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Campaign Managers for John Noguez are
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By the Editor, WatchOurCity.com

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Wednesday, June 9, 2010

FROM THE EDITOR

ConvictedNogue
z's Campaign
Mgr. #2

Convicted
Noguez's
Campaign
Mgr. #1

Mario Beltran
Convicted March
2007 & again on
January 2009

John Noguez &
his two convicted
campaign
managers

Edward
Escareno
Convicted
December 2005

Historic Downtown L.A. -
Huntington Park Mayor John
Noguez is responsible for
assessing property values here

John
Wong

John
Noguez

Noguez takes campaign
contributions from
Owners of Historic Core
Properties He Assesses

Corruption in Huntington Park - La Opinion Newspaper 1-18-06

Saturday, May 29, 2010
Huntington Park Mayor John
Noguez runs for County Assessor
John Noguez Fails L.A. Times
Endorsement for County
Assessor

Editor's Note:
The Times editorial board
suggests John Noguez is open to
corruption and extreme politizing
of the Assessors office. Since
2003, the public record and
campaign contribution filings of
mayor Noguez gives strong
evidence to reach such conclusions.

Headline in La Opinion Newspaper on January
18, 2006. It is the largest Spanish daily
newspaper in the country.

Editor's Note:
On January 18, 2006, La
Opinion newspaper printed
the front-page headline
"Corrupcion en Huntington
Park" (no translation
needed). John Noguez
was mayor at the time.
His roommate, campaign
manager and fellow
councilman Edward
Escareno was indicted in
secret by the L.A. County
D.A.'s office then finally
convicted in L.A. Superior
Court in December 2005
for "Grand Theft of Public
funds", a felony. This
website broke the story
and La Opinion picked up
the story and printed this
headline report. Both
Noguez and Escareno are
star proteges of Rosario
Marin .

From the Editor, WatchOurCity.com
Part I - Be Worry, Don't Happy
Huntington Park, CA - On the evening of January 24, 2005 Huntington Park resident and
U.S. Marine Efren Martinez was accosted, physically pushed and threatened by a group of
well-dressed thugs driving a dark late-model sedan. The young war veteran was walking
near the corner of Stafford and Clarendon in the city of Huntington Park when he was
singled out and confronted.

A police report notes that "Martinez was approached from behind and confronted by a
man with a thick mustache and heavy eyebrows wearing a black blazer and slacks while
two other similarly dressed men stood behind the first suspect. The suspect grabbed
Martinez, pushed him against a wall". After roughing him up, he delivered a verbal threat:
"Whatever you're doing with John Noguez, let it go. The three men got into a black luxury
car, driven by a fourth suspect, and drove off."

Martinez, a veteran of military action in Iraq and Somalia where he led infantry platoons in
efforts to reign in lawlessness in those two countries, comes home falling victim, ironically,
to lawless thugs right in his own back yard, all at the hands of John Noguez, who's never
served military duty.

This real-life political crime novella was exposed by the L.A. Weekly in an investigative
report by Jeffrey Anderson "Name Game in Huntington Park: Records show that rising star
John Noguez is really John Rodriguez" (February 8, 2007).

The Marine comes home from seeing military action to run for public office in Huntington
Park. Turns out, Martinez discovered that John Noguez, the incumbent mayor up for re-
election in March 2007, was using an illegal alias, that his real name is actually Juan
Rodriguez, and filed suit in L.A. Superior Court to disqualify Noguez (it is illegal for
candidates for public office to use illegal names). Noguez had motive enough to send
gangsters in suits to scare Martinez. If not true, then why bother sending narco-style
diplomatic emissaries?

The decorated Marine went up against the shady machinery of the politically ambitious
small-time mayor John "Juan" Noguez Rodriguez, or whatever his real name is. Back then,
Noguez had aspirations to inherit Fabian Nunez's Assembly seat, then-Speaker of the
Assembly.

Now, Noguez and Martinez deal with one another on more friendlier and mutually
beneficial terms.

L.A.'s Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa quashed Noguez's ambition to jump from the triple A farm
league to the big leagues in Sacramento by instead anointing John Perez, Villaraigosa's
cousin, as successor to Nunez (the assembly district represents parts of Downtown L.A.,
Huntington Park, Maywood and Vernon). The deal struck with Noguez is that by standing
down on the Assembly race, L.A.'s mayor would reward Noguez by throwing him a bone
via rounding up endorsement for an L.A. County Assessor run.

