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| A Tragedy in Bell: Miguel Sanchez, A Son of Bell, A Man of Justice Friday, March 4, 2011 Contributing Editor, WatchOurCity.com Bell, Ca - Miguel, a member of the Justice for Bell slate that is campaigning to right Rizzo's wrongs was not a politician. He was a beloved son, a cool brother, and a conscientious public servant. A former city of Bell employee who earned but an hourly wage to work with Bell youth, Miguel was one of several employees who was laid off as Rizzo went on his looting rampage. As someone who knew Bell from the inside, understood the toxic nature that persisted in spite of Rizzo's departure, Miguel joined together with many other Bell citizens late last year and called on then Attorney General Jerry Brown to take the unprecedented step and appoint a receiver for Bell. Miguel believed that, given the depth, breadth and magnitude of Bell's corruption, the best way to prevent cover-ups and more politics as usual was to appoint an expert, impartial and respected receiver. A Democrat, Miguel believed in the need to appoint an impartial and expert public servant so much that he, along with his mother and several others travelled to Van Nuys to call on Jerry Brown, his fellow Democrat, on the eve if his election, to move on the appointment. To Miguel, loyalty to his political party mattered, but principles and the people's interest mattered more, even if it meant speaking truth to power, even if it meant calling out Governor Brown on his back-peddaling. For Miguel wanted to save Bell, not just it's police department. But the receiver was not to be. So Miguel, the bespectacled, bookish and boyish looking 34-year old decided to run for office and seek justice for Bell. He decided the people's interests needed to prevail, not just the politically connected, the powerful and pedigreed. Miguel may have lacked prestigious degrees but he had principles, and honesty was among them. The self described "para-educator" was also "para la gente," "para el pueblo" and "para la justicia." Miguel Sanchez, the unlikely candidate, died fighting for the kids he worked with. He died fighting for the people's interests. He died fighting for the real victims. He died fighting for the have nots, not the haves. He died fighting for those that got towed, not those that did the towing. He died fighting for those that were looted, not those that benefited from it. He died fighting for those tax payers who funded the loans not the so called public servants he took the loans. He died fighting for a better Bell. He died fighting for Justice for Bell. Because if there's no justice, there's no peace for Bell, there's no unity in Bell. Miguel was not elected to higher office, but he was called to higher ground. Blessed be he. May his death be not in vain. |
| Friday, March 4, 2011, 9:00 pm, Editor, WatchOurCity.com Bell Council Candidate Dies Miguel Sanchez, 34, a candidate for Bell city council on the same slate as Nestor Valencia and Mario Rivas, died Friday at 3:30 pm from complications of an infection. He was rushed to County/USC General Hospital Thursday evening by family members. Miguel was a true hero, a humble man who died fighting for justice in Bell. |
| Bell, CA - When Miguel walked into his Justice for Bell campaign headquarters, his mother was always there with him. She, proud of her son's involvement in a historic event in this tiny city of Bell, worried, though, that something might happen to him. Miguel Alejandro Sanchez was a humble and quiet man. But he was driven to courage in the face of daunting opposition, police harassment of his volunteers, and above all, the deep and embedded corruption that is now world-renown. There was Miguel at the center of it all. What he saw in his city and its residents was potential to unite, to serve a higher purpose. I rode in the back seat of his compact car late one night, through the darkness that is Bell, his car rattled from loose joints, nuts and bolts. But he was immune to the rattling, spoke little, in a soft voice, focused instead on the road ahead. His hand when he shook yours was always warm, so was his smile, demonstrating a genuine interest in your well being. He would say "Everything is alright; we'll win this election. Bad cannot win over good. Justice will come, if that's the last thing I do". The pressures of the campaign were wearing on him. One day last week, he got sick, and did not show up at his Justice for Bell headquarters. Then, the tipping point for Miguel came this past Wednesday, when Maria Elena Durazo of the AFL-CIO and Assemblyman Ricardo Lara sent out a press release meant to give a death blow to the Justice for Bell Campaign team headed by Nestor Valencia, Mario Rivas and Miguel. They accused Nestor and his team of taking $60,000 from a campaign donor whom they accused was a member of the Tea Party. The timing