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Serving Downey and surrounding communities • Published every Friday • August 30, 2013 • Volume 1, No. 12 • DowneyCommunityNews.com
Downey Couple Receives Mayor’s Diakonia Award Downey Settles Ground Water Storage Dispute By Brian Hews
Dirty Water: Gil Cedillo Jr. Spent $15K on Lavish Meals While at Central Basin Municipal Water District By Randy Economy and Brian Hews
T
he Palms, Steven’s Steakhouse, The Dal Rae, The Vintage, The Turf Terrace. They are some of the most elegant, exclusive, and expensive dining rooms in Los Angeles. A steak can cost as much as $65, and that doesn’t account for additional ‘toppers’ of bleu cheese crumbles, mushrooms and grilled onions at $6 dollars a spoonful. But for Gilbert Cedillo Jr., a former executive with the Central Basin Municipal Water District, dining and enjoying
See CEDILLO JR. page 8
Downey residents Sam and Beverly Mathis receive the Mayor’s Diakonia Award. By Rico Dizon Mayor Mario A. Guerra presented his Mayor’s Diakonia Award to Downey residents Sam and Beverly Mathis, a married couple who has dedicated countless hours to giving back to the community. The special presentation was held at the City Council meeting on August 27, 2013. Sam & Beverly Mathis have been Downey residents for 48 years and have been married for 54 years. Both Sam & Beverly volunteer their time to assist with local events and fundraisers throughout the year. They are involved in several local organizations that work hard to make
a difference in the lives of others. Sam has been a member of the Downey Optimist Club for 35 years, has chaired the Optimist/Soroptimist Halloween Pumpkin Patch event for the last 20 years, is a Rancho Los Amigos Board Member and helps fund the annual Pediatric Carnival at Rancho. Beverly has been a member of the Assistance League of Downey for 25 years and of the Downey Soroptimist Club for 30 years. She is also Chair of the Downey Optimist Club and Downey Soroptimist Club Scholarship Programs, was recently appointed to the Downey Li-
See DIAKONIA page 7
Downey’s battle over groundwater storage is finally over. The City Council voted and approved the settlement last Tuesday ending five years of groundwater storage ‘wars.’ The settlement grants Downey rights to store 8,277 acre-feet of water per year. An acre-foot is equal to almost 326,000 gallons, The average family of four can use 400 gallons of water every day according to the EPA. Three cities — Downey, Signal Hill and Cerritos — had opposed a 2009 amendment to groundwater storage rights. All threee sued becasue the amendment didn’t give them the power to store what the wanted Signal Hill and Cerritos both approved the settlement last week. The amendment covered groundwater storage in the Central Basin Municipal Water District, which is currently under FBI investigation. It was proposed by the Water Replenishment District of Southern California and a group of seven water rights holders including Long Beach, Lakewood, Los Angeles, Huntington Park, Vernon, the Golden State Water Company and the California Water Services Company, according to records included with Tuesday’s agenda. “It is very gratifying that we finally reached
See GROUNDWATER page 7
Hews Media Group Exclusive:
INTERVIEW WITH LA COUNTY SHERIFF’S CANDIDATE PAUL TANAKA By Randy Economy Paul Tanaka is bound and determined in being elected the next Sheriff of Los Angeles County, and he has a message to his former boss, incumbent Lee Baca. “I am running Paul Tanaka to win, and I am running as hard as I can, and this campaign is going to be about talking openly and honestly with the voters of Los Angeles
County” Tanaka told Hews Media GroupCommunity Newspaper in a sit down interview this past week in Cerritos. Next year’s already tense campaign to become the “top cop” of the County of Angels has attracted nearly a half dozen challengers to Baca, and the Primary election in 2014 is still ten months away. Tanaka is a longtime political figure in the South Bay who has established solid local bases of supporters who he says are now “100 percent committed” behind his campaign to oust Baca. “I know why I am running, and I understand how challenging this campaign is going to become,” Tanaka said.
Tanaka was born at Queen of Angels Hospital in Los Angeles and has been a lifelong resident of Gardena. Now 55 years old, the married father of two is a graduate of Gardena High School back in the Class of 1976. “I remember when I ran and won an election to become President of the Gardena High School Key Club. It was an exciting time in my early life,” Tanaka recalled. “My dad sat me down after I won and he told me, ‘The success of your year as Key Club President won’t be determined by the work you do, it will be determined by the people you have surrounding you,” he said.