So now, Noguez is running for L.A. County Assessor. The Times Editorial Board noted in its
May 6, 2010 edition that the Assessor needs to "focus on fair valuation and public service
rather than office politics or political advancement." The Times refused to endorse Noguez
suggesting he would be open to corruption and would politicize the position, instead
endorsing John Y. Wong (for the record, his full legal name).

Fears by the L.A. Times of a Noguez-managed Assessor's office are well founded. The
public record attests to John Noguez orchestrating rigged city contracts favoring his
friends and campaign donors, subverting public policy for private political gain, dirty
campaigning, and downright dirty political dealings.

City Contracts
Noguez continues to leave his mark on the city, in the most negative way possible for a
publicly elected official entrusted with use of millions of dollars of public funds. Into his
second four-year team, Juan "John" finds ways to direct city contracts worth millions of
dollars to his campaign contributors, not to mention outright gifts of public funds to his
closest friends.

Freshly minted as a councilman in March 2003, Noguez starts giving away city contracts
worth millions of dollars like it was Christmas in spring.

On February 2, 2004, a nearly $4 million dollar transportation contract was awarded to
George Cole's Oldtimers Foundation in rigged bidding conditions. Cole is a close political
ally and campaign contributor. Cole's offer came in 4th place, rated last by city
professional staff and an independent consultant. You would think that a contractor
bidding to provide bus service would at least have buses, or one bus even, to show a
track record. Not important to Noguez. All that mattered was that Cole was his friend;
Cole promised to use his political muscle and vote-rigging machinery to feed John's
political ambition in return for this contract, giving Cole a near bus monopoly for years to
come. Two months after contract award, Cole still had no buses. So Noguez called for a
special council session; the sole meeting agenda item was to rubber stamp Noguez's
proposal to up-front $75,000 in start-up costs so Cole could act on his contract. For good
measure, Noguez threw in an extra $25 K. George Cole could now buy buses and act on
his contract. All the other three bidders already had buses. One, the then-current bus
operator, even had a service yard in Huntington Park. "Bringing jobs to Huntington Park"
is how they spun the logic.

Another Noguez campaign contributor reaped some mighty rewards with the city attorney
contract, awarded in close-door session, no-bids. Francisco Leal has been the city
attorney ever since Noguez was in office. Leal has been exposed to be a corrupting
influence in local elections since 1999 when the L.A. Times published an expose on the
legal firm's business tactics which were targeted specifically at southeast L.A. County
cities. On the evening of January 11, 2005, Leal quit as legal counsel for the Alhambra
Unified School District on the heels of getting fired by the school board for picking his firm
in no-bid closed session. On April 20, 2005, Leal was f ired and sued by the City of
Commerce for questionable billing practices and for, what the complaint filed in L.A.
Superior Court noted, "Unjust Enrichment". The case was settled out of court with Leal
paying the city of Commerce. Then on March 28, 2008, the Torrance Daily Breeze exposes
some shenanigans with city of Carson's attorney contract and Francisco Leal . Spooked by
Daily Breeze reports exposing shady and highly questionable business development
practices used on Carson council members, Leal decides to drop his underhanded bid for
Carson's city attorney contract.

A campaign contribution to Noguez yields astronomical financial returns on investment. In
the case of city Attorney Francisco Leal, he donates a total of $1,000 to John Noguez and
$3,000 to Ofelia Hernandez for their 2003 campaign. Once they are elected, their
campaign manager and fellow councilman Edward Escareno proposes to hire Leal as city
attorney in a closed door session without competing bids, according to a published report
in the Wave Community Newspaper. Leal's original investment of $4,000 landed him a
7,500% return on investment. City attorney Leal's billings have now reached 3 times the
contractually stipulated cap, according to the latest city warrant drafts reviewed by
WatchOurCity.com. The attorney's contract stipulates a maximum of $25,000 per month
billing fees, or $300,000 per year. There is one small footnote in the contract: maximum
billing amount may increase with a majority city council vote. Leal is now billing close to
$80,000 per month, with full approval of city council; any questions about over-billing can
be directed to John Noguez. Where other cities or government agencies have fired or
sued, or dropped Leal's legal services, Huntington Park's John Noguez rewards him (Full
disclosure: Two days before the L.A. Times published a report on this website's efforts to
expose corruption in Huntington Park city council, city attorney Francisco Leal sends out a
"Cease and Desist" letter, trying to scare the editor from further activity, threatening legal
action. That was on August 19, 2004. On August 21, the Times prints a report by staff
writer Sam Quinones focusing on WatchOurCity.com's muckracking of Huntington Park
officials). WatchOurCity.com is now 6 years old.

