Seven vying for Hawthorne council

1) "I'm not running because I think Hawthorne is doing anything wrong," Valentine said
"2) The city has improved from 1995 when the crime was higher," Monteiro said

Wow!!! what a joke. It's soooo evident Valentine and Monteiro are part of Guidi's slate. Sounds like they don't want to upset their sponsor, Guidi., with their comments . In fact crime is higher, gangs have grown in numbers, the city has lost many many businsesses, and we still have an empty mall. They are not independent and their comments show it. I would rather vote for the other two, Vargas and English. They seem to have a sense of reality and are willing to really help the people

Wow!!! what a joke. It's soooo evident Vargas and English are part of Police Union slate. Sounds like they don't want to upset their sponsor,
Why are they running?>> Hawthorne Police Union
****This is a very important election year for our City, due to the possibility
of seeing a new Mayor and 1 to 2 City Council Members being elected. The
PAC is immensely important in helping to create possible future pay raises
and contract benefits for department personnel by contributing to those who
are favorable to our Department,
Let's not forget Danny Juarez Slate!!!!!
Vargas, English

Puppeteering in Hawthorne wrote:

1) "I'm not running because I think Hawthorne is doing anything wrong," Valentine said
"2) The city has improved from 1995 when the crime was higher," Monteiro said
Wow!!! what a joke. It's soooo evident Valentine and Monteiro are part of Guidi's slate. Sounds like they don't want to upset their sponsor, Guidi., with their comments . In fact crime is higher, gangs have grown in numbers, the city has lost many many businsesses, and we still have an empty mall. They are not independent and their comments show it. I would rather vote for the other two, Vargas and English. They seem to have a sense of reality and are willing to really help the people

Wow, that's good to know that the police support Vargas and English for Hawthorne City Council and Juarez for mayor. There must be a good reason why they didn't support Valentine, Monteiro and Guidi. I trust our Police Officers judgement, they are the smart ones in all of this. I'm voting for Vargas and English. And most importantly Danny Juarez for mayor.

Lets clarify something, its the Police Union that is supporting The Danny Juarez Slate. Thats only a handful of people. Not even which are all police officers. There are many Hawthorne police officers that support Mayor Larry Guidi and all the work he has done for them. The Danny Slate got this endorsement because they promise to give raises to law enforcement. They plan on taking from our crucial city reserve or some how raising our taxes. Our city reserve is there to protect our city while Sacramento demands money from all cities to pay towards their debt. lets not forget we have to reserve money to pay the lawsuits against our Police Department for brutality. You know what they say, birds of a feather.

Truth wrote:

Lets clarify something, its the Police Union that is supporting The Danny Juarez Slate. Thats only a handful of people. Not even which are all police officers. There are many Hawthorne police officers that support Mayor Larry Guidi and all the work he has done for them. The Danny Slate got this endorsement because they promise to give raises to law enforcement. They plan on taking from our crucial city reserve or some how raising our taxes. Our city reserve is there to protect our city while Sacramento demands money from all cities to pay towards their debt. lets not forget we have to reserve money to pay the lawsuits against our Police Department for brutality. You know what they say, birds of a feather.

"Truth"...you have no idea what you are talking about. A salary increase was not even mentioned or discussed. Juarez, English and Vargas as well as several other candidates submitted applications for endorsement, filled out a questionnaire on issues relative to Hawthorne and conducted interviews with the POA PAC fund. The Police PAC Fund chose the candidates based on those factors and the independence and integrity that they would bring to the city council and mayors office. It must be noted that Mayor Guidi did not participate in the candidate interview process.

I know, because I sat on the committee, anyone else who posts otherwise is misinformed . If you have something to say, feel free to use your actual actual name...it would lend more credibility to what you say

I would like to make a clarification in the article. It is actually Pablo Catano and Gary Parsons that are retiring from the City Council, not Mrs. Lambert. I would like to thank Mr. Parsons and Mr. Catano for their great service to our City of Hawthorne. Their commitment to public service is commendable and greatly appreciated by the residents.

I am looking forward to working with our next group of councilmembers and Mayor, whatever that make up will be. Working with residents, city staff, and businesses we can do great things for Hawthorne!

Remember to vote on Tuesday November 3rd!
www.alexvargas.org

Truth wrote:

Our city reserve is there to protect our city while Sacramento demands money from all cities to pay towards their debt..

Hey, "Truth," are you referring to the same "city reserves" you were going to raid for your developer buddies?

Aren't these the same police that protect developer investments from crime, placing their lives in harm's way for our safety, regardless of who it is?

BTW, take a look at average police salaries in LA County. I bet you can't guess which department is below the average? And who was mayor at the time?

