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August 4, 2010
5:20 p.m.
LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon and his wife Flora have been slammed with 24 felony charges ranging from voter fraud to perjury.
Lets face it. Alarcon and his political career is over, and he needs to resign from the Los Angeles City Council as soon as possible.
Alarcon and his wife's indictment on perjury, voter fraud and other crimes, was from a result of a 15-month investigation into allegations the the couple illegally claimed a Panorama City house as his residence.
The 24-count felony indictment was returned late Friday by the Grand Jury and it was unsealed this morning. Alarcon, 56, and his wife, Flora Montes De Oca Alarcon, surrendered and were arraigned before Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza.
The District Attorney’s office requested bail set at $45,000 for Alarcon and $20,000 for his wife.
The Public Integrity Division launched an investigation after receiving a written complaint that the councilman was living at a residence outside his district, said Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Lentz Snyder, assistant head deputy of the Public Integrity Division.
Several of his key staff members from Alarcon, appeared before the Los Angeles County Grand Jury last month to testify against him. Look for a who's who of Los Angeles City Hall to testify in this upcoming trial.
I hope this trial is televised....
Alarcon Chief of Staff Saeed Ali, Communications Director Becca Doten, Legislative Aide Ackley Padilla (who is the brother of state Sen. Alex Padilla)., Office Manager Lidia Soto and his Executive Assistant Nancy Hodges were all called to appear before the Grand Jury to testify in the investigation. Look for all of them and many other to be on the "witness list" in the upcoming trial.
Also considered a key witness will be his cousin John de la Rosa who serves as his district director. A total of 31 people appeared before the Grand Jury.
Alarcon, who was first elected to the Los Angeles City Council’s 7th District in 1993, served as a State Senator from 1998 until 2006, when he termed out. Alarcon was elected to the state Assembly on Nov. 5, 2006. In that same election, voters approved Measure R, changing term limit conditions that allowed Alarcon to again run for the City Council.
On Dec. 11, 2006, Alarcon declared his intent to become a City Council candidate, claiming that he lived at 14451 Nordhoff St. in Panorama City, a residence owned by his wife. He also re-registered to vote, claiming the same address.
He was elected to the 7th District council seat in March 2007 and re-elected in March 2009.
In the summer of 2007, Alarcon tried unsuccessfully to have the 7th District’s boundaries redrawn to include his wife’s Sun Valley home.
The indictment charges him with two felony counts of filing a false declaration of candidacy on Dec. 6, 2006 and again on Nov. 6, 2008. The indictment charges him with seven counts of voter fraud, alleging he fraudulently voted in elections in 2007, 2008 and 2009. He’s also charged with nine counts of perjury, including three for allegedly filing false driver’s license applications.
Flora Montes de Oca Alarcon is charged with three counts of perjury for allegedly claiming that she lived at the Nordhoff address on a Provisional Voting Ballot, in registering to vote and on a driver’s license application. She also is charged with three counts of voter fraud.
3 comments:
We need honest government with integrity.
“Good leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion”
Public confidence in the integrity of the Government is indispensable to faith in democracy; and when we lose faith in the system, we have lost faith in everything we fight and spend for.
YJ Draiman for LA City Council
The state of political affairs today is our fault
Our fault for electing politicians based on sound bites, party affiliation and issues that take away from others (gay rights, birth control) rather than benefit us all…
Our fault for caring less about the structural issues (campaign finance, tax code) that affect every government decision and more about calling people names…
Our fault for expecting the government to provide a lifestyle for us that is not the role of government to provide and is unsustainable in the long run anyway…
Our fault for passing responsibility on to others instead of looking at ourselves and making the tough decisions to save for education, move for a job, etc…
Our fault for lacking even the most basic understanding of economics, political science, historical events and everything that gives context to decision making…
Our fault for paying more attention to DWTS than START, watching more television than reading books, shopping the mall instead of walking in the park…
Our fault for ravenously consuming the benefits of a developed nation without investing in the education, infrastructure and resources that made it great…
Our fault for believing that there are easy answers to difficult problems, that things would be better with a different president or different senator, that our debt problems can be solved by making politicians pay for their own healthcare or that our jobless rate would go down if we closed the borders to competition…
Compiled by: Draiman for Honesty and Integrity
Politicians should be paid commissions only – performance based compensation R1
I say that politicians should be paid - compensated on a performance based via commissions only, for example on every tax dollar that they save. Example, if a politician cuts government spending 1 Million dollars, the tax payers would pay him X% of 1 Million.
If it hits them in the pocket, they are going to be much more cautious how they spend our money.
A politician running for office should reimburse any matching funds after the election.
A politician should run the country like any non-profit corporation, with checks and balances, fiscal responsibility and not committing funds that our great grandchildren would have to pay.
Any politician who violates the oath of office will lose his job and forfeit his benefits and pension.
It is time we should hold our politicians accountable for their deeds and behavior, any deviation from honesty and ethics will be punished severely.
Honesty, integrity and accountability is the motto.
YJ Draiman, Energy/Utility Auditor
Draiman is a candidate for the Mayor of Los Angeles
PS
We should not rush to give our money to foreign countries, if we do give, it is a loan and must be repaid; the loans should also be collateralized with real estate and assets of the receiving country.
Value-based Management of the Government
Value-based management makes an explicit link between a government's strategic and operating decisions and their impact on the country and its citizen’s benefits. It does so in part by aligning politicians incentives with citizens' interests.
Politicians should earn the public trust, which, in turn, is based on openness and accountability. Excessive compensation, self-dealing and hidden agenda’s are detrimental to earning public trust.
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