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A courageously innovative, muckraking web site that focuses like a laser on the political, financial and legal shenanigans of the local government
CALIFORNIA FIRST AMENDMENT COALITION
El dia desbarata las sombras. Las deshace (Light of day destroys the shadows. It dissolves them).
Juan Rulfo, "Pedro Páramo"
WatchOurCity.com is "an old-style muckraking soul in new technology...  an experiment in public oversight"
Sam Quinones, L.A. Times
In The Public Interest .com
Loosing! Bell Elections:
Not Guilty, but Not Smart
Councilman
Velez Not
Reelected
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Editor, WatchOurCity.com

Bell, Ca - Mr. Velez lost his bid
for reelection as a Bell
councilman.

Mr. Velez will from now on be
famously known not for what
he did, but for what he didn't
do.

Velez was the only one of five
Bell council members not
convicted or any crime on the
heels of revelations about
massive corruption inside city
hall, and it happened right
under his nose. He was
spared making $100,000 per
year, a fate and a burden
which the other council
members wore with pained
grace. It was like Noblese
Oblige, but ghetto style, that
is, in reverse, shall we say
"Ghettoese Oglige".

Mr. Velez ran a somewhat
tepid campaign, if a campaign
at all. While the other younger
candidates were going at it
like a playground war zone,
Mr. Valez lost valuable time
campaigning as a result of the
court testimony he was called
to give as a witness in the
case of 6 of the 8 accused
former and current city
officials. On the stand Mr.
Velez admitted that if he's
guilty of anything it was his
ignorance.

After that hearing, Velez just
seemed to have hidden under
a rock, yet somehow his "Vote
for Velez" yard signs kept
popping up all over town.
Winners in
Bell's
General
Elections
with 3
seats up for
grabs
Winners in
Bell's Recall
Election
with 2
seats up for
grabs.
Gaining! Bell Elections:
Agent of Change in Bell:
An Open Letter
from a  
Campaign
Volunteer
Wednesday, March 9, 2011

First of all, I want to congratulate
Councilman Elect Nestor Valencia
in which he was the only one
from our slate to win the election
so congratulations Nestor on
that.

Second, I want to share some
thoughts about this campaign
and the activism that we all have
participated since the Bell
scandal broke out last summer. I
want to share some perspective
as to how it did affect me and
how it changed my life in a sense
in terms of joining the activism
and getting involved in a
community where practically I did
not know what to do. I got
involved when Nestor was doing
a rally on a March 1, 2010, where
him and other residents were
fighting the old corrupt Rizzo
council to lower the taxes. I
remember I met a lot of new
people that now I consider them
as my friends and neighbors. As I
met Nestor and I got to know
more about the Bell Resident
Club, I met other people,
including those who are
unfortunately on the other side
and have other thoughts, that
wanted all the same thing for the
city, which is reform and getting
rid of the new. I remember when
we all celebrated the fact that
we uncovered Rizzo's salary and
we danced on the streets saying
that we all did it and that there
were going to be Justice done. At
the same time, the police was
going to be broken up, and
people spoke up and said no to
the break up. At the time, BASTA
was created. When it was
created, for me I thought that we
were all stand up to the old
council and work together. Then,
as we all started asking
questions to BASTA and
uncovering who was behind
BASTA, then we all stepped back.
I have to admit that I stood with
BASTA for a couple of months
until when my line of questioning
was not working for them, I
became neutral and looked at
the two sides. I knew that unity
was at stake here. At the same
time, we put those
sinverguenzas in jail. Who did
that? THE COMMUNITY!!!!

Then we all wanted receivership
since knowing the interests that
wanted to overpower the council,
the community asked for
receivership, but never got it, but
WE NEVER GAVE UP!!!! We kept
asking those questions and now,
the elections. Everyone wanted a
share of the city council. We
fought hard, work through
confusions, clarifications. At times
I would say to myself that it is
hard, but at the same time, the
community was calling at me to
do something. We all did our
share, whether it was from the
smallest thing to the biggest
thing of all. Then came tonight,
where the people chose their
candidates and their new Bell.
Now that we have a new council,
now our job is to keep the
council ACCOUNTABLE of all the
actions. If at all possible, getting
the community united, and to the
table and work on a mutual
solution to the budget crisis that
is going on in Bell. Work together
to improve the quality of life for
our youth at local middle schools
and Bell High School. Work to get
our parks clean and safe so
everyone in the community can
use them at their pleasure. We
need to work on our public safety
to ensure that the residents feel
safe about Bell and that their
priority REALLY is public safety.
The council needs to work on a
new economic development plan
to get business back to Bell
again and make it attractive for
other business to come to Bell.

I want to thank everyone, and I
mean EVERYONE who contributed
to this campaign and worked
hard on it. However, I truly want
to apologize for those who may
think that I was rude or dry at
some point. My thing is that I am
straight to the point and
whatever I say comes from my
heart, whether comes good or
bad. I apologize if some of you
felt I did not work hard enough
but there were some days where
simply I needed to reflect on the
campaign and myself, or that I
was sick as I have been for
these past couple of days of
fever and headaches. The good
part is, that we all did put
something to the campaign.

