!-- BEGIN: Opt-in Email List Form -->
Join Our Mailing List
Email:
Copyright © 2010 WatchOurCity.com
In The Public Interest .com
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
WatchOurCity
Monday, November 29, 2010, 6:00 am
Editor, WatchOurCity.com

$10.1 Million
Amount George Cole's Oldtimers Foundation has received in payments and contracts from
city of Huntington Park since 2004, according to city records.

Huntington Park, Ca - The City of Huntington Park has committed over $10 million
dollars to the Oldtimers Foundation since 2004 in combined contracts and actual
amounts paid. George Cole, Bell's former long-time mayor is Executive Director of
the Oldtimers Foundation which operates out of Huntington Park.

On Monday November 8, 2010, Huntington Park City Clerk Rosanna Ramirez issued
a response to a request of public records asking how much the city had paid to
George Cole's Oldtimers Foundation. Mr. Cole is the former city of Bell mayor who
was indicted and arrested along with seven other city of Bell officials on charges of
misuse of public funds and public corruption.

The Fiscal Year time periods requested are from 2004 to 2010. In 2003, George
Cole donated thousands of dollars to current mayor John Noguez and his
campaign slate partners, fellow council members Mario Gomez and Ofelia
Hernandez.

How has that investment fared for Oldtimers?

Months after Cole's monetary contributions to John Noguez, the newly elected city
council majority led by Noguez awarded a rigged multi-million dollar bus
transportation contract to George Cole's Oldtimers Foundation, a management
contract for Senior Housing Services, a contract for providing meals to Senior
Citizens and a multi-million contract in 2009 for redevelopment of affordable
housing.

According to the city clerk, Huntington Park officials approved payments to George
Cole's Oldtimers Foundation totaling $5,680,427 under two separate categories.
Under "Senior Nutrition Programs", the city paid Oldtimers Foundation a total of
$204,832. Under "Transportation Services" the city paid to the Oldtimers
Foundation from FY 2004-05 to FY 2009-10, a total of $5,475,595.Total combined
for both categories is $5,680,427.

Not included in Huntington Park's official response for public records, but clearly
noted on an official report by the city's Redevelopment agency, is a second amount
paid not to the Oldtimers Foundation, but to the Oldtimers Housing Development
Corporation, a separate entity also controlled by George Cole. On October 4, 2010
WatchOurCity.com reported that Huntington Park city officials awarded a separate
$3.9 million contract to the Oldtimers Housing Development Corporation for FY
2009-10 for Low Income Housing (see WatchOurCity.com, "Mayor Noguez in Bed
with George Cole: Awards Multi-Million Dollar Housing Redevelopment Contract to
Cole, Recently Arrested by the D.A. & sued by the AG", Oct. 4, 2010). John Noguez
was Huntington Park mayor at the time.

A third amount also not included nor itemized in the city's response letter is an
amount for $600,000 which Huntington Park official awarded to Oldtimers
Foundation Senior Housing Management services to Oldtimers in 2004.

A separate category not itemized by the city was the total awarded in gifts of
public funds to Oldtimers Foundation from California Development Block Grants
(known as CDBG's), which on a yearly basis equals between $25,000 to $40,000
since 2004.  These funds are distributed on a yearly basis, and voted on by
Huntington Park city council members. Other local non profits are also recipients of
CDBG's, such as the Salvation Army, but on average the Oldtimers Foundation
receives the lion's share of these funds since 2004.

All told, since 2004, Huntington Park city officials have paid over $10,180,427
million (not including CDBG's) to former Bell Councilman George Cole's Oldtimers
Foundation, a time frame where John Noguez has led city council in a voting block
majority since his election in March 2003. Council members Ofelia Hernandez, Mario
Gomez have a 100% record voting in favor of awarding these contracts to
Oldtimers Foundation, with councilwoman Elba Guerrero joining them since 2005.

Attorney General Jerry Brown is also investigating the Oldtimers Foundation for
allegations of under-reporting about $2.9 million dollars in government contracts
the organization received but did not report from cities of Bell, Huntington Park,
Norwalk, Hawaiian Gardens and Fontana.

The request for public records was faxed to the city clerk's office on October 12,
2010 by the law firm of Himmelfarb and Himmelfarb on behalf of WatchOurCity.com.
Just four weeks later, on November 8, the city sends only half a response, and
timed to miss the November 2 General Election, in which John Noguez was elected
as the next L.A. County Assessor. The combined $10.1 million in payments and
contracts to George Cole's various Oldtimers Foundation entities could have had a
damaging if not devastating effect on Noguez's campaign for Assessor.

WatchOurCity.com also requested the total amount the City of Huntington Park
has paid to Urban Associates, a consulting firm owned by Pedro Carrillo, current
city manager for the city of Bell. The City Clerk stated that public records for Pedro
Carrillo's contract amounts was ready yet, and will be forthcoming. Six weeks have
elapsed since this request, and Huntington Park officials have yet to fulfill this
simple public records request. On November 18, the State Controller's office issued
a damning report on Urban Associates in a report in its final audit of Bell finances.
Bell officials paid a total of $220,000 to Pedro Carrillo's Urban Associates firm
without a standing contract officially approved by city council action. Mayor John
Noguez and councilwoman Elba Guerrero spearheaded efforts to hire Pedro
Carrillo as a consultant for unspecified work and for yet unspecified amounts. As of
today, seven weeks have elapsed since WatchOurCity.com's written request for
public records asking for amounts paid to Urban Associates and still no response
from Huntington Park city officials.