of AFL-CIO's interest in Bell politics is curious on many levels. It's as if Maria Elena Durazo just discovered Bell. Months ago when headlines of Bell's corruption and looting of treasury to tune of millions of dollars all on the backs of poor immigrant families from Bell made headlines almost daily, not a peep could be heard from Mrs. Durazo. And here, just a handful of days before Election Day, she sticks her head into Bell, denouncing a $45,000 donation given to three scrappy rag-tag activists, giving more weight to this as a sin, than the millions upon millions already looted by Bell officials. Effectively, the power, influence, legitimacy, credibility and moral compass of the AFL-CIO was wielded as a blunt political weapon bent on landing a mortal blow to the Justice for Bell candidate slate. The damage done was more than Miguel could take, a man of peace and completely non-political, ironically, even as he was a candidate. It was a diminutively insignificant David against a monstrously gigantic Goliath. All the news stations carried this fabricated scandal in Bell. A local Spanish TV station sent out a news crew to Nestor's house confronting, "is it true, did you take money from the Tea Party?", to which Nestor responded "No". La Opinion and the Times also mentioned it. In official press release, Maria Elena Durazo of the AFL-CIO decried the Tea Party's involvement in Bell, calling them out for being anti-immigrant, racists, and anti-Obama Care. Other than La Opinion and the L.A. Times newspapers, not one broadcast media bothered to check the facts nor did they interview the supposed donor from the tea party. Not especially the Spanish broadcast media, who where thrown an anti-immigrant bone their way by Leo Briones. Spanish TV reporters salivated with Pavlovian abandon. This tea party anti- immigrant thing started with Leo Briones as a last resort hit-below-the-belt tactic just days before the March 8 elections. Briones is the campaign manager for the Police Officers Association and founder of BASTA. Briones is sponsoring a slate of four candidates who are fiercely and militantly opposed to the Justice for Bell team of Miguel Sanchez, Mario Rivas and Nestor Valencia. In the case of Bell, if anyone is to be accused of being anti-immigrant, it is the Democratic Latino Caucus of the State legislature. Assemblymen and Senators willingly conspired, partnered, and even profited for over two decades of partnership with George Cole in his political machinery as it pick-pocketed and looted immigrants in Bell and the Southeast cities. If that's not anti-immigrant, and racist, then I don't know what is. Where was Maria Elena Durazo's fire and brimstone against anti-immigrant racism then? Where was her moral compass then? State Senator Ron Calderon's brother is president of the board of George Cole's Oldtimers Foundation, a powerful and well connected non-profit which is also under investigation by the California Attorney General's office for allegedly hiding millions of dollars in government contracts it received from officials in Bell, Huntington Park, South Gate and other cities. Briones himself is a business associate of Cole. Gil Cedillo partnered with George Cole in Maywood's politics to help out Felipe Aguirre's incumbent campaign as Bell engineered the city's demise under Spaccia and Rizzo. State Senator Calderon even made a donation from his political campaign piggy bank to Cole's Oldtimers Foundation. Then they all feted George Cole in a awards ceremony in Montebello late last year, with the entire Latino caucus elite in attendance. Briones convinced his buddies up in the state legislature and called in some favors from the AFL-CIO and Maria Elena Durazo to pounce on the tea party issue as a way of killing the Justice for Bell campaign team of Nestor, Mario and Miguel. And kill they did. On Wednesday a slick 11x17 full-color hard-stock campaign hit piece landed in the mail boxes of Bell residents, attacking Nestor, Mario and Miguel with the Tea party thing, fanning the flames of racism and anti-immigration. Nestor was even told by Assemblyman Ricardo Lara to return the $60,000 campaign donations back to the donor. For the record, Nestor, Mario and Miguel did receive funding of $45,000 from Mr. Gwilym McGrew, a Republican from the San Fernando Valley. He's not a Tea Party member. Yet not one media outlet checked to see who exactly donated to Ricardo Lara's campaign for the state Assembly, representing Bell. Assemblyman Lara's handlers (Mayor Villaraigosa) collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from major groups of public union, trade groups, and about $12,000 from "Payday/Title Loans" businesses which prey unregulated on poor residents keeping them in a cycle of poverty. Why doesn't he return that money? Lara took over $20,000 form "Gambling and Casino" interests, and over $250,000 from "Public Sector