Copyright © 2008 WatchOurCity.com
Monday April 7, 2008
WatchOurCity
In The Public Interest .com
Monday, April 7, 2008 Watchourcity.com
Public Contracts Watch - Huntington Park:
Graffiti Removal Contract is Awarded to Highest,
Most Expensive Bidder, $110,000 More Than Low
Bidder.
Noguez, Guerrero and Hernandez willfully, and possibly criminally,
ignored city staff recommendation to award to low bidder, instead
conspired to award highest bidder, paying an exorbitant premium.
This just when the U.S. Attorney General in L.A. has dismantled the
Public Corruption Unit.
Huntington Park, CA - On March 3, 2008, city council majority votes to award
a graffiti removal contract for next fiscal year totaling $335,836. The winning
contractor, Graffiti Protective Coatings, was one of three bidders. We'll call him
bidder number 3.
The second lowest bidder submitted a lump sum proposal of $300,000. Urban Graffiti Enterprises is the
city's current graffiti removal contractor. We'll call this guy bidder number 2.
Bidder number 1, the low bidder, Superior Property Services, was actually the firm that professional city staff
recommended for award of contract. Superior's bid was for $225,000. Noguez, Guerrero and Hernandez
conspired and willfully ignored city staff recommendation to award to the lowest bidder.
The difference between bidder 3 and bidder 1 is exactly $110,836. That's a 50% premium above the low
bidder's proposal, which represents an exorbitant premium to pay for such a relatively small city contract.
That's $110,836 more that city council decided to pay for graffiti removal services on top of the low bidder.
This bit of information was buried in a story published by the Wave Newspaper on March 20, noted in the last
paragraph of a report innocuously non sequitur titled "H.P. Opens Talks With Developer on Mixed-Use
Project Downtown" (Wave Newspaper, March 20, 2008, by Arnold Adler).
The Wave Newspaper also quite stealthily noted that the council members who voted in favor of bidder
number 3 were John Noguez and Ofelia Hernandez. Mayor Elba Guerrero was the third vote in favor of bidder
number 3.
Here's what Mayor Guerrero had to say, justifying her vote: "you get better quality service" and "you get what
you pay for".
Council member Elba Romo cast the lone dissenting vote, and noted that bidder 3 is $100,000 more
expensive than bidder 1. Elba Romo is a graduate from Stanford University and teaches high school science.
The wave newspaper's reporter, Arnold Adler, did an admirable job of reporting the facts. This is traditional
journalism at its best. Just the facts, black and white, right?
In fact, council member John Noguez was quoted in the L.A. Times on August 21, 2004 in a report focusing
on WatchOurCity.com as follows: "I lost respect for them [Watchourcity.com] when they started doing that," the
first- term mayor said. "A prudent website that is non-opinionated, just gives the facts, is what's necessary
virtually in every city. Black and white was all they needed to print, and they chose to start doing a lot more
than that. It's completely one-sided. They only take the bad."
And WatchOurCity.com is proud that we only "take the bad". Thank you, John, for that unwitting admission of
guilt. Is there an FBI agent in the room?
Then-councilman Ric Loya was quoted as responding in a following paragraph in the same Times report: "I
don't like the editorializing in it [WatchOurCity.com]. But can you fault one for editorializing when they find out
what they've been finding out?"
And WatchOurCity.com has been finding out quite a bit four years running now.
So John Noguez expects WatchOurCity.com to be just like Arnold Adler, that is, journalism blanco y negro,
reporting the facts, and not taking just "the bad". The fox tells the watchdog what not to tell the chickens, not
to editorialize about his long snout, big teeth and very hungry stomach, nor to connect the dots about what all
of those images put together really mean. Just focus on the fox's pretty tail, fuzzy coat and nice howl at night.
Noguez expects the highest journalistic standards but, all the while, he can be dirtier than a pig rolling in
mud, corrupt as his mentor Rosario Marin, the former U.S. Treasurer and Huntington Park resident.
When you find out what we've been finding out, can you fault WatchOurCity.com for editorializing?
Hunter S. Thompson, the father of Gonzo journalism, was Rolling Stone Magazine's national political reporter
from the 70's and well into the 80's and 90's before his death in 2005. Hunter despised journalism with
blinders on. His favorite saying as an investigative reporter was that if you are ready to call an elected official
a pig fucker, you better be ready to produce the fucked pig. And he always produced the fucked pigs in his
political exposes of potent politicians such as then-President Richard Nixon.