Campaign contribution records obtained by WatchOurCity.com show that John
Noguez raised over $1,000,000 for his campaign for L.A. County Assessor, with
donors being mostly tax consult attorneys and commercial property owners, all
expecting spectacular returns on their investment, just like city of Bell's former
mayor George Cole is receiving from Huntington Park officials.

George Cole, city of Bell's long time mayor and councilman, was arrested on
Tuesday September 21, 2010 in a sweep of current and former city of Bell elected
officials and top administrators, including Robert Rizzo, implicated in that city's
massive and historically unprecedented corruption investigations by the District
Attorney's office. In a separate probe, the State Attorney General's office has also
launched two separate investigations into the same Bell officials.

One of those investigations names George Cole in a civil lawsuit seeking
"hundreds of thousands of dollars" in payback for extra income that officials
received through fraud and illegal means, alleges the pending suit.

A separate investigation by the Attorney General's office specifically focuses on
George Cole's Oldtimers Foundation stemming from unreconciled multi-million dollar
inconsistencies as discovered in a report the Oldtimers furnished to State
authorities. The Attorney General's office makes the case against George Cole and
Oldtimers Foundation that it failed to report a few millions of dollars in government
contracts received from local cities. Those cities, including, Bell, Huntington Park,
Fontana and Norwalk, reported to State authorities contracts they awarded to
Cole's Oldtimers Foundation which were not reflected in State filings by the
Oldtimers.

WatchOurCity.com has documented that Cole and Noguez have been intimate
political associates for the better part of a decade, starting in 2002 when Noguez
first ran for public office in Huntington Park. George Cole donated several
thousands dollars to Noguez's slate which included current council members Mario
Gomez and Ofelia Hernandez.

Noguez's campaign contribution reports from 2002-2003 also reveal that both
Noguez and Cole shared a fundraising consultant, Conrado Terrazas, who at the
time was also an employee of the Oldtimers Foundation. Terrazas is now State
Senator Gil Cedillo's Chief Communications officer.

For Noguez's reelection campaign in 2007, George Cole and John Noguez teamed
up again in campaign efforts, both hiring the same campaign manager, the
baby-faced Bell Gardens former councilman Mario Beltran, a now-twice convicted
staffer of State Senator Ron Calderon who represents Bell and Huntington Park.

Those campaign efforts were not for nothing. Cole expected something in return
for his donations and strategic allegiances to Noguez. And Noguez delivered.

Within months of Noguez winning the March 2003 election, the very first contract
he awarded was to the current city attorney Francisco Leal, selected in secretive
closed door session. Francisco Leal has billed the city a total of $700,000 since July
2009, an amount more than twice the amount paid to Carmen Trutanich, L.A. City
Attorney.

The second contract Noguez awarded, a multi-million dollar, multi-year deal for bus
transportation services, was to George Cole's Oldtimers. This contract was rigged
by the Noguez team. Councilman Edward Escareno and Mario Gomez formed a
"Transportation Contract Committee". Its sole intention was to guide the contract
through the city's contract awarding apparatus and to make staff aware that
George Cole was the predetermined winner of the rigged competition.
WatchOurCity.com reviewed the written recommendation of an independent
consultant who wrote two recommendations.

The consultant's first recommendation clearly noted that the Oldtimers Foundation
proposal was not qualified because it had no buses to act on the contract and was
rated last of out 4 bidders. Noguez and Escareno were alarmed that their
independent consultant was going rogue on them. Within a few days, the
consultant issued a second recommendation essentially reversing the first, this
time stating that Oldtimers was eminently qualified to receive the contract.

Yet, nothing materially changed. Cole still had no buses, nor capital to get started.
So Mayor Noguez steps in by calling a special city council session in the middle of
the day in April 2004 whose sole agenda item was extending $100,000 in start-up
fees to Oldtimers Foundation. Meeting minutes from a previous regular council
meeting in March reveal that Cole, after being awarded the contract, went on the
record in front of Huntington Park city council asking, begging for $75,000 upfront
fees, so worried was he that he couldn't execute a contract just handed to him on
a silver platter by the Noguez and Escareno team.

One year later, in December 2005, Escareno was convicted in L.A. Superior Court
for "Grand Theft and Misuse of Public Funds", on charges unrelated to Cole's
jimmy-rigged contract. Escareno was Noguez's campaign manager in 2003 and
both were roommates.

Not content with that arrangement, Noguez also awards a $600,000 Senior
Housing management contract to Cole's Oldtimers Foundation on top of that. And
that was just for starters.

But that was then. John Noguez continues to award exclusive multi-million dollar
contracts to George Cole's Oldtimers Foundation and Oldtimers Housing
Development Corporation.