Unions, Trade Unions and Health Unions". According to the Secretary of State's website which tracks campaign contributions for state- wide offices, Assemblyman Ricardo Lara scooped up a total of $1,035,021 for his campaign leading up to the November 2010 elections. That money does not come without strings attached. The point is that some of those corporations and lobby groups that donated to Assemblyman Lara also donated to the Tea Party. It should be no surprise then that Ricardo Lara, the wet behind the ears Assembly member, would be paying favors back to his funders by legitimizing political attacks on grass roots activists who have $45,000 in a campaign contributions against the Bell Police Officers Association, who have poured over $100,000 into the campaign, funnelled through Leo Briones to destroy Nestor, Mario and Miguel. If Maria Elena Durazo and Ricardo Lara are so worried about Tea Party contributions in Bell, then why don't they step in and level the playing field by contributing themselves to Nestor's campaign against the ultimate anti-immigrant, racist group in Bell, the Bell PD? Let's not forget that it was the Bell police force who victimized Bell residents, profiling them in violation of their civil rights, a violation being investigation by the Obama Administration. It was the Police force which is anti-immigrant, and racist. But Leo Briones turned the tables around. He made Nestor, Mario and Miguel into pro tea party anti-immigrant, racist boogeymen. Briones is a master dirty campaigner, and gets paid handsomely for his services. Even his own former wife, ex-state Senator Martha Escutia warned Nestor about her ex-husband. Stay away from him, he's bad news, she adviced. Mario Rivas was concerned about his friend and running mate's illness. On Wednesday morning, Mario visits Miguel, and is at his bedside, "We need you". Miguel responds, "I'm sorry for not being there, but this is really kicking my butt". Early Thursday, the second day of cycling through the tea party story by all the media, Miguel's condition took a turn for the worst, as news reports continued to be aired by Spanish yellow journalism TV. They were now adding racism to the tea party card. For Miguel it must have been too much to bear for him to see his dream of Justice for Bell turned on him, as if he was the criminal who had robbed Bell blind. On Thursday evening, as news stories of the fabricated Tea Party donation to Nestor, Mario and Miguel continued airing in TV broadcasts, Miguel was rushed to the emergency room at the County USC Medical Center. Miguel lost his health insurance when Robert Rizzo issued pink slips to Bell city hall employees, all in a bid to raise his own salary to $800,000 and to help sustain the spiked salaries of other officials and the police force. So Miguel's family could not afford to take him to a doctor earlier in the week, hoping Miguel would get better. That same evening Miguel's condition wasn't getting any better, he turned incoherent. He continued in this condition into Friday; his mother remained at his side. On Friday, while Spanish TV newscasts continued to fan the flames of the false but damaging anti- immigrant, racist Tea Party donation to Miguel's Justice for Bell team -- exactly as Leo Briones calculated Spanish media would take the bait -- Miguel began fighting not for justice, but for his life. From noontime Friday, Miguel's heart gave up three times, but doctors managed to revive him. Then, he flat-lined for the last time at 3 pm. Miguel Sanchez passed away in the emergency room and declared officially dead at 3:30 pm. Miguel's father, an immigrant and a mechanic who owned a small auto repair shop at the edge of town, called his two sons back home with the news. Doctors said it was an infection gone wild, probably triggered and made worse by stress. His campaign office will never see him again. Briones, Ricardo Lara, Maria Elena Durazo, the Bell Police Officers Association killed the Justice for Bell campaign alright. The Latino Caucus, all friends of Briones, got what they wished for. One TV reporter even called me to say that Nestor's campaign was dead due to the fear mongering created by Briones and his dirty political hit piece, "a liver punch" to Nestor's team, was the exact boxing terminology thrown. "Too bad for Nestor that he took that tea party money", "hope he survives this" were the final comments coming from the other end of the line, which was a busy news room, about to go on air with the story. The media lavished knee-jerk reaction to the story as fed by Leo Briones and freshman assemblyman Ricardo Lara, with heavy artillery reinforcements supplied by Maria Elena Durazo who sure did their best to fan the flames. It seems as if Spanish TV editing rooms were taking orders from the Latino Democratic caucus, with whom Briones is connected to, the same caucus who handed Lara his Assembly