In the case of George Cole, his 2003 contribution to John Noguez yielded even more
phenomenally astronomical ROI. On August 2, 2004, WatchourCity.com reported that "The
combined contributions by Fiesta Taxi and Oldtimers Foundation to the campaigns of
Gomez, Hernandez and Noguez was $3,500. The transportation contract is worth
approximately $3.9 Million. Their combined original investment of $3,500 landed them an
astronomical 111,428% return on investment." Even Wall Street's highly leveraged and
unregulated derivatives markets can’t beat such gains. Except that here we're dealing
with public funds.

Then there is the matter of the graffiti removal contract in March 2008, which just like the
transportation contract, was issued, not to the lowest most responsible bidder as
professional city staff had recommended, but rather, as inexplicably voted by Noguez, to
the least qualified bidder, with the highest bid amount at a $110,000 premium above the
low bid. The winning bidder is a Noguez friend.

Rigging city contracts is one thing, but outright gifts of public funds was wholly another
matter. META 2000, a shady Latino business group run by a Noguez supporter, has
received over $500,000 in outright gifts of public funds since 2003. Noguez is also a
member of the group. The gifted public money is used to put on the Mexican
Independence Day celebration on September 16 at Salt Lake Park. The city allocates more
public funds to this, up to $100,000 per event, than for fire works on the 4th of July, at
approximately $25,000. The public fund gifts to META 2000 have no strings attached, no
auditing required either. Recipients are wealthy businessmen who have not brought extra
business to the city, with some noteworthy exceptions in that they are not the kind of
business a city with families and kids would want to actively attract (more on this later).

Public Policy
Characterizing Noguez's public policy efforts in Huntington Park is like euphemistically
saying that a Narco-infiltrated city council is the result of a Cartel's graceful diplomacy.

The first public policy decisions made by a Noguez-led city council were to eliminate
pre-school programs, doubling of park fees for little leaguers from $30 to $60 per every
child, and quintupling park fees paid by the adult baseball league, where park user fees
were increased from $6,000 per year to $30,000 per year. Eliminating subsidies for family
oriented programs was counter-balanced by increasing subsidies to friends who happen
to suddenly find themselves flush with lucrative multi-million dollar city contracts and non-
profits run by friends who also coincidentally found themselves on the other end of
Noguez's largess. The Oldtimers Foundation run by George Cole, former city of Bell
councilman not only receives rigged contracts, but also takes the lion's share of federal
CDBG funds, every year raking in about $40,000, according to city council meeting
minutes, money with no strings attached, and questionably minimal auditing reports.

During the March 2003 political campaign, John Noguez and his slate (which included
current council members Ofelia Hernandez and Mario Gomez) received unprecedented
campaign contributions totaling over $126,000. For a small city of 62,000 residents and
1,200 high propensity voters, this amount represented new political fundraising
thresholds, dramatically raising the stakes for anyone wishing to run for public office. It
used to be that for about $6,000 to $10,000 a candidate could run a healthy campaign for
local city council. More conspicuously, on election eve alone (March 3, 2003), Noguez
reported campaign contributions totaling $62,000 from five individuals alone. Noguez has
demonstrated that he is good at raising money, this talent showed early. City ordinances
at the time allowed for liberal fundraising ceilings. Clearly, Noguez benefited from such
statutory munificence.

Noguez made sure all that changed once he was in office. Those city ordinances that
directly benefited him in raising bundles of cash, were now turned against any challenger
to his slate in the next election cycle. In September 2004, a "campaign limits" proposal
was floated by Noguez, then voted in as a new city ordinance in November, taking effect
on January 20, 2005, just days before the March elections.