The Redevelopment Agency's report gives clear evidence that mayor Noguez once
again directed to George Cole's way a $3.7 million multi-year contract for
Redevelopment of the city's affordable housing stock, with funding from the city's
Redevelopment program. Page 16 of the report states:

A Huntington Park city staffer did in fact bring up the uncomfortable truth that the
contract to Cole's Oldtimers was not legal, was in fact rigged. That city staffer was
summarily dismissed as a consequence of those actions. That staffer now works
for a different public agency.

George Cole's Oldtimers Foundation is located in Huntington Park. The Foundation
plays host to a voting precinct during city election time, all the while depending on
the results of those elections for its financial sustainability.

John Noguez won the seat of L.A. County Assessor during November's election.
The Times published their endorsement of Mr. Wong, Noguez's opponent,
suggesting strongly that Noguez would politicize and bring corruption to the
Assessor's office.

________________________________________________________________
RELATED:
Tuesday July 13, 2010
Update Wednesday July 14, 2010
The Editor,
WatchOurCity.com
Depriving the Public of
Honest Services: Bell,
Maywood, Huntington Park,
LAUSD
Fiduciary fail by Maywood, Bell,
Huntington Park officials.
Tuesday July 13, 2010
The Editor,
WatchOurCity.com
Huntington Park in $1.2
Million Fiscal Deficit Partly
Caused by City of Bell's
George Cole
Mayor Noguez gave George Cole
millions
Monday, September 27, 2010,
WatchOurCity.com
Huntington Park's Mayor
John Noguez Shakes down
Charter School for campaign
Contribution in Exchange for
Project Approval
Mayor John Noguez and City
Attorney Leal called meeting with
Charter school. Noguez is running
for L.A. County Assessor.
September 24, 2010,
WatchOurCity.com
Huntington Park Attorney
Francisco Leal making
$630,000, more than twice
city of L.A.'s Attorney
Mayor John Noguez authorized
payments to Leal.
Tuesday September 7, 2010, 6:00 am,
WatchOurCity.com
Trillion Dollar County Tax
Roll, Million Dollar deals,
Some Benefiting John
Noguez, Assessor Candidate
Gary Townsend, Chief Deputy for
current L.A. County Assessor Rick
Auerbach is actively managing
John Noguez's campaign for
County Assessor. Townsend is
cutting a deal with multi-national
oil company at hearing today
reducing $150 million property
tax burden in exchange for  
campaign contributions for John
Noguez's Assessor campaign.
John Noguez Hinders HP's
$1.8 Mil Deficit
City Staff is struggling to manage
a $1.8 million deficit. Some city
contractors are approached with a
deal: extend contract time in
exchange for reduction of
monthly invoices by $20 K or $30
K per month. Mayor Noguez
refused to allow negotiations with
one contractor firm because it
has not contributed to John
Noguez's L.A. County Assessor's
campaign. Such an arrangement
as requested by Noguez is known
as Quid Pro Quo, or Pay for Play.
Bell's Property Tax Scam &
John Noguez
George Cole was mayor of Bell
during the critical years when
property taxes reached criminal
levels. Ironically, Cole partnered
with Noguez for political
campaigns, receiving in return
multi million dollar contracts from
Huntington Park mayor and
county assessor. Noguez is now
running for L.A. County Assessor
in a November runoff with John
Wong. Noguez is in hiding. The
L.A. Times endorsed Wong,
strongly suggesting Noguez will  
politicize the assessor's office
and bring corruption.
Noguez Launders $11,000
Donation
in 2004, Huntington Park's
mayor John Noguez and Bell's
mayor George Cole, including
HP's city attorney Francisco Leal,
teamed up to raise campaign
funds for Rosario Marin's U.S.
Senate race against Barbara
Boxer. Bell's mayor George Cole
and Francisco Leal were Co-Hosts
at a fundraiser for Marin at Leal's
Hancock Park House. Noguez
approached a businessman in
Huntington Park and demands
$11,000 cash for Marin's
campaign. The businessman
gives him the money, feeling
threatened by mayor Noguez.
The $11,000 "donation"
demanded by Noguez never
made it to Marin's official
campaign reports and exceeded
the maximum allowed
contribution by a factor of 4.
George Cole,
Noguez's
political
Associate
ARRESTED
The company
Huntington Park
mayor John  Noguez
keeps:
Friday, November 19, 2010 6:00 am
WatchOurCity.com
State Controller's Audit Nov. 18:
Rizzo Authorized $222,000
payments to Pedro Carrillo's
Urban Associates without a
formal contract
Bell City Manager Pedro Carrillo
has lots to hide & profited in Bell.
Monday, November 1, 20106:00 am
Washington Times,
Jeffrey Anderson, Investigative Reporter
Signs of municipal
corruption in Bell &
Vernon spread to  
Huntington Park &
mayor Noguez
Monday, October 4, 2010 6:00 am
WatchOurCity.com
Mayor Noguez in bed with
George Cole: Awards  
Multi-Million Dollar Housing
Redevelopment contract to
Cole, Recently Arrested by
the D.A. & sued by the AG
Huntington Park's
Redevelopment Agency awards
$3.8 million for Fiscal Year
2009-2010 to Cole's Oldtimers.