With all respect to readers, in that vain, John Noguez is a pig fucker, with the pig being public funds. And the
fucked pig as evidence is the public record. I know this is vulgar use of language. But Noguez and his two
loyal council women, Ofelia Hernandez and Elba Guerrero are victimizing the residents with their highly
disturbing and egregiously vulgar use of their official position. They just pissed away $110,000 of public
funds. Just like that. That simple. Black and white. No editorializing, and completely one-sided.
Such blatant corruption and grossly incompetent mis-use of public funds is O.K. by Noguez, though. What
kind of "good" does any newspaper reporter expect to take from this?
City Attorney Francisco Leal perhaps counseled that such pig fucking was legally permitted, since his own
ultra-lucrative, bring-home-the-bacon attorney contract in Huntington Park and Maywood is dependent on,
and directly resulted from, the same pig fucking, never mind California's public contract laws. They really
don't apply in the magical realism of frothing corrupt politics that is Huntington Park, Maywood, Bell, and
Cudahy.
So what exactly does $110,000 in paint gets us?
Mayor Elba Guerrero is so cock-sure of her decision that for $110,000 extra in public funds, she is buying
what she is paying for. But exactly what is she paying for that we are buying? Guerrero can't seem to explain
or quantify what it is that bidder 1 cannot supply, or that bidder 2 is not currently supplying.
What extra graffiti removal services is the city paying for which Guerrero, Ofelia Hernandez and pig-fucker
John Noguez so capriciously and willfully ignored and overruled recommendations to the contrary by
professional city staff? Council woman Ofelia Hernandez has no high school degree, is not gainfully
employed outside of city council, and barely understands spoken and written English. And John Noguez paid
for her campaign. Noguez also bankrolled Elba Guerrero's run for public office.
Curiously, vice-mayor Mario Gomez was absent from council chambers when this vote was taken. Was it
perhaps due to a potential conflict of interest question he preferred to avoid? John Noguez also bankrolled
Gomez's campaign.
Gomez's family runs a paint business that takes re-used and re-cycled paint and re-packages to sell retail
and wholesale. Will bidder number 3 provide better quality paints procured from vice-mayor Mario Gomez's
paint business?Just wondering. Perhaps some of that $110,000 is slated to cover jacked-up and inflated
paint prices offered to the graffiti contractors by Gomez's business. Such business acumen!
The quality of paint one reasonably expects from covering paint-sprayed graffiti in the back of some alley is
not as high quality compared to that required on a typical stucco-covered house. Besides, graffiti cover-up
paint will be covered again, and again, and again. So high quality paint does not seem to be the driving
technical issue justifying an extra $110,000.
In fact, the cheaper the paint, the better, and it comes in three shades of gray. The better for vice-mayor
Gomez to meet low-grade technical specifications which improves his chances as paint supplier to the
highest bidder. So Guerrero's official statement that she's buying "quality" is specious at best, purposely
evasive and criminally deceitful at worst, the only skills she's proficient in, it seems.
One reasonable conclusion is that the city has just bought the cheapest paint at an obscenely premium cost
of $110,000.
On the subject of recycling, for sure some of that $110,000 extra that city is paying out will be recycled back
into the campaign coffers of Mayor Elba Guerrero and John Noguez. Except it will be laundered nice and
clean so the feds can't trace it's dirty provenance.
Guerrero is up for reelection in March of 2009 and will need a sugar daddy to finance her campaign, like
Noguez did back in 2005. Already, Noguez has asked for shakedown money, $50,000 worth, from, of all
parties doing business with the city, a K-12 charter school operator, Pacific Charter, the real estate
development arm for Aspire Charter.
Noguez and team never cease to amaze. You'd think they would learn and refine.
With all due respect to Hunter S. Thompson and the real pigs waiting for slaughter at the Farmer John factory
down the street, there are many more fucked pigs that WatchOurCity.com has been showing for four years
now, all laid bare by the public record.
Arnold Adler from the Wave Newspaper has met John Noguez's high standards for journalistic integrity.
WatchOurCity.com hopes to, once more, disappoint Noguez.
Oink, Oink, Noguez, or whatever your real name is.
Public Contracts Watch - Huntington Park:
Graffiti Removal Contract is Awarded to Highest,
Most Expensive Bidder, $110,000 More Than Low
Bidder.
Noguez, Guerrero and Hernandez willfully, and possibly criminally,
ignored city staff recommendation to award to low bidder, instead
conspired to award highest bidder, paying an exorbitant premium.