Notwithstanding his eye-popping fundraising amounts from the March 2003 campaign,
Noguez publicly stated that the reason for introducing such new ordinance in time for the
2005 election was to limit any undue influence campaign contributors would have on
elected officials. Noguez told the Wave Newspaper "the aim is to prevent a company or
group from trying to influence a candidate or an election with large donation." Then, after
the 2005 elections (and before his 2007 reelection) he introduces a measure to repeal his
own campaign limits law. The ordinance was repealed in its entirety in August 2005 with
the election safely out of the way and now allowing leg-room to raise bundles of cash
again, all made with not even a hint of hypocrisy in the air. According to the city attorney,
this was all legit city business, nothing illegal. Indeed.

Noguez's vindictive public policy antics effectively cut-off at the knees any candidates'
chances for raising campaign cash. The city's public policy apparatus, the letter of the law,
intent and the spirit of this ordinance were carefully crafted, timed and deployed as blunt
political tools, all using public funds and public resources for private political gain. In some
quarters, these may seem like admirable qualities.

Despite draconian measures imposed by his campaign limits ordinance in 2005 (reducing
maximum campaign donations by 200% and requiring reporting of any contribution of $25
or more), Noguez made sure a couple of exceptions got in under the radar: Elba Guerrero,
whom he sponsored, and himself. On January 18, 2005, councilman John Noguez makes a
$2,000 campaign contribution to his endorsed candidate. Two days later the $1,000 per
donor campaign limits law takes effect. In November 2004, John himself receives a $5,000
contribution from a single individual, this, three months after he introduced a motion
imposing the limits. Elba Guerrero raises a little over $7,000 for her campaign plus a
$3,000 loan to herself. She reports receiving a $2,000 contribution from a John Noguez.
Guerrero won the 2005 election, along with Elba Romo (Guerrero is now named as a
defendant in a federal lawsuit by a former police officer in Huntington Park, claiming injury
due to Guerrero's undue influence on police promotion matters, tainted by her alleged
romantic liaison with a high ranking PD lieutenant ; married, councilwoman Elba Guerrero
has been spotted riding in a city's police cruiser at wee hours of the morning with her
Lieutenant friend, against city policy, and probably telling her husband she was on official
city duty).

Here's an example of just one company that was possibly looking to “trying to influence a
candidate or an election”. During the 2003 campaign, this company made the very first
official donations of $1,000 each to kickoff the campaigns of Ofelia Hernandez and Mario
Gomez on December 2002. Additionally, this same company made contributions a day
before elections on March 3, 2003 giving $5,000 each to Ofelia Hernandez and Mario
Gomez in "Non-monetary" contributions. The total combined contribution to Ofelia and
Mario was $12,000, according to public records on file with the city clerk’s office. The
company also gave an $800 monetary donation to Noguez’ campaign committee.

What could this one company possibly expect to receive in return from Ofelia Hernandez
and Mario Gomez for its $12,000 contribution?

The company? M.A.N. Properties, registered to a certain "John R. Noguez", according the
Los Angeles County Registrar/Recorders office (see WatchOurCity.com report on M.A.N.
Properties, dated August 23, 2004).

Did John Noguez benefit from his political contributions? Mario Gomez and Ofelia
Hernandez consistently vote for his proposals, giving John de facto control of the majority
voting block. Council member Ofelia Hernandez is unemployed outside of city council, has
no high school education and can barely speak, let alone write or read English, to say
nothing of her ability to comprehend city business (petty, derisive and cynical as Noguez
demonstrates to be, even appointed her as the city's "Education Czar"; an unintended
consequence is that she, Noguez and the city became laughing stock for public and
private education officials). Mario Gomez has been unemployed for most of his adult life,
relying on calling himself a businessman based on his mother owning a small paint
recycling business. Both Ofelia and Gomez have formidable financial incentives to follow
Noguez's dictates, otherwise they would be out of the $35,000 yearly salary they receive
for attending two meetings per month.

Noguez spearheaded creation of a historical commission recognizing architecturally
significant structures in this city. Part of the deal he negotiated with the L.A. County
Assessor's office, where he's a long-time employee, is that a building, if designated as
historically significant, gets a 15% property tax break. Guess who's property was first in
this city to get that designation and tax break? That's right. John Noguez's house. The city
ordinance gives Noguez a personal financial gain.

