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Notes from the editor - Archive
| Posted Wednesday 8-31-05 7:00 a.m. Council Member Juan "John" Noguez Gives Pinocchio a Run for his Money Contributions Limits for All, None for Juan A note from the Editor: Dear readers, Thank goodness for public records. Without public records we would never know the downright corrupt action some city official are capable of. Council member John Noguez has said many pretty things to a lot of people, things that sound convincing because he says them with such good polish, style, diction and enunciation that anything he says sounds believable. And reporters from the Spanish daily La Opinion to the local Wave Community Newspaper eat it up. Juan "John" Noguez managed to convince his willing council colleagues and the public back in September 2004 that campaign limits was needed to stop the undue influence campaign contributors have on elected officials. Noguez told the Wave Newspaper "the aim is to prevent a company or group from trying to influence a candidate or an election with large donation." Then, after the 2005 elections (and before his 2007 reelection) he manages to convince them that campaign limits law really is not needed after all. The ordinance is repealed in its entirety in August 2005 with fellow council members going along with it all: - Elba Romo's lessons from her ethics classes at Stanford went to waste here. Or maybe she took no ethics courses at all. And such good ethics courses Stanford does offer. What a waste. In all fairness, she did put up $10,000 of her own money for the March 2005 election. She finished 2nd to win a council seat. But she was endorsed by George Cole of Oltimers Foundation and Fiesta Taxi's Victor Caballero. Her campaign manager was council member Mario Gomez with help from his in-law, a registered sex offender. Her top endorser and mentor? Ex-council member and former U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin. - Ofelia Hernandez's ethics are translated into English on either of her ears, depending on which side of John Noguez she stands by. Good example she sets for her children. Ofelia's daughter was dating Victor Caballero while he was angling for, and got, along with George Cole's Oldtimers Foundation, a $4 million transportation contract when both firms were rated the least competent out of four bidders; Victor, who is a self proclaimed divorced man, with children, dumps Ofelia's daughter, a college student, after Fiesta Taxi is awarded the city contract. Ofelia voted in favor of the contract. Mayor Ofelia Hernandez does not have a drivers license. Reportedly, she gets free taxi rides on occasion. - Elba Guerrero, same thing sans the English translation. Good example she sets for her children. Too good, in fact, since her daughter dates the Fiesta Taxi PR guy who took over when Victor Caballero was "let-go". Her boyfriend was a staffer for former Assembly member Marco Firebaugh, who himself started out as a staffer in Francisco Leal's law practice. -John Noguez and ethics. Someone please translate "OXYMORON" into Spanish for Mayor Ofelia Hernandez, with more emphasis on the "Oxy" and less on the "Moron" lest she take umbrage. -Mario Gomez, a lost cause as far as ethics is concerned, despite being a "Eucharistic Minister" at church and a family man. Good example he sets for his children. Public duty, public trust and pubic interest are lost on all council members here. Watch What They DO, Not What They SAY It is now evident, and little did any anyone realize, that Noguez's campaign limits law was just a crude cover, and a dirty and corrupt political trick benefiting himself and his chosen candidate for the upcoming 2005 council elections. WatchOurCity.com has been keeping an eye on the highly questionable timing of making and repealing of this curiously short-lived law. The virtue of Public records is that they allow us to watch what they DO, not what they SAY. WatchOurCity.com has found the smoking gun and it is registered to Juan "John" Noguez. Thanks to public records, we now know for a fact that Noguez is a liar and a hypocrite with regard to his campaign limits ordinance. How much else has he lied about?Covered up? Hidden? Public record gives evidence that Noguez cynically violated the spirit and intent, if not the technical requirement, of his own ordinance. Public record contradicts virtually every public announcement John Noguez has ever made regarding the supposed reasons for imposing a campaign limits law. March 2005 Elections It all revolves around the 2005 election. Noguez spearheads a 5-month effort starting in September 2004 to impose this new city law that took effect in January, right before the March 2005 elections. Then quite conveniently right after the elections, spearheads an effort to repeal the law. The intentions are now crystal clear, and cynical. State law mandates the mechanisms and procedures for adopting ordinances and resolutions by local governments. Public record gives evidence that John Noguez and his willing council colleagues, acting as a public policy body, willfully and intentionally abused and manipulated the city ordinance creating process using public funds for private political gain, and to hinder political opponents' ability to raise campaign money. This is quite a serious and egregious act considering that California law does not mandate abuse of such powers. City Attorney Francisco Leal gladly obliged them, since this same city council is allowing Francisco Leal's law firm to bill double, even triple his contractually stipulated $25,000 a month fee. No wonder he can afford greasing of many city council hands. Contributions Limits for All, None for Juan On January 18, 2005, councilman John Noguez makes a $2,000 campaign contribution to his endorsed candidate Elba Guerrero. Two days later the $1,000 per donor campaign limits law takes effect. In November 2004, John himself receives a $5,000 contribution from a single individual, this three months after he introduced a motion imposing the limits. Elba Guerrero raises a little over $7,000 for her campaign plus a $3,000 loan to herself. She reports receiving a $2,000 form John Noguez. Yet, voters were bombarded with a minimum of four campaign fliers for Elba Guerrero (full color, shiny, expensive printing), each printing probably costing several thousand dollars plus postage. Additionally, the city was blanketed with large posters "Guerrero -Enthusiastically supported by [then] Mayor Noguez". These are not free, nor are they cheap. Public record indicates that Guerrero had no expenditures for signs. For the reporting period of February 20 to June 30, 2005, Guerrero only reports a $2,000 "Literature" expense on her "California Form 460" filing with the city clerk. John Noguez reports receiving a total of $19,012 in Monetary Contributions from January 31, 2005 to June 30, 2005, including $1,000 from George Cole (City of Bell councilman, Oldtimers Foundation Director, and city contractor for a multi-million dollar transportation contract), and $1,000 from Francisco Leal, City Attorney. Noguez reports several payments made to printing houses for "Literature" totaling$5,000 plus the $2,000 contribution to Elba Guerrero. John Noguez was NOT a candidate for City Council in March 2005. The money he raised evidently benefited only one candidate, Elba Guerrero. Evidently the contributions limit did not apply to John Noguez. On March 7, 2005 Elba Guerrero received the most votes for a seat on city council. In August 2005, Noguez and gang repeals the campaign limits law. John Noguez, Ofelia Hernandez and Mario Gomez are up for reelection in 2007. John Noguez lied to the citizens and to reporters about the real reasons for authoring the campaign limits law. Perhaps the State legislature should take up a new bill to curb such abuse and manipulation of the city ordinance adoption process as it did with AB 11 to curb abuse and manipulation of salary increases, not to mentions use of public funds for private political gain. To all Poli Sci college visitors, add this to your study notes on Local Government Corruption 101. Yours in service, The Editor, WatchOurCity.com |
Notes from the Editor Archived Files: June 8, 2005 August 4, 2005 August 22, 2005 |
