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MAYWOOD
Maywood's city attorney Francisco Leal signed off on gift of public funds to mayor Aguirre. Leal is now the city attorney in Huntington Park. La Opinion published a report on August 12, 2010 exposing that Leal invoiced half a million dollars from July 2009 to April 2010. In comparison, L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich makes less than $300,000 salary. Remember, councilman Felipe Aguirre and mayor Ana Rizo are who spearheaded Maywood's drive to allow Bell's Rizzo and Spaccia take over its municipal operations back in March 2010 (see report from March 8, 2010). And it was Felipe who authorized Spaccia to stage Maywood's financial collapse as pretext for Bell to assume control of Maywood's municipal operations, eating a huge chunk of its operating budget (see WatchourCity.com report "Bell staged Maywood's municipal failure", August 11, 2010) According to city sources, Maywood mayor Felipe Aguirre received a grant for $95,000 to make improvements to a storefront locality he uses as his official city address. That same address is also used as the official base of operations for Grupo Pro Union, a front civic organization run by Aguirre. In Aguirre's official capacity as mayor, he directed city staff to award Pro Union a lead abatement contract totaling $360,000. Pro Union has no history or technical expertise in lead abatement procedures. The State of California certifies lead abatement contractors and workers. There is no record that any of Pro Union's members are certified lead abatement technicians. Most municipal ordinances allow homeowners to do their own lead abatement. However, apartment dwellings, which Aguirre's Pro Union was targeting, are considered commercial properties, and, thus, are required to use professionally certified abatement technicians. Felipe Aguirre's home address, located on a commercial street corridor, is actually zoned for office and retail space. Sources confirm that city payments, known as warrant drafts, for the $95,000 storefront improvement were made out directly to Felipe Aguirre. Reportedly, Aguirre had problems paying the vendor he contracted to carry out facade improvements to his property, then had trouble paying the vendor, and eventually defaulted on the payment. WatchOurCity.com profiled Aguirre twice, back in November 26, 2006 ("The straight dope on Felipe Aguirre") and again on November 4, 2009 ("Our own little Afghanistan: Felipe Aguirre wins placing 3rd with a 5- vote margin"). The now defunct L.A. City Beat also wrote an investigative report on Felipe Aguirre, originally exposing Aguirre's $95,000 gift to himself. Good thing WatchOurCity.com grabbed some juicy quotes from the Beat, since its web presence has vanished. Here's what WatchOurCity.com posted on November 4, 2009: Felipe Aguirre Wins Back Council Seat Placing 3rd with 5 Vote Margin The Editor, WatchOurCity.com Maywood, CA - Felipe is a happy camper after barely squeaking by into third place to regain his city council seat in Maywood in Tuesday's election. Sergio Calderon and Thomas Martin placed 1st and 2nd with 971 and 897 votes each respectively. Felipe scored a distant third with 860 votes, ahead of fourth place candidate Ramon Medina by a margin of 5 votes. The convicted ex-councilman from Bell Gardens, Mario Beltran and his political sponsor State Senator Gil Cedillo were heavily involved in the Maywood election. Beltran also managed the campaign for another election winner, Sergio Infanzon in Bell Gardens, an LAUSD employee with a penchant for resume exaggeration. The now defunct L.A. City Beat wrote a report on Aguirre and his shady dealings at city hall: "As City Beat reported in the run-up to the recall, Aguirre has accepted $95,000 in city money to refurbish his business and home since taking control of the mayor’s office. City checks from Maywood’s Commercial Façade Program were supposed to have been made out to V and M Ironworks, the contractor who performed the work; instead, even Aguirre says, they were improperly made out to his business partner, Hector Alvarado. How that violation of city policy happened remains a mystery. Also a mystery is how the money was spent: our request for an itemized bill has so far turned up nothing." Felipe was also quoted in the L.A. Times just last week stating bluntly that he wants to take control of an LAUSD campus up for grabs to the lowest bidder, Maywood Academy High. Felipe must be salivating what with the Academy's multi-million dollar budget all up for grabs. Felipe Aguirre is also angling to take control of the three water companies serving Maywood. The water companies also have juicy budgets. Somehow, Councilman Felipe can't fix his own budget woes in Maywood. But he'll take your kid's lunch money and taint your water. WatchOurCity.com also posted an expose on Felipe's political aspirations, foibles and a past shadier than his mustache. Felipe once ordered the U.S. flag in front of Maywood city hall to be flown upside down with the Mexican flag on top, right side up. The City Beat report went on to say about Felipe: "Aguirre’s questionable relationships extend beyond Maywood. This past fall, Aguirre and his council allies attended several Southeast DemsUnited events for the Obama campaign. Aguirre and state senator, and California Latino Caucus chair, Gil Cedillo, were the featured guests. Those events were organized by Cedillo’s troubled protégé, Bell Gardens councilman Mario Beltran – who, as Jeffrey Anderson documented in both City Beat and the L.A. Weekly, has had repeated run-ins with the law. Perhaps most infamously, Beltran was convicted of filing a false police report last year after a wild night with a downtown prostitute. Shortly thereafter, Los Angeles County District Attorney spokesperson Sandi Gibbons told Anderson that Beltran was under investigation by county and state D.A.’s offices, as well as the FBI, for his involvement in a crooked towing scheme." Just one little catch: there are over 100 absentee ballots which remain uncounted. With the election so close for Felipe, it is really a tossup. So I would hold off on popping any champagne cork. Who knows, Felipe may end up being the looser, right? Fat chance." |
| The Editor, WatchOurCity.com Tuesday, August 17, 2010, 6:00 a.m. Maywood's former city attorney Francisco Leal OK'd $95,000 city grant to mayor Felipe Aguirre & $360,000 lead abatement contract to Aguirre controlled civic group |
| In Maywood, FBI is looking into civic activism as cover for improper spending, while in Bell, BASTA's activism is cover for making lots of money for Leo Briones, a Latino Caucus insider and friend of Bell's city managers Carrillo & Rizzo. |
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