Noguez has a knack for twisting consensus in city hall to push pet projects. One project
close to his heart was pursuing a conditional use permit for a gay nightclub located on
prime commercial real estate on Pacific Blvd. The only problem, John didn't want to seem
like he was behind the scheme. It would not look good politically or otherwise if an openly
gay councilman is known to advocate for a gay nightclub in this predominantly Catholic,
family oriented city with lots of kids (Miles Avenue Elementary School, an LAUSD campus,
just 20 ft from Huntington Park city hall, is the 2nd largest elementary school in the
country). So Noguez asks his friend and political confidant, city of Bell's George Cole to
approach Huntington Park councilwoman Elba Romo with a proposal she couldn't refuse.

Romo, who self-financed her political campaign, is a Stanford grad and was AP Science
teacher at a local high school at the time. Noguez's consistent 3-vote control in the 5-seat
council had Romo as a thorn on his side. She actively questioned his public policy actions,
voted against his budget decisions, actually read and understood the city's business and
budget with all its hidden nooks and crannies; to Romo, council's Closed Session was a
legally sanctioned and protected venue for Noguez and city attorney Leal to discuss, shall
we say, activity that was not in the best public interest, and bordering on the criminal. For
this reason, Noguez's made sure Romo remained side-lined, and for the duration of her
entire one-term in public office from March 2005 to March 2009, would remain the odd-
man out. They did not speak to each other outside of council session. So it was a bit
curious, and toxically cynical, that Noguez would turn to Romo, a highly educated Catholic
woman requesting that she proxy-sponsor the gay club. The gay nightclub proposal, as
delivered by interlocutor George Cole, carried both a carrot and a stick to mull over.
Sponsor the nightclub ordinance and Noguez will allow majority votes for her choice public
policy proposals. Refuse the offer and not only will Romo continue to be sidelined, Noguez
will make sure she will never win re-election. The club went into business anyway, but
Romo did not seek re-election. For the first time in city history, the 2009 election was
called off due to a lack of candidates; Noguez appointed a replacement for Elba Romo.

Petty, vindictive and toxically cynical, such are John Noguez's leadership traits, deploying
scorched-earth political tactics backed by a vacuous public policy agenda and harnessing
public resources for fleeting whimsy and private political gain; bereft of gravitas of
purpose, he is fueled by a blind insatiable political ambition too big for his own britches. In
Part II, we shall see how the small town mayor poisons the well of local civic participation.

__________________________________________________________________
Part II - Be Worry, Don't Happy
John Noguez - A Study in Corruption
Posted Thursday June 3, 2010

For over six years now, John Noguez has held elective office in this small, Latino blue-
collar enclave, a twenty minute drive down the Alameda Corridor, southeast of Downtown
Los Angeles.

Civics - The Poisoned Well
A handful of civic and non-profit organizations hum along here in Huntington Park to any
tune John Noguez calls. There is the Salvation Army, Hub Cities, YMCA, Kiwanis, the newly
resuscitated Women's Club, the Chamber of Commerce and then there is the Oldtimers
Foundation. Additionally, there's a "community" group created by George Cole, the
Southeast Schools Coalition, which serves as cover for political campaigns and pretends
to represent residents on trumped up injustices before the Los Angeles Unified School
District.

Most of these groups, if not all, receive funding grants from the city. In theory, council
members decide which local non-profits get how much gifted public money. In practice,
Noguez calls the shots since he controls the majority 3-vote block (since March 2009, he
holds a 5-vote block out of 5 council seats). Noguez gives out funding when directors
show up to council meetings with hat in hand. In return, Noguez calls the shots as to who
gets to sit on civic boards. Nothing illegal about this practice, except that his small, petty
vindictiveness gets the better of him.

In one case, the local YMCA Board of Directors was looking for a new board candidate to
enliven its fundraising campaign. Board members unanimously agreed with Randy Sopp's
recommendation to recruit Valentin Amezquita. Sopp is owner of Chevrolet and Ford
dealerships in Bell and Huntington Park and is a second generation civic booster on both
the Kiwanis and YMCA boards. Amezquita, a long time resident of the city who attended
Huntington Park High School and graduated from USC with a major in Biology, currently
works for the L.A. City's Department of Water and Power as an environmental specialist.
Valentin also happened to have the unfortunate bad luck of exercising his civic duty by
running for city council, twice, in 2003 and 2007, against the John Noguez political cartel.
Twice he came in fourth place, with the three top vote getters being the Noguez, Gomez
and Hernandez slate (absentee ballots made a huge difference, more on this later).