This just when the U.S. Attorney General in L.A. has dismantled the
Public Corruption Unit.
Huntington Park, CA - On March 3, 2008, city council majority votes to award
a graffiti removal contract for next fiscal year totaling $335,836. The winning
contractor, Graffiti Protective Coatings, was one of three bidders. We'll call him
bidder number 3.
The second lowest bidder submitted a lump sum proposal of $300,000. Urban Graffiti Enterprises is the
city's current graffiti removal contractor. We'll call this guy bidder number 2.
Bidder number 1, the low bidder, Superior Property Services, was actually the firm that professional city staff
recommended for award of contract. Superior's bid was for $225,000. Noguez, Guerrero and Hernandez
conspired and willfully ignored city staff recommendation to award to the lowest bidder.
The difference between bidder 3 and bidder 1 is exactly $110,836. That's a 50% premium above the low
bidder's proposal, which represents an exorbitant premium to pay for such a relatively small city contract.
That's $110,836 more that city council decided to pay for graffiti removal services on top of the low bidder.
This bit of information was buried in a story published by the Wave Newspaper on March 20, noted in the last
paragraph of a report innocuously non sequitur titled "H.P. Opens Talks With Developer on Mixed-Use
Project Downtown" (Wave Newspaper, March 20, 2008, by Arnold Adler).
The Wave Newspaper also quite stealthily noted that the council members who voted in favor of bidder
number 3 were John Noguez and Ofelia Hernandez. Mayor Elba Guerrero was the third vote in favor of bidder
number 3.
Here's what Mayor Guerrero had to say, justifying her vote: "you get better quality service" and "you get what
you pay for".
Council member Elba Romo cast the lone dissenting vote, and noted that bidder 3 is $100,000 more
expensive than bidder 1. Elba Romo is a graduate from Stanford University and teaches high school science.
The wave newspaper's reporter, Arnold Adler, did an admirable job of reporting the facts. This is traditional
journalism at its best. Just the facts, black and white, right?
In fact, council member John Noguez was quoted in the L.A. Times on August 21, 2004 in a report focusing
on WatchOurCity.com as follows: "I lost respect for them [Watchourcity.com] when they started doing that," the
first- term mayor said. "A prudent website that is non-opinionated, just gives the facts, is what's necessary
virtually in every city. Black and white was all they needed to print, and they chose to start doing a lot more
than that. It's completely one-sided. They only take the bad."
And WatchOurCity.com is proud that we only "take the bad". Thank you, John, for that unwitting admission of
guilt. Is there an FBI agent in the room?
Then-councilman Ric Loya was quoted as responding in a following paragraph in the same Times report: "I
don't like the editorializing in it [WatchOurCity.com]. But can you fault one for editorializing when they find out
what they've been finding out?"
And WatchOurCity.com has been finding out quite a bit four years running now.
So John Noguez expects WatchOurCity.com to be just like Arnold Adler, that is, journalism blanco y negro,
reporting the facts, and not taking just "the bad". The fox tells the watchdog what not to tell the chickens, not
to editorialize about his long snout, big teeth and very hungry stomach, nor to connect the dots about what all
of those images put together really mean. Just focus on the fox's pretty tail, fuzzy coat and nice howl at night.
Noguez expects the highest journalistic standards but, all the while, he can be dirtier than a pig rolling in
mud, corrupt as his mentor Rosario Marin, the former U.S. Treasurer and Huntington Park resident.
When you find out what we've been finding out, can you fault WatchOurCity.com for editorializing?
Hunter S. Thompson, the father of Gonzo journalism, was Rolling Stone Magazine's national political reporter
from the 70's and well into the 80's and 90's before his death in 2005. Hunter despised journalism with
blinders on. His favorite saying as an investigative reporter was that if you are ready to call an elected official
a pig fucker, you better be ready to produce the fucked pig. And he always produced the fucked pigs in his
political exposes of potent politicians such as then-President Richard Nixon.
With all respect to readers, in that vain, John Noguez is a pig fucker, with the pig being public funds. And the
fucked pig as evidence is the public record. I know this is vulgar use of language. But Noguez and his two
loyal council women, Ofelia Hernandez and Elba Guerrero are victimizing the residents with their highly
disturbing and egregiously vulgar use of their official position. They just pissed away $110,000 of public
funds. Just like that. That simple. Black and white. No editorializing, and completely one-sided.
Such blatant corruption and grossly incompetent mis-use of public funds is O.K. by Noguez, though. What
kind of "good" does any newspaper reporter expect to take from this?