Last but not least, I want to
reflect on my good friend, Miguel
Sanchez, who is resting in peace
up there in heaven. I remember
those long nights where I were
to stay late nights at his house
and help him do some things for
his campaign in the beginning.
Myself along with a lot of
residents wanted him to run for
city council and he did. He had
the courage to do it and was
fighting it until the end! I
remember him as the humble
person that didn't ever want to
give up, and wanted to fight for
the community and not for
himself. He was really a warrior
and would have been that great
leader for the community. Miguel
is someone who he used to tell
me that I was like his brother
because I supported him. Even
though we may had some
differences, but I supported him
and wanted him to win. I know in
our hearts he is present and he
will be shining the light on Bell.
He fought until the end! May
Miguel Sanchez rest in peace!
The community loves Miguel as
well as I do.

My final reflections are that this is
only the beginning. We have a
big fight ahead of us. As a
resident of Bell and others in the
community for whom I made a lot
of friends, we are going to fight
for good government and keep
the current government
accountable for all the actions
that one is going to make. At
least for me, I will not stop here.
I learned a lot of things from
each and one of you that I
worked with.

This is not good bye, but the
beginning of a new era in Bell,
and a continuation of me getting
involved in Bell. I love all of you
guys and let's FIGHT ON!!!!

Sincerely yours,

Ismael G. Morales
Community Activist
Paraprofessional
Education Advocate -
United vs. Justice
Ali,
Nestor,
Violeta,
Danny
& Ana Maria Are the New
Fresh Look of Bell
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Editor, WatchOurCity.com

Bell, Ca - Bell elections are over. And the two
heavyweight teams competing with each other in a dirty
contentious battle, which even saw the death of a
candidate five days before election day, have winners
from each side, but it's lopsided.

Three members of the Police Union funded United-4-Bell
team won a council seat. And one member from the
Justice for Bell team also made the cut. An independent
candidate also won. She was supported by and works for
Huntington Park's city attorney Francisco Leal, who at
$700,000 per year, is one of the highest paid city
attorney in California, second only to Vernon's.

The United-4-Bell team are former BASTA members,
bankrolled by the Police Officers Association, and
managed by Leo Briones, a toxic but effective campaign
manager.

Ali Saleh and Violeta Alvarez won first and third place in
the General Election to replace former council members,
who are about to stand trial.

Nestor Valencia, of Justice-for-Bell, came in second in the
vote tally for the General Election. The final provisional
count came in at 11:30 pm on Thursday.

As of as of this writing, there were still about 200
provisional ballots yet to be counted.

Each candidate made history in his/her own right. But the
five collectively are the new fresh faces of Bell.

Bell no longer wears a Teresa Jacobo face or an Oscar
Hernandez face, Latino faces of sad and pitiful
incompetence, greed and corruption. They are the faces
on the other side of coin of Latino political empowerment.
And we have lots of those coins circulating in Huntington
Park, Maywood, Vernon, Cudahy, Los Angeles, in the
County Assessor's office and who knows where else.

Bell now wears young, fresh, energetic faces, urban and
sophisticated, even Danny, the retired baker with his
grandfatherly Southern drawl, is young blood; they can
actually read! Some even have advanced degrees from
college. In Bell? Who would've thought?

Though they are from opposing teams, the winning
candidates (apologies to Charlie Sheen) are still
neighbors, walk on the same side of the sidewalk, their
kids go to the same schools, and they all shop, dine and
entertain in the same places.

When the Times decided to endorse candidates in the
Bell election, a notable and historic event on its own
right, it came up with an interesting logic as an
endorsement strategy which can more accurately be
characterized as a salad toss-up. The Times intended for
Bell's new council members to have a  mix of slates, of
men and women, of nationalities, of ideas, but above all,
fresh, young, eager, faces, and "sophisticated" faces to
check each others ambitions and agendas who would
overcome their differences to advocate for the public
interest.

This is how the Times set up their readers in making their
choices for endorsements in Bell:

"The Times looked for candidates who appear to have the
sophistication and skills to keep an eye on the functions of
municipal government.

We also think the residents of Bell would be better off if no
single faction swept the election.

At this point, Bell needs council members who challenge one
another as well as their employees.

It is unclear whether the city can afford or should even want
to keep its Police Department.

A mix of opinions on the council would maximize the
chances of a decision made on the facts, not on campaign
support."

So how did the Times do, first in their choices of endorsed
candidates, and secondly, but most importantly, in their
tossed salad strategy?

On February 7, 2011, The Times endorsed Mario Rivas, Ali
Saleh and Nestor Valencia for the General Election. Mario,
Nestor's running mate on the Justice for Bell Slate, lost.

Two out of three isn't bad. Except that instead of two
Justice-for-Bell candidates winning as the Times had
wished, only one did. And though the Times picked only
one United-4-Bell candidate, two eventually won.