Tanaka has not forgotten that conversation with his father some nearly 40 years ago and said that he has applied that mantra as a local elected official and now as a candidate for Sheriff. After Gardena High School, Tanaka, who is a Baptist in faith, enrolled at the Loyola Marymount University in the Culver City/West Los Angeles area that is owned and operated by the Roman Catholic Church. “I had the best education and had the best of both worlds at Loyola Marymount,” Tanaka said. He said he still keeps in contact with many of this past school mates
See TANAKA page 9
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DIAKONIA
Continued from page 1 brary Advisory Board and has chaired the Rancho Amistad Fundraiser for the last few years. “Mr. & Mrs. Mathis are extraordinary people doing extraordinary things in our community. We are grateful for all that they do to make Downey a better place and they could not be anymore deserving of this award,” said Mayor Mario A.
www.HewsMediaGroup.com Guerra. Nominations are currently being acGROUNDWATER cepted for the Mayor’s Diakonia Award. Continued from page 1 The word Diakonia means “service” in Greek and the award will be presented throughout the year to those who perform a settlement,” Downey Mayor Mario random acts of kindness and who go out Guerra said. of their way to make a difference in the Guerra said this settlement could precommunity. Anyone wishing to nomi- vent residents’ water rates from increasnate someone for the Mayor’s Diakonia ing. Award should contact the City Council of“Forty percent of the water rate comes fice at 562-904-7274 or email at sconte@ from the (Water Replenishment District of downeyca.org. Southern California’s) costs,” he said. For the City Council, the settlement is
SEPTEMBER 6, 2013
a big relief. “The residents are winners, and that is what it is all about.,” Guerra said.
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CEDILLO JR.
Continued from page 1 expensive steaks and ‘toppers’ at these restaurants was almost an everyday occurrence. Receipts obtained via a public records request by Hews Media Group-Community News document how Cedillo Jr. spent more than $15,000 over a 23-month period to wine and dine private consultants; consultants who landed hundreds of thousands of dollars in contracts, some overseen by Cedillo, Jr. himself. CBMWD is currently involved in two criminal probes by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Cedillo Jr. is the son of current Los Angeles City Councilman Gilbert Cedillo. HMG-CN reviewed more than 40 pages from the 31-year old Cedillo’ s credit card receipts that showed he spent a great deal of time and taxpayer money in swanky LA eateries. Cedillo wined and dined Tom Calderon, who at the time, was a Board Member on a San Diego firm called Water2Save. From 2009-2012, Water2Save was paid $222,000 for ‘Landscape Services,’ including over $91,000 after Cedillo was hired. Calderon was also banking $11,000 per month as a ‘consultant’ to CBMWD The two went to the Turf Terrace for lunch and spent $53. Cedillo Jr. enjoyed a Seagram’s Gin at 2:00 in the afternoon as they dined. Calderon is a former State Assemblyman who is also laying the ground-work for a possible run for a California State Senate seat that is currently held by his brother Senator Ronald Calderon, a Democrat from Montebello. Earlier this year, FBI officials, armed
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with search warrants and guns raided Senator Calderon’s Sacramento office and carted off boxes of potential evidence in their investigation. Along with his expense account, Cedillo Jr. was paid $112,000 annually even though he did not possess a college degree. He also received $22,000 in taxpayer funds to finish his degree at the private Azusa Pacifica University. And when he drove to the airport or to seminars in Las Vegas or San Diego, he was paid 51 cents per mile, sometimes collecting over $400 for mileage. It was also revealed exclusively by HMG-CN that Cedillo Jr. oversaw the award of millions of dollars of contracts even though he had no experience or knowledge of the contracts contents. Several of those contracts were given to companies where Calderon served as a top executive. One of the very first trips Cedillo took after getting the job at CBMWD was in December 2011. Documents show that he, former CBMWD Attorney Doug Wance, and Tom Calderon attended the “Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour” at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Just hours prior to the performance Wance hosted a dinner for Calderon, Cedillo, and other executives from CBMWD at the exclusive “Strip Steak: A Michael Mina Restaurant” that is also housed at Mandalay Bay. A closer examination of the dining receipts revealed a concerted effort to wine and dine people who had submitted bids for contracts overseen by Cedillo Jr. and CBMWD. Claudia Cruz the District Director for Senator Ronald Calderon and Cedillo Jr. Contuned on NEXT PAGE
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enjoyed a ‘traditional prime rib, with garlic mushrooms’ for $66 at Rosemead’s Charley Brown’s in January 2012. Cedillo and Cruz also visited the same restaurant in March of 2012 where Cedillo Jr. turned in a receipt for himself claiming a $55 reimbursement for one ‘Charley Prime Rib’ lunch special. Bell Gardens Mayor Pro-Tem Sergio Infanzon and Cedillo Jr. dined frequently together. The two enjoyed a massive $193 lunch at The Los Angeles Palm on South Flower Street in late January 2012. They dined on Caesar Salad, Lettuce Wedges, and Prime New York Steaks that cost $46 and $50, respectively. The two longtime friends and political allies also dined at Steven’s Steak House in Commerce in March, 2012, where Cedillo Jr. had a $33 Rib Eye Steak. Former CBMWD GM Art Aguilar and Cedillo, Jr. also dined frequently, going to Steven’s Steak House in Commerce. They dined on salads, prime rib, New York Steaks, mushrooms, and onions that totaled $125 and $88. Cedillo also had a $145 dinner with Toni DeAztlan to “discuss district matters” at the Vintage Café on Bright Avenue in Uptown Whittier in April, 2012. Toni DeAztlan was the daughter of Tizoc DeAztlan; Tizoc was awarded a $40,000 contract under extremely questionable circumstances, the award process overseen by Cedillo Jr. Toni DeAztlan signed her own agreement, again overseen by Cedillo Jr., for “Election Selection Services” in November 2011 for $25,000. Tom Calderon and Cedillo frequented the Dal Rae in Pico Rivera and spent $243 at two different lunches. Both dined on prime steaks and left $39 in tips to the wait staff.
