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Copyright © 2010 WatchOurCity.com
In The Public Interest .com
WatchOurCity
Monday, October 11, 2010, 6:00 am
Editor, WatchOurCity.com
Academic Degree Scandal Widens -
Huntington Park's mayor Noguez does not have
a College Degree
Noguez did not inform voters he failed to get a college degree.

Huntington Park, CA - On Thursday October 7, 2010, WatchOurCity.com posted a report
exposing that Cristina Garcia, who co-founded BASTA along with political consultant Leo
Briones, does not hold a PhD from USC as she had claimed on her Facebook page, to the
media, to League of Women Voters in their Voter Guide, and to the New Agenda, which bills
itself as "a voice for all women".

In the same report WatchOurcity.com noted:

















Then, on Sunday, the Times publishes its Voter Guide for the upcoming November 2
elections. In the part on the Assessor's race, the Times declares that it endorses John
Wong, having endorsed him for the June primary already, noting that it failed to endorse
John Noguez due to his "political entanglements".

The Times interviewed both candidates for the Assessor's office, Wong and Noguez, and
learned that John Noguez does no have a college degree and asked him about it. Noguez
confirmed that indeed he doesn't have a degree, saying he "left Cal State L.A. three classes
shy of a degree". In fact Noguez failed to tell the residents in Huntington Park and L.A.
County Voters about his lack of a degree. Instead telling voters here that he graduated
from college.

The Times states that Wong "criticized Noguez for never graduating from college, lacking
experience managing large organizations, and for Huntington Park having the sixth-highest
property tax rate in the county."

Then comes a zinger from Noguez. In a attempt to defend his record, Noguez tells the Times
"he's proud of the work he's done in Huntington Park, citing his efforts to help the city raise
its meager reserve fund...., and by lowering council salaries and travel costs while boosting
city permits".

Noguez flat out lies about reducing council salaries. In fact he was forced to reduce council
salaries by Assembly Bill 11 (AB 11) which was authored by Assemblyman Hector De La
Torre.

On July 13, 2005, Assemblyman De La Torre issued a press release strongly making the
case for passage of AB 11 stating right after the State Senate had approved the bill:

“While serving as a council member in South Gate, I witnessed a corrupt majority of  the city
council give themselves a big pay raise for serving on city commissions and  committees”

"One extreme example is the City of Huntington Park, which awards its city council  
members $1,950 per month for serving on their CDC."

Huntington Park's salary abuse was documented in the Senate's version of AB 11. Just like
in Bell, John Noguez and his city council slate was circumventing base salary by paying
themselves extra for sitting in a series of city boards where meetings lasted not more than
a minute each for the redevelopment commission, and other commissions.

WatchOurCity.com did the math and calculated that John Noguez and his fellow council
members were making more than $900 per hour on such schemes. Even Vernon's top paid
city attorney who pays himself over $500 per hour and is under investigation was no match
to Huntington Park's abuses.

Sitting on boards which meet for a minute was exactly the same tactic used by Bell city
council members, bumping their base official salary of $8,000 a year to $100,000. The John
Noguez led city council in Huntington Park tripled its take home pay totaling up to $45,000
per year. In a council meeting, mayor John Noguez publicly condemned the extra salary
voted on by his own team, while privately he was taking the extra salary, this as confirmed
by the city clerk.

In 2007, Noguez sent out campaign flyers stating that his mother was proud that Noguez
was a "graduate from Cal-State L.A."

Noguez is endorsed by Bell Mayor Oscar Hernandez and councilwoman Teresa Jacobo, both
arrested, along with Robert Rizzo and George Cole.

Noguez was endorsed by County Supervisors Gloria Molina (who represents Huntington
Park and Bell), Don Knabe (who's son is helping manage Noguez's campaign and getting
paid a handsome consultant's fee), Mark Ridley-Thomas (who was reluctant to endorse
Noguez but was forced into it), and by Zev Yaroslavski.

While the Supervisors condemned Bell's salary and tax abuse, noting that Bell has the 2nd
highest property taxes of all 88 county cities, 4 of the 5 Supervisors embrace Huntington
Park's John Noguez, who brought the 6th highest property taxes to this city; a man with no
college degree, and an intimate of George Cole, Bell's disgraced and indicted former mayor,
who not only was arrested by the D.A., but is also under investigation by the Attorney
General's office for million dollar contracts awarded to him by officials in Huntington Park,
Bell, Norwalk and Fontana.

Mark Ridley-Thomas' and Zev's offices did not return calls for comment. Gloria Molina's office
confirmed that she still stands by her endorsement of Noguez for Assessor. No point asking
Don Knabe, since his own son is profiting from Noguez's campaign. Antonovich was the only
Supervisor who did not endorse Noguez, endorsing instead John Wong.
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, 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.
Monday, September 27, 2010 6:00 am
WatchOurCity.com
Mayor Noguez  
Implicated in Bell
Scandal with Cole
Noguez directed multi-million
dollar contracts to George Cole's
Oldtimers Foundation, shared
convicted felon as campaign
managers with George Cole.
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, and is good
friend to Bell's George Cole.
Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010, 6:00 am,
WatchOurCity.com
Supervisor Antonovich
sends formal request to
D.A. to investigate John
Noguez
Antonovich "referred" letter to
the D.A.s' office "for his review
and appropriate action".
Complaint seeks to investigate
Huntington Park mayor John
Noguez based on allegations
that his legal name is John
Rodriguez. Noguez is in a
November runoff race against
John Wong for Assessor.
Cole at Bail hearing, was
released on Thursday,
9-23-10.





(Courtesy L.A. Times)
George  Cole
Former Bell Councilman,
the Don of Southeast cities
Supervisor Zev Yaroslavski
endorsed Huntington Park
mayor John Noguez
Thursday, October 7, 2010 9:00 am
WatchOurCity.com
Degree Fraud Scandal with
BASTA Co-Founder; USC
confirms that Cristina
Garcia does not have a PhD
Garcia told media and Bell
residents she earned PhD
degree from USC. USC has
confirmed that "TO DATE THERE
IS NO DEGREE POSTED" for
Garcia.
"In a similar revelation, Huntington Park mayor John Noguez has not received
a college degree. Noguez attended California State University at Los Angeles.
Noguez is a candidate for the L.A. County Assessor, an office which will
manage over 1,200 property assessors, and oversee a one trillion dollar
property tax roll."

"Mayor Noguez is implicated in the Bell corruption scandal, having directed
rigged multi-million dollar contracts to George Cole's Oldtimers Foundation in
Huntington Park. Cole, who abruptly quit as a Bell councilman in October 2008
and was arrested on September 21, 2010 by the District Attorney's office in
an unprecedented sweep of Bell's elected officials and top administrators, is
Director of the Oldtimers Foundation, which is also under investigation by the
Attorney General's office for under reporting multi-million dollar contracts
directed his way by officials in the cities of Bell, Huntington Park, Norwalk,
Hawaiian Gardens and Fontana."