For the recall election, the Times picked Ana Maria
Quintana to replace Luis Artiga, and Quintana won. But
Coco Ceja, the Times pick to replace Teresa Jacobo, did
not win; voters chose instead Danny Herber who is on
the United-4-Bell slate, along with Ali Saleh and Violeta
Alvarez, the Police Officers Association team.

The Times strategy to mix it up a bit in city council with
sophisticated young go getters seems like a reasonable
and intelligent strategy.....in theory. The idea behind the
strategy was to prevent any one slate from winning a
majority vote, minimizing concentration of control while
maximizing a check and balance system.

The holy grail of any local city council race is to control
three of the five council votes. That puts Ali, Violeta and
Danny of the United-4-bell slate in the coveted  majority.
They ran as a slate, and will vote as a slate, with Nestor
and Ana Maria mathematically the odd men out.

As the Times warned, a single faction has swept into city
council which now will hold the majority votes. Ali, Violeta
and Danny will wield tremendous power. It will be both a
blessing and burden. A blessing to their bank rollers Leo
Briones and the Police Officers Association, and a burden
to the residents, who are still stuck owing bonds,
out-sized police salaries, and other obligations. Already
the city has defaulted on a questionable $5 million land
deal with ownership going back to the seller on a real
estate deal struck with a friend of Rizzo and Cole. The old
Western Auto property was sold by Pete Werlein to the
city of Bell at an inflated price. Mr. Werlein, a former
councilman and convicted felon, is best friends with
Robert Rizzo and former council member George Cole,
now ordered to stand trial on corruption charges. The
city's failure to make mortgage payments triggered
defaulting the property back to Mr. Werlein as a result of
the city's insolvency, a foreboding sign of Bell's financial
status. The city's credit rating is worse than that of many
of its residents who've lost homes to foreclosure.

Briones has won the golden grail.

Bell is not over yet, folks. A new chapter turns in the
grand novella that Bell has become. Small town politics
with universal appeal and implications.

There is still the question about city manager Pedro
Carrillo, city attorney James Casso, and the highly paid
city officials still on the payroll. Leo Briones has been
friendly to Carrillo and Casso. All three of them are
intimate associates of Rizzo and George Cole. And is the
sole reason Carillo and Casso were appointed without
competing bids to their posts by Rizzo's city council
cronies. Let's not forget that it was Pedro Carrillo, as a
Rizzo's official "Assistant" who first publicly defended
Rizzo's $800,000 salary live on TV broadcasts, saying "he
earned it".

At last count, since June 2010, when he was appointed
Bell's city attorney without competing bids by the same
council members now voted out of office and ordered to
stand trial on sweeping public corruption charges, James
Casso has billed the city of Bell just over one million
dollars in legal fees.

It seems like everything's changed in Bell, yet nothing's
changed.

So it remains to be seen, whether the tossed-salad
strategy as the Times envisioned would actually play out
in the public interest of Bell residents: Will the Bell Police
force go or will it stay? Will Casso and Carrillo go or stay?
Will a racist, anti-immigrant Tea Party invade Bell, scaring
Spanish broadcast media into a frenzy as Leo Briones
fabricated?

This is the moment where the rubber hits the road on all
the accusations, rhetoric and campaign propaganda
thrown by Briones. Is there a Tea Party take over of Bell
city hall? Or will Bell's police force be saved, even as it
burdens Bell's treasury and hastens a financial calamity,
not to mention the ongoing civil rights probe by the
Obama Administration of its racial profiling practices
against Bell's illegal immigrants.

Note to Spanish TV media:
The joke's on you guys; there never was a racist,
anti-immigrant tea party guy in town. It was only Leo
Briones being Leo Briones trying to win an election for
the racist, anti-immigrant guys already IN town, his very
own clients, the Bell Police Department. And they've won,
Thanks in part to you guys for fanning the fabricated
claims of a racist anti-immigrant Tea Party invading Bell.

Leo Briones pulled a fast one on you guys, and you ate it
up like pan dulce and steaming champurrado on a cold
and damp night, just like the night that fallen council
candidate Miguel Sanchez's family held a vigil in his
memory. Some would argue that your made-up
sensationalist anti-immigrant racist fear mongering
broadcasts triggered a tipping point in Miguel's illness,
and helped hasten his death by spreading the Leo
Briones' vile campaign propaganda, and in the process
damaged a beloved Latino immigrant family, the very
same family you self-dilusionally advocate to protect. You
became an agent of Leo Briones' toxic propaganda. His
candidates will be running Bell very soon.

As for Nestor, he, Ali, Violeta, Danny and Ana Maria
actually have a lot in common and overlapping interests.
They also have some key differences with the potential to
overshadow a common base. But in case things get
dicey, and funny stuff begins to happen with the three
majority vote, Nestor, Bell's long-time activist, will have a
coveted ring-side seat, a watchdog's dream come true.


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