seat. Nobody in the media bothered checking the facts or go to the source about the tea party story. It was shear political propaganda. Irony of ironies that Miguel did not get to taste justice. With the power of official offices of the AFL-CIO, the Democratic Latino Caucus, and the local police union all stacked against Miguel and aiming their cross-hairs at him, how could he? For Briones, and all his buddies in on the joke about the tea party fear mongering scam he engineered, this campaign in Bell will be a feather in their hats, a highlight on their resumes, a feit accompli. And one candidate dead. They've made their point. Just one more tragedy to befall and victimize Bell residents, with one in particular, Miguel, paying the ultimate price, a beloved member of the tight-knit community. Tea party spotters should be worried about Briones instead. That political hit piece he sent early this week which was bankrolled by the Police union, and which made Miguel extremely nervous and depressed, was taken right out of Sarah Palin's Tea Party handbook. It showed superimposed the cross hairs of an assassin's rifle targeting head shots of Miguel Sanchez, Nestor and Mario. Bravo, Leo, you're a genius. Your strategy worked. You've killed the opposition. There's something else about Leo Briones. He has had direct email communications with Gwilym McGrew, the supposed Tea Party member, going back months, to middle of summer. An enmity grew with Leo over McGrew's involvement in Bell. The differences between Briones and McGrew were enormous. Briones fancies himself a poet. McGrew is a retired business executive who sold a multi-million dollar business, and could afford to retire comfortably. Briones is a dirty bottom crawler political operative who depends on his political contacts for survival and who's own ex- wife issues warnings about him. While Briones is sucking money from Bell, McGrew is bringing money Into Bell. In one back-and-forth email exchange between both, Briones was never civil in his exchanges, was rude, dismissive and insulting to McGrew. The final email was a show of Briones' poetic prowess, showcasing his crass character, calling McGrew "you Pussy". So this thing about the Tea Party was a complete fabrication of Briones brought about in shear desperation because he is not being effective in his campaign to crush and destroy Nestor and his team. Briones thought he could cruise into Bell, and not work for his money. Easy pickin's, just like the good old days under the Rizzo and George Cole regime. McGrew is making Briones actually earn his money by leveling the playing field for the Justice for Bell team of Nestor, Mario and Miguel. Briones is a thug wearing a poet's zarape for cover, and is funded by Bell's very own anti-immigrant, racist group, it's police force. Disturbing also, Bell's current city attorney, James Casso, a good friend of Leo Briones, and a Rizzo assistant, a favorite of the Democratic Latino Caucus, back in the 1990's was at the center of a commutation scandal for a convicted drug dealer. "According to a 2002 House Committee on Government Reform report, Mr. Casso “emerged as a significant figure” in the effort by Los Angeles businessman Horacio Vignali to free his son Carlos from serving a 15- year prison sentence on a major federal drug trafficking conviction in Minnesota", stated Jeffrey Anderson in September 15, 2010 report published in the Washington Times. Known as the Pardon-Gate scandal when President Clinton, in his last gesture before leaving the White House, pardoned the son of Mr. Vignali, after Casso orchestrated the deal with a $250,000 transfer of cash from Vignali to Hilary Rodham Clinton's Brother. Casso, as chief of staff to then congressman Esteban Torres, got Antonio Villaraigosas, Gloria Molina, and even Cardinal Roger Mahoney and L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca, all to write character letters vouching for the high character of the convicted drug dealer (see report by Jeffrey Anderson in Washington Times dated September 15, 2010, "Brown's Lawsuit puts Bell's city attorney in Tough Spot"). All three, Briones, Carrillo and Casso, have three critical things in common. They are all business associates of Robert Rizzo and George Cole, They are all intimate insiders of Sacramento's Democratic Latino Caucus, and they all are profiting from Bell's corruption debacle. Curiously, at the same time that Leo Briones was brought into Bell by the Bell Police Officers Association, Bell city attorney James Casso and Pedro Carrillo, Bell's city manager, were both given contracts without competing bids on the heels of Rizzo's resignation by the same Bell council members who are now ordered to stand trial on charges of corruption and misuse of public funds. Both Carrillo and Casso served as assistants to Robert Rizzo and George Cole. All three act as the well-oiled hinge between