Noguez threatens the YMCA board by withholding city funding if Amezquita is voted in as
board member simply because Amezquita ran a political campaign against Noguez and
gave him a run for his money. In a side note, during the 2007 political campaign, Noguez
sent out a mailer stating that Amezquita had a criminal record, a fabrication. Exactly one
week after the Noguez team damaged Amezquita's reputation and won their incumbent
seats, Mario Beltran, Noguez's campaign manager, was convicted in L.A. Superior Court of
a felony; Beltran's indictment and pending court case calendared just one week after
election day was kept a well guarded secret by the Noguez camp.

Amezquita's demographic is unusual in this city, like Elba Romo's, earned a university
degree, comfortably middle class, and holds a professional job, compared with the city's
majority demographic profile. The Amezquitas and Elba Romos of Huntington Park are not
the kind of folks Noguez wants around town, contrast that with the uneducated and
unemployed fellow council members Noguez's surrounds himself with, including his
campaign managers, each a convicted felon, and one gets a better idea of John Noguez's
notions of civics, public policy agendas and intent with public funds worth millions of
dollars.

In another example, the threat leveled at Marine Corps Martinez in his run-in with John
Noguez's Narco-emissaries was made good. On March 8, 2007, the former Platoon leader
was in front of city hall when he takes a call from Ron Garcia, Chair of the Board of
Directors of the Huntington Park Chamber of Commerce who's full-time job is Community
Representative for Southern California Edison. On the spot, Ron fired Martinez from his
job. Martinez was employed by the Chamber which is recipient of city subsidies. That day,
March 8, also happened to be election day and Noguez wanted to make sure he would
inflict lasting damage to his political opponents reaching way beyond the political arena.
Martinez recovered and moved on to bigger and better opportunities outside of
Huntington Park. He is now Director of the neighboring Florence-Firestone Chamber of
Commerce and holds no grudges.

Hub-Cities Consortium, a non-profit located on the northwest corner of Seville and Zoe in
Huntington Park, was in 2008 the subject of an L.A. County investigation into allegations
of missing funds and computer equipment. John Noguez is a board member. Investigators
discovered that tens of thousands of dollars and computer equipment could not be
accounted for. Hub-Cities defended itself in what seemed to be acknowledgement of
sloppy record keeping, yet the money and the equipment remained unaccounted for.

The Women's Club was recently resuscitated in this city. Like Kiwanis, middle-class
business leaders ran these civic organizations. They had the leisure, the time and money
in the bank to devote to civic duties; while the businessmen busied themselves with
Kiwanis, their stay-at-home post-war wifes ran the Women's Club. The Women's Club
died a slow death precipitated by White Flight and coming wave of Latino residents which
now make up the overwhelming population here. Kiwanis is still running strong. However,
the Womans Club has a unique twist in its zombie life. Councilwoman Ofelia Hernandez
and her sidekick re-started the organization. Two Latinas, unemployed, nothing wrong
with that. But their husbands are not business owners or even professionals to sustain
such civic enterprises. Not a problem. Ofelia, Noguez's sure vote in council chambers,
organized a beauty contest to raise the civic profile of the Women's Club. Looking for
business sponsors, she approached a few businesses for donations. One of those
business, preferring to remain anonymous, was taken aback, not so much by Ofelia's
request for freebies of jewelry for the beauty pageant, but by her outright demand for
earrings for herself as well. Ofelia and her team also pulled off getting cash donations for
the supposed civic beauty pageant event. One of Ofelia's friend and co-organizers
entered her own daughter as a contestant who came in 4th place. That wasn't how the
scheme was to go down. The 1st Place winner was disqualified from receiving the winning
gifts of jewelry and a few thousand dollars in cash on a technicality. Then, bizarrely, the
2nd and 3rd place winners were disqualified for minor inconsequential reasons. Until
finally, the 4th place winner, Ofelia's friend's daughter, was left with the crown and the
cash.

Then there is the matter of the Oldtimers Foundation, the too-big-too-fail local non-profit
which extends its tentacles to gobble up and usurp every available contract from
Huntington Park, the County, West Basin Water District and surrounding cities for services
such as bus transportation, housing services, million dollar toilet replacement contracts,
Senior services, Meals-on-Wheels, Head-Start, HIV-Aids clinic, Senior housing
management and development services and other sundry community services which serve
to suck the air out of and elbow out other non-profits. The be-all-do-all strategy grosses
George Cole tens of millions in operating budget, and personally nets him around
$300,000 a year in combined salaries. It's no wonder he called it quits as Bell councilman.