Chris Cognac wrote:

<quoted text>
"Truth"...you have no idea what you are talking about. A salary increase was not even mentioned or discussed. Juarez, English and Vargas as well as several other candidates submitted applications for endorsement, filled out a questionnaire on issues relative to Hawthorne and conducted interviews with the POA PAC fund. The Police PAC Fund chose the candidates based on those factors and the independence and integrity that they would bring to the city council and mayors office. It must be noted that Mayor Guidi did not participate in the candidate interview process.
I know, because I sat on the committee, anyone else who posts otherwise is misinformed . If you have something to say, feel free to use your actual actual name...it would lend more credibility to what you say

Cognac, we work with you and we know what you are about. All of your responses are about low salaries and raises. If it was about money, you should have become a doctor. Oh sorry, you can barley make it as a cop. Just look at your file. By the way, what happened to your cooking show. LOL

Police are our protectors wrote:

Wow, that's good to know that the police support Vargas and English for Hawthorne City Council and Juarez for mayor. There must be a good reason why they didn't support Valentine, Monteiro and Guidi. I trust our Police Officers judgement, they are the smart ones in all of this. I'm voting for Vargas and English. And most importantly Danny Juarez for mayor.

I recently recieved mail propaganda supporting a slate, Juarez, English and Vargas. Until this I was supporting their candidacy. They say education is the key. I was unaware that Hawthorne was ranked #1 in high crime and that our crime is on the rise. The education part is that the Hawthorne Police officers Union is supporting these candidates. Councilman Juarez has been sitting on the council for two years and according to the propaganda, crime has gone up in the past two years. Is Juarez's plan to reduce crime by giving the Police Union raises? Maybe the Police should worry more about keeping us safe than politics.

Read for your self, If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck....
From: ckomathy@
Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2009 11:22 AM
To: hpoa
Subject: PAC Fund Creation

Today the Board has voted to go forward with a political action committee
(PAC) fund. The PAC will allow association members, through the HPOA Board,
the ability to contribute to a fund that will be used solely for assisting
political candidates to become elected or re-elected into office. This
ability is not merely limited to local government, but also spans LA County
and the entire State of California.

This is a very important election year for our City, due to the possibility
of seeing a new Mayor and 1 to 2 City Council Members being elected. The
PAC is immensely important in helping to create possible future pay raises
and contract benefits for department personnel by contributing to those who
are favorable to our Department and the faithful employees who serve our
City proudly on a daily basis.

To start the PAC the Board will have to create a separate account from the
main HPOA dues account. The initial start up to be transferred will be
between $15 to $30 thousand dollars (the current HPOA account has in excess
of $100,000.00). The transfer of the funds is to make the PAC account
viable due to the November election rapidly approaching. In addition to
the initial transferring of monies, we are looking at each member
contributing to the fund on a bi-weekly basis of $8.00 ($16.00 per month,
$208.00 per year). This will allow the PAC to continue to grow on a
projected scale and become an even more viable tool for our members as time
progresses.

In addition to the creation of the PAC, the fund can also be dissolved by
the HPOA Board whenever the majority of the HPOA members contributing to
the fund desire it to be dissolved. The monies from the PAC can also be
transferred back into the regular HPOA account at any anytime, for any
reason, without any penalties whatsoever.

The fund will be managed by David Gould who has over 700 hundred PAC
clients. He is the person who manages numerous other POA PAC funds,
including Inglewood. It should be noted, that all employees who contribute
money to the PAC fund have to be reported to the state. The information
divulged is only your name, amount, and the address of the HPD only.

Each HPOA member in good standing will need to send a reply back to the
Board at hpoab@cityofhawthorne.org and advise us if you want to contribute
to both actions. The first being the transferring of the initial monies
from the current HPOA funds and the second being the fund's upkeep, which
is the individual members' contribution of $8 per pay period. ALL MEMBERS
WILL HAVE 14 DAYS FROM TODAY (05-06-09) TO RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL. THE
RESPONSE DEADLINE WILL BE 05-20-09.

We, the HPOA Board, strongly believe in having the capability and means to
help ensure our members' best interests and working conditions we can
possibly get. The utilization of the PAC fund will allow us to be a
formidable voice in helping shape the future of our Department and be
politically active on a multitude of potential issues that directly impact
us and our profession. We are hoping for 100% compliance from all members
so that we all reap the benefits as a unified group and not saddling a
minority of the membership with maintaining the PAC fund. Without 'buy in'
from all members our ability to have a voice and meaningful impact on a
variety of political and candidacy issues would be severely weakened.

If you have any questions, send me an Email, see me in person, or contact
any of the additional HPOA Board members.

Thank you all. Komathy

I am very disappointed that there are some negative people in these blogs who don't want to support our police. Instead they bash them. These guys protect us all the time and now they are being criticized for supporting Juarez, Vargas and English.