City Attorney Francisco Leal perhaps counseled that such pig fucking was legally permitted, since his own
ultra-lucrative, bring-home-the-bacon attorney contract in Huntington Park and Maywood is dependent on,
and directly resulted from, the same pig fucking, never mind California's public contract laws. They really
don't apply in the magical realism of frothing corrupt politics that is Huntington Park, Maywood, Bell, and
Cudahy.
So what exactly does $110,000 in paint gets us?
Mayor Elba Guerrero is so cock-sure of her decision that for $110,000 extra in public funds, she is buying
what she is paying for. But exactly what is she paying for that we are buying? Guerrero can't seem to explain
or quantify what it is that bidder 1 cannot supply, or that bidder 2 is not currently supplying.
What extra graffiti removal services is the city paying for which Guerrero, Ofelia Hernandez and pig-fucker
John Noguez so capriciously and willfully ignored and overruled recommendations to the contrary by
professional city staff? Council woman Ofelia Hernandez has no high school degree, is not gainfully
employed outside of city council, and barely understands spoken and written English. And John Noguez paid
for her campaign. Noguez also bankrolled Elba Guerrero's run for public office.
Curiously, vice-mayor Mario Gomez was absent from council chambers when this vote was taken. Was it
perhaps due to a potential conflict of interest question he preferred to avoid? John Noguez also bankrolled
Gomez's campaign.
Gomez's family runs a paint business that takes re-used and re-cycled paint and re-packages to sell retail
and wholesale. Will bidder number 3 provide better quality paints procured from vice-mayor Mario Gomez's
paint business?Just wondering. Perhaps some of that $110,000 is slated to cover jacked-up and inflated
paint prices offered to the graffiti contractors by Gomez's business. Such business acumen!
The quality of paint one reasonably expects from covering paint-sprayed graffiti in the back of some alley is
not as high quality compared to that required on a typical stucco-covered house. Besides, graffiti cover-up
paint will be covered again, and again, and again. So high quality paint does not seem to be the driving
technical issue justifying an extra $110,000.
In fact, the cheaper the paint, the better, and it comes in three shades of gray. The better for vice-mayor
Gomez to meet low-grade technical specifications which improves his chances as paint supplier to the
highest bidder. So Guerrero's official statement that she's buying "quality" is specious at best, purposely
evasive and criminally deceitful at worst, the only skills she's proficient in, it seems.
One reasonable conclusion is that the city has just bought the cheapest paint at an obscenely premium cost
of $110,000.
On the subject of recycling, for sure some of that $110,000 extra that city is paying out will be recycled back
into the campaign coffers of Mayor Elba Guerrero and John Noguez. Except it will be laundered nice and
clean so the feds can't trace it's dirty provenance.
Guerrero is up for reelection in March of 2009 and will need a sugar daddy to finance her campaign, like
Noguez did back in 2005. Already, Noguez has asked for shakedown money, $50,000 worth, from, of all
parties doing business with the city, a K-12 charter school operator, Pacific Charter, the real estate
development arm for Aspire Charter.
Noguez and team never cease to amaze. You'd think they would learn and refine.
With all due respect to Hunter S. Thompson and the real pigs waiting for slaughter at the Farmer John factory
down the street, there are many more fucked pigs that WatchOurCity.com has been showing for four years
now, all laid bare by the public record.
Arnold Adler from the Wave Newspaper has met John Noguez's high standards for journalistic integrity.
WatchOurCity.com hopes to, once more, disappoint Noguez.
Oink, Oink, Noguez, or whatever your real name is.
Mayor Elba
Guerrero
Guerrero
Councilwoman
Hernandez
Hernandez
Councilman
John Noguez
bank-rolled
the city
council races
for mayor
Guerrero and
councilwoman
Hernandez.
John Noguez
bank-rolled
the city
council races
for mayor
Guerrero and
councilwoman
Hernandez.
Vice-mayor Mario Gomez and
Mayor Elba Guerrero in
council chambers.
Photo credit:
Wave Newspaper
Mayor Elba Guerrero in
council chambers.
Photo credit:
Wave Newspaper
Famous pig murals covering walls at the
Farmer John slaughter house and meat
rendering plant on Soto Street in the City
of Vernon, just a few blocks north,
straight from Huntington Park city hall.
Farmer John slaughter house and meat
rendering plant on Soto Street in the City
of Vernon, just a few blocks north,
straight from Huntington Park city hall.