Control of Senior housing projects is crucial to winning elections here.

The way Huntington Park officials give all manner of grants and contracts for Senior
housing management services to George Cole's Oldtimers Foundation, whether by hook
or crook, one would think Cole has a virtual monopolistic hold. It is not just a business
relationship, but a highly effective symbiotic political machinery that is being fed. The dirty
little secret about winning election strategies is that absentee ballots and vote by mail
campaigns win elections here. You can't control the outcome at a voting booth (to a
limited extent).

Ahh, but you can control results with absentee voters, and whomever controls senior
housing, controls absentees and elections results. Cole has direct access to senior
citizens in housing projects through management contracts with the city - residents with
excellent absentee ballot voting records - and can virtually guarantee a landslide election
for any candidate that feeds him multi-million dollar contracts. Combine that with the fact
that the Oldtimers headquarters building on Gage Avenue hosts a voting precinct on
election day staffed by women volunteers who all happen to recipients of Noguez's
largess who deploy tricks that are outright illegal, and you've got near risk-free election
results, even if strong competition enters the race.

Why the County Registrar/Recorder's office allows Cole's Oldtimers Foundation, a highly
politicized non-profit organization with a most active and direct stake in Huntington Park
election outcomes, the recipient of millions of dollars in city contracts from elected officials
here, to host a polling station inside its building is highly questionable, and doesn't serve
the public interest and defies common sense.

Other city hall precincts are also staffed by Noguez funded women who are members of
councilwoman Ofelia Hernandez's circle. Their tasks on election day is to help voters with
using the voting booths. Two things they are trained to do: first they leave open
campaign pamphlets of Noguez and team laying prominently displayed right next to voters
inside the precinct and next to voting booths. This is illegal. Second, if a voter asks help
with using the voting machine, the staffer goes over and quite helpfully says,"this is how
you use the machine, you vote for Noguez and press here, you vote for Ofelia and press
here", also an illegal tactic.

Next, since voters no longer have to show ID's at the voting booth, a most sophisticated
scheme is underfoot back at campaign headquarters on election day. Voter lists are at
hand. One list is of high propensity voters; the challenge is to convince them to vote your
way with robo-calls. The other list contains names of voters who are registered but never
bother to vote. They too get called on election day, several times a day. The intent is not
actually to get them to go out and vote, but to see that they don't vote at all; here's why.
All the while your team goes to the Home Depot on Slauson and State Streets, gather up
day laborers, give them T-shirts with your campaign logo, chauffeurs them around to the
different voting precincts, give them a false name and an address culled from the no-vote
list, and send them inside the precinct to vote for Noguez; if they need help, some very
friendly ladies are ready to help them.

Landslide victory is guaranteed for Noguez as happened during the 2007 election, with
George Cole delivering the votes. You can bet safely that Cole will keep getting multi-
million dollar contracts from Huntington Park officials as long as Noguez and his team are
in office.

It seems that only way for the city to regain a healthy balance, civic, and otherwise, is to
have John Noguez leave the city, by way of being elected L.A. County Assessor. Except
that the corruption will be taken to a whole new level county wide.

_______________________________________________________________________

(The following is reprinted from
L.A. Times May 6, 2010)

L.A. Times Endorses
John Y. Wong for
L.A. County Assessor
The businessman would keep the
L.A. County assessor's office
focused.

Every now and then, California
voters snap, and it's no
wonder. It's all those irritating
questions: Should we change
the law to help out an
insurance company? How
about a giant utility? Who
should we put on the Board of
Equalization? Who should be
the next county assessor?

It's not that we don't
appreciate the privilege of
voting. It's just that
Californians go into each
election season expecting to
be able to select their leaders
and find out that they instead
have to wade through complex
ballot measures and figure out
what a Board of Equalization is.

Four years ago, The Times'
editorial page tried to be
helpful by suggesting that
some jobs really ought to be
eliminated, like, say, lieutenant
governor. Perhaps others, like
county assessor, ought to be
appointed.