TANAKA
Continued from page 1 from both high school and college and have relied on their loyal support for years. Tanaka and Baca both began their professional careers in the Artesia/Cerritos community. Baca was a former teacher at Faye Ross Junior High School in Artesia and Tanaka’s first job was around a mile away at a Certified Public Accounting Firm on the corner of Marquardt Avenue and Artesia Boulevard. Since then Baca and Tanaka have been on similar career paths climbing the political ladder at the LA County Sheriff’s Department side by side. Now the two are fierce rivals. “The only time I have seen Lee since I left the department was a couple of months ago a trial in Downtown LA where we were both testifying. We did exchange a hand shake, but that was it,” Tanaka said. Tanaka has built an impressive team of early supporters and donors in his race against Baca. Tanaka announced his campaign plans under a blistering Southern California sun last month with around two dozen law enforcement officials and supporters at his side on a helicopter pad near Dodger Stadium. The budding politician gathered a “team” of around a dozen close friends, none of whom had ever been involved in any political campaign and started to map out a plan that would eventually get him elected to the Gardena City Council. “None of us had a clue how to run a campaign, we were running against the city hall insiders and no one ever expected us to come close in the campaign, let alone get the top vote,” he said. Tanaka said he purchased several copies of a book written by then Congressio-
nal Speaker Tip O’Neill about “how to run for political office.” The book called “All Politics is Local: And Other Rules of the Game” became the “Tanaka Campaign Bible.” “It was like reading a how to get elected to local office guide, so we followed the script of the book, and sure enough, we won that first election and sent a loud message to the old guard that Gardena needed to move forward with new blood,” he said. Since then, Tanaka has never lost an election, and has become a local hero to many in Gardena for helping save the municipality from a “certain financial meltdown” in the late 1990’s. “We were $5.2 million in the red and we were literally within hours of declaring bankruptcy but we dug in our heels,” Tanaka said. He recalled summoning Gardena’s city manager, and top executives from banks in New York in one room and told those assembled “no one is leaving this room until we get a deal to fix this crisis.” Within hours, Tanaka and Gardena city officials had avoided bankruptcy and said “we got a new lease on life.” Gardena went from having “junk bond ratings to a financial score on of AA-Stable.” His political mentor is former Gardena Mayor and Councilmember Mas Fuki, whom Tanaka called a “legend in the Japanese-American community.” Fuki, who was also a longtime aide to former Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn called Tanaka on the phone “out of the blue one day” and told him “Gardena is in trouble, and we need your help.” “It was like getting a call from God, so to speak. When Mas calls and tells you to help, you do exactly as he says,” Tanaka said. Gardena, like most cities in the South Los Angeles/South Bay area had suffered a long period of what Tanaka called “ur-
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ban decay compounded with out of control crime and gangs.” He said he is a “huge advocate and vocal supporter” of the Gardena Police Department that has around 90 sworn officers. Tanaka, who worked at the time as a Lieutenant with the much larger Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, says that he has “never pushed to have the Sheriff’s to come into Gardena as its law enforcement agency.” “The Gardena Police Department is amazing and does an incredible job in protecting our entire community,” he said. Tanaka also pointed to statistics from different government agencies that “prove Gardena is one of the safest cities in the entire South Bay.” “This campaign is about creating a new environment within the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department,” Tanaka said. During his first campaign address Tanaka said, “Our county Sheriff’s Department is in desperate need of new leadership.” said Tanaka. “As one of the most complex police agencies in the country, our Sheriff’s department’s responsibilities to the community require a leader that is engaged, trustworthy and dedicated to the future of the department. It is crucial, now more than ever, that our department’s leaders are unified in their goals to maintain safety within our jails, decrease crime in our communities and preserve a fiscally transparent department budget,” he said. “When I am elected Sheriff, I will ensure our employees have leadership that is clear, consistent and sensible.”
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