I would much rather support someone our police support instead of the other guys (Guidi, Valentine, Monteiro)who are supported by developers money.

It sounds like Guidi is real upset he didnt get this endorsement. But, what does he expect? He's a 20 year politician who has gone dirty. Let's change this and vote for the good guys (and gal)

LOL

Insider wrote:

<quoted text>
Cognac, we work with you and we know what you are about. All of your responses are about low salaries and raises. If it was about money, you should have become a doctor. Oh sorry, you can barley make it as a cop. Just look at your file. By the way, what happened to your cooking show. LOL

My file is fine and I have accomplished plenty in the 18 yrs at HPD....but lets keep things on subject here, buy the way you state all of my responses are about low salaries and raises...please, find a single posting where I refer to that....if you do in fact know me, then you know that I am not about money...and what does my cooking show have to do with this issues....I am very proud of what I have accomplished in law enforcement,journalism, television and as a community member , I am here in the open...unlike cowards such as you who hide behind the anonymity of the internet...so continue if you must and attack me to divert attention from the issues at hand.

I have no intention of voting for Valentine, Monteiro and Guidi. Guidi is a shameful crook.
This city is in horrible condition.
Residents of Hawthorne wise up!!!

Guidi will win the welfare slimeball vote for sure on election day. Considering that is about 60-70% of Hawthorne, he'll probably win.

One day the citizens who actually pay the taxes in this city will get tired of this lowlife or move out of the area.

so Monteiro says he wants to create jobs. then why did he stae on the hawthorne school district school board that he wants to cut 2 months out of the classified employee's work schedule. here another question. he stated at a school board meeting that he does not do business with the city. (it's on record) then he stated that his Moneta Gardens Improvement Inc does business with the city. (it's on record) isn't this a conflict of interest. he votes on the school board for larry guidi's pay raises and guidi does business with him on the Moneta Gardens Improvement Inc issue. i smell something fishy. time for new blood in city hall.

Seniors overwhelming supporting Mayor Guidi, Ms Valentine and Mr Monteiro. They know, from their years of living in the city, that we need more financial responsibility and not more raises for police officers during a time of recession.

They also know that the figures that claim Hawthorne's crime is the worst in the South Bay are completely made up. Even if you read some of these mailers that claim that, there are incongruities throughout them. Sometimes they claim that crime has gone down 3.5% throughout the South Bay, while at the same time showing figures that show its gone down much more than that. Then later the same "3.5 %" is used but now saying Hawthorne crime has gone up that much.

Their source? The Daily Breeze? No dates. No reference to the articles. No reference to the actual study that the Breeze may have quoted. If our police are so interested in protecting us, why cant they give us real substantiated facts about our crime statistics? Dont they have the real data? Or do they rely on a newspaper that has made a living off trashing Hawthorne for decades?

The police union got promised raises by Juarez, Vargas and English. Cut and dry. I've seen the email with my own eyes. Now is not the time to be handing out raises, especially out of our emergency fund which is now at an all time high of $11 million.

I'm voting for:

Larry Guidi for Mayor
Olivia Valentine for City Council
Greg Fallon for City Council
Pat Carey for City Clerk

Help protect our city from the people who claim they will change Hawthorne... a current Councilmember and our current City Clerk who works 50-60 hours a week for a higher politician. Insiders pretending not to be a part of any of Hawthorne's problems.

Dear For Sure,
Did you read the blog by Police Officer Chris Cognac? It clearly states that raises was not discussed. That is clear. He validated this fact by using his real name (I checked with the police department and he is on the force) and was present when the interviews took place. Why did Larry not participate? If anyone knows please post.
Your blog states that seniors overwhelming support the Guidi slate. I am a senior and do not support him. I have Mr. Guidi's sign on my lawn. I was pressured to do so and I am too old to fight him. I am scared of this man and I do not want any harm to come to my daughter or her children.
Mr. Guidi started off as a good politian but over the years he has changed in the wrong direction.
Thank you to all the candidates who are running. And good luck.
PS - I would like to use my name but don't want any problems once this blog is read.

The interviews with the candidates were videotaped and we have the candidate questionnaires that were filled out by the candidates..so trust me when
I say that its not about raises...we are all very reasonable people.

It is obvious that you are against our police officers, just like Larry Guidi. Too bad you can't say anything good about them. For you to say that crime is down, is a joke. You are calling the police liars. That is wrong.

Crime HAS gone up and we are in the top 200 worst crime cities in the country according to the FBI. WOW!! There IS a problem and its thanks to the bad decisions that Guidi and friends have made.

I will support Juarez, Vargas and English because all my neighbors support them. Plus, many of my senior friends say its time for change. I can trust those three, I can't trust Monteiro and Valentine since they have depended on Guidi for everythign in this campaign