Bell and the vested interests of the Democratic Latino Caucus. Miguel's death proves, if anything, that nothing has changed in Bell. Nothing has changed, its worth repeating. Change in Bell is militantly protected at the highest levels of the centers of power and influence. There is a reason for that. Rizzo and former councilman George Cole, the "Don of the southeast cities" now ordered to stand trial on corruption charges, were not the only ones profiting from Bell, bent on victimizing its residents. If any racist, anti-immigrant elements have landed in Bell, they've been hiding in plain sight, profiting, and are those same elements with interests none deeper and more pronounced than the Bell's Police Union, the political operatives and Democratic Latino Caucus which draw their power from tens of millions of dollars in contributions from the powerful AFL-CIO, SEIU, and other public and private union groups. Sadly, the Spanish media's anti-immigrant focused myopia was all to happy to oblige the lies of these power players, allowing themselves to be played by Leo Briones and his Sacramento connections at the expense of a poor immigrant family from Bell, the same family they all espouse to advocate for in their noon, 5 pm and 11 pm newscasts. The other consequence of Mrs. Durazo's and Assemblyman Lara's comments was to lend legitimacy and defend the status quo in Bell, and by logical extension, Rizzo's regime as fronted by Leo Briones. Miguel's mother had reason to worry about her son. His name will remain on the Justice for Bell ballot. |
| Friday, March 4, 2010 9:00 pm Editor, WatchOurCity.com See Miguel Sanchez on YouTube advocating for receivership in the city Bell, pleading with Jerry Brown. |
| USC Annenburg School of Journalism: Miguel Sanchez: "The Corruption Changed Me" Reform Rings in Bell Friday, March 4, 2011 Laurel Galanter, Staff writer, Annenberg Digital News Bell, Ca - Miguel Sanchez, a resident of Bell for 32 years, has decided it’s time for him to break out of his shell. A seemingly shy man, he wants to stand up for his community by running for City Council on the same slate as candidates Mario Rivas and Nestor Valencia. “People know me all around," Sanchez said. "They see my face at the parks cleaning up and at social events. Before I was more into helping the community, but the corruption changed me to become an activist.” Sanchez, 34, a paraeducator at Los Angeles Unified School District, works with special needs children under the supervison of teachers. A graduate of Bell High School, Sanchez attended Pasadena City College, where he studied Business and Child Development. Sanchez worked as a city employee for more than 14 years in the Parks and Recreation Department. He volunteered at schools, deejayed at special events, taught basic computer classes and coached soccer. His love for the community runs deep, and running for City Council is his way of showing residents that he wants to do all he can to make things in Bell. “What better way to help out my community than to be a voice for the residents?" Sanchez said. If elected, Sanchez wants residents to get involved with their local government and be a part of different commissions, such as a police department commission. He wants residents to have a say in city budgets. He olans to reduce taxes and cut wasteful spending. After observing how hard Valencia wanted to fight for justice for Bell, he decided that he wanted to run on the same slate as Valencia and Rivas. “Seeing how Nestor had a love for justice for the city and was fighting the machine inside, I was getting to talk to him and getting to know him and then he ran with Mario in 2009, and I was one of the people that stepped up to run with them.” Sanchez says the other candidates don’t have the interest of the residents at heart. A man who describes himself as humble and who does the work he does simply for the love of his community and not for recognition, he is ready to be seen as a public figure. Reach reporter Laurel Galanter here. |
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| Monday, February 21, 2011 WatchOurCity.com Bell Campaign Central: Harnessing Voter Anger for Political Action and Change While hundreds of Bell residents protested for change, only a few take their anger to the next level, as campaign volunteers, where the real work for change takes place. Here, their stories. |
| Tuesday, March 8, 2011 WatchOurCity.com The Hand of Miguel "Bell citizens, our neighbors, our friends. On this special day, let the gentle hand of Miguel Sanchez softly touch your shoulder and wake you and your passion for our city. As the sun rises this morning over Bell, you may hear a whisper in your ear calling you to follow your heart……. Listen. “Awake! You must quietly rise! Renewed for your civic duty.” May God Bless Miguel Sanchez and Our Wonderful City of Bell." - Nestor Valencia & Mario Rivas |