leonardo's Restaurant and Night Club did donate the hall and food). Reportedly, council member Ofelia Hernandez showed up at the scholarship awards banquet as a messenger for Mayor John Noguez, bearing a small gift sack of sugared goodies for each scholarship recipient, who both must've figured that a bag of candies goes a long way in funding a kid’s hopes for college. So much for Ofelia's "Education" agenda. And yet, Mayor John Noguez “Enthusiastically requests your vote” for Elba Guerrero. In fact, where was Mayor John Noguez’s voice when the city’s kid’s, family needs and scholarship contributions are wanting? Awarding lucrative contracts to friends, receiving tens of thousands of dollars in questionable campaign donations, and attending gay/lesbian parades seem to be at the forefront of John Noguez's priorities and agenda, and finding another man to settle down with, as he states in an recent published interview. He did contribute some $300 to the Mariachi program at Middleton Elementary School, records show, but that money doesn't count, since it came from campaign donations, or other people's money. There is saying in Spanish: "Saludando con sombrero ajeno". Do they really think voters are that gullible? They must. Voters in 2001 believed that Ed Escareño was really a businessman; He even hoodwinked State Senator Martha Escutia into endorsing him then. She must realize her investment went south by now, paid for with public funds, to Rosarito Beach in Baja. And in 2003, voters believed that John Noguez was about "Honesty and Integrity", and that Ofelia Hernandez was about "Community Service", and the "Integrity" of Mario Gomez. None stated that they were truly about: spending public funds on fiestas, friends, flowers and foolishness. They also believe that a male candidate will increase his chances of being elected if he partners with a female candidate. They believe that voters will vote knee-jerk style when a female candidate is on the ballot, believing that voters champion a woman and will not dare question her qualifications (nor any candidate's qualifications, for that matter), as was the case in 2003 with council member Ofelia Hernandez, someone with seemingly no qualifications. It is not at all a coincidence that Male/Female candidates have teamed up for this election. There is the hope that blind, Knee-Jerk voting for a female candidate will somehow translate into more votes for the male candidate. It is comical: - Elba Guerrero/Ric Loya - Elba Romo/Andres "Andy" Molina. - Rebecca Avila/Efren Martinez Evidently, no female candidate would team up with Ed Escareno. I wonder why. Escareno and Ruben Lopez are running solo campaigns. Again, all this jockeying by the candidates and their managers, with the supposition that voters are dull, gullible and unintelligent, only means that the male candidates consider themselves too weak, or offer very little in terms of leadership to offset the need for voter manipulation of the Female Vote. Elba Guerrero also states that she is an active caring community member: - Where was her voice when council member Ed Escareño was spending outrageous amounts of public funds on travel and cell phones un-checked by anyone? - Where was her voice when her Padrino, Mayor John Noguez, was busy giving $30,000 cash gratis to her fellow commissioners of Meta 2000? Money spent and gone - unaudited. - Where was her voice and active caring when Noguez proposed to put in a card club in Leonardo's Night Club, a Noguez campaign contributor, on Alameda Street, never minding the crime that typically follows and the degradation to family and community values? Noguez already has one messenger in Ofelia Hernandez; he must need another one which will make three votes that Mayor Noguez can control. More power to him, M.A.N. In fact, did any other candidate voice their concerns about highly questionable actions by city council members? Not even when self-serving campaign limits were passed by Noguez? None. All silent. Who are you gonna vote for? Copyright © 2005, WatchOurCity.com All rights reserved |
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Candidate Watch 2005