We haven't grown any fonder
of the office of lieutenant
governor, but on reflection we
realize that choosing among
county assessor candidates is
one of those burdens that
voters must continue to
shoulder. The assessor runs
the office that appraises real
estate and calculates property
taxes, and the Los Angeles
County Board of Supervisors
would have an unmistakable
incentive to appoint an
assessor who would always
value property on the high
end, to maximize county tax
receipts. Voters would more
likely want an assessor who
would tilt toward the low side,
to keep taxes down. What
every county actually needs is
an assessor who doesn't tilt at
all but whose decisions are as
accurate and as evenhanded
— and as free from political
influence — as possible.

There's the rub. Voters must
try to pick someone who is
relatively free from politics,
because they don't want
valuation decisions being
made as rewards or
punishments for political
support. We don't want to end
up like neighboring San
Bernardino County, whose
assessor resigned last year
and is currently under
investigation for political
corruption. But voters must
make their decision using the
political process and without
knowing much at all about the
candidates.

This can lead to some
interesting results. Former Los
Angeles County Assessor
Kenneth P. Hahn, elected in
1990, did a credible job
through his tenure, but it's
fairly certain that he won that
first race because at least
some voters thought they
were getting county
Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, or
at least a member of his
family. They weren't. The
assessor was not from the
legendary Hahn dynasty. By
the way, there's a Hahn on
this year's assessor ballot as
well, also unrelated to the late
county supervisor, the judge
and former mayor or the
current City Council member
and candidate for lieutenant
governor.

Those who want to be elected
and aren't named Hahn have
sometimes taken more brazen
approaches. In Tennessee,
assessor candidate Byron
Looper legally changed his
middle name from "Anthony"
to "Low Tax." And voters
elected him. He was eventually
indicted for official misconduct,
and later convicted of and
imprisoned for murdering an
election opponent.
Fortunately, no Los Angeles
candidates match his record,
although there is one repeat
candidate on the ballot who
changed his middle name to
"Lower Taxes." But why go
halfway? If a candidate is
going to play the name-
change game, he might as well
change his first name to
"Assessor" and try to run as
the incumbent.

In recent years, some of Los
Angeles County's best
assessors, including the
recently retired Rick Auerbach,
were those appointed by the
Board of Supervisors to fill a
vacancy and then reelected for
one or more terms by voters.
That kind of antic always
seemed inappropriate when
the board tried to pick the
sheriff ahead of election day,
but for assessor it seemed like
the best of both worlds — the
supervisors in effect nominate,
but voters still have the power
to oversee their decision. This
time, though, when Auerbach
left, the board chose a man
who also is planning to retire
and who is not seeking the
post at the ballot box.

A majority of the 13 assessor
candidates are currently
employees who have worked
a decade or two — or three —
in the assessor's office and
think they have what it takes
for the top job. Most of them
don't. Experience is good, but
voters should look for an
assessor with more than
expertise in real and personal
property valuation, and more
than complaints about how
people in one division of the
office ought to do things more
like people in another division
of the office. Candidates
should have sufficient
management experience to be
able to lead an office of nearly
1,500 employees with an
annual budget of more than
$160 million, appraising 2.5
million parcels of property.

Several candidates have
previously held political office
or have worked on politicians'
staffs, and that should by no
means be considered
disqualifying. Huntington Park
Councilman John Noguez is a
longtime employee of the
assessor's office and has won
support from Auerbach and
two county supervisors.

Of all the candidates,
however, the most
appropriate choice for the job
is businessman John Y. Wong.
Although not a deputy
assessor, Wong — who has
run before — knows the office,
its staff and its processes well
through his role as chairman of
the Assessment Appeals
Board. He has run successful
businesses and is an expert
on the principles and
technicalities of real estate
valuation. He understands the
issues that face property
owners in an era of fluctuating
values, and he is the best
candidate to keep the focus on
fair valuation and public
service rather than office
politics or political
advancement.

(Credit: L.A. Times Editorial)

Tuesday, June 1, 2010; updated Thursday June 3, 2010
John "Juan" Noguez:
A Study in Corruption

HEADLINE REPORT

L.A. County Assessor Race

Noguez and Wong
Forced Into a November
Runoff for Assessor
Editor's note: Noguez, who outspent
Wong 10 to 1 and got 2 votes for 1 of
Wong's, did not get 51% of the vote.

L.A. County Assessor Results
John Noguez: 27.86%; 181,223
John Wong: 12.68%; 82,471
(100% Precincts reporting; Source:
L.A. County Registrar/Recorder)