Huge Surprise: Xavier Alvarez Pleads "Not Guilty"

click on image to enlarge

Yesterday, Thursday, Xavier Alvarez was finally arraigned in Superior Court. Wes Woods at the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reported the proceeding. It seems the cat's got Xavier's tongue, as Woods reports that Alvarez "wouldn't answer and just kept looking to the left, right, or downward."

The Court set February 24, 2009, for the preliminary hearing.

It seems to us here at the Insider that ol' Xavier is trying to run the clock, knowing that until more happens with this felony charge that he retains his seat on the Three Valleys Municipal Water District board.

Or maybe Norma Torres is trying to get him a position on a state board somewhere. You know how these things work: Multi-level marketing meets the Peter Principle.

Or maybe Hilda Solis will take him to Washington with her--if she doesn't take Sam Pedroza with her.

By the way, look what happens when you google "Xavier Alvarez..." Google shows that there are 1,500,000 references to him on the web. Truly a man smiled upon by fame if not by fortune.

We're Still Going to Have Xavier Alvarez to Kick Around

Xavier Alvarez "Remorseful"

"Rambo" Alvarez, the Three Valleys Municipal Water District Director who gained nationwide infamy for claiming to have been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor will not go to jail for his crime. Will Bigham, in a noon article on the Daily Bulletin website, reports that Alvarez will get three years probation, pay a $5,000 fine, and do one year community service (Hey! Does this mean the Water Board meetings don't count as service to the community?). More here at the KNBC website.

Judge R. Gary Klausner declined to impose a term of probation (presumably recommended by the federal probation officer) of 5 months home detention. Such a term would have in all probability allowed the Three Valleys Board to declare his seat vacant, which they would have done after 90 days and 1 second, and would have allowed them to appoint a replacement--probably Luis M. Juarez, whom "Rambo" edged out by a vote count of 3854 to 3804 in the November 2006 election.

It is now apparent that the voters of Division I (South Pomona) will have to make the effort to recall Alvarez, or else suffer representation by this "remorseful" buffoon for another two and a half years.

Every area has it's own cross to bear: Claremont has Mayor Taylor of the Porcelain Convenience and South Pomona has Xavier Alvarez.

For your edification, we provide Xavier's official biography from the Three Valleys website. (note the disclaimer at the bottom which was placed on all directors' biographies after Xavier's prevarications hit the press).


(No word yet on whether the LA County District Attorney is going to pursue fraud charges against Alvarez for the some $4,000 he claimed for medical insurance for his former wife. He says he paid it back, so no harm no foul.)

These Case are All Inapposite...*

Will the Real Xavier Alvarez Please Stand Up?

A Daily Bulletin article yesterday by Will Bigham brought us the news that Xavier "Rambo" Alvarez was dealt a setback yesterday in federal District Court. You may recall that Alvarez has gone around for years claiming that he won the Congressional Medal of Honor. We have covered this saga many times: first here, and most recently here.

The District Court Judge, R. Gary Klausner, threw out the motion to dismiss filed by Xavier's public defender, Briana Fuller. She argued that his speech was political speech and was protected by the First Amendment. The judge wasn't buying it.

You've got to admire the majesty, certitude, and finality of the legal language concluding the decision:

As Defendant’s statement does not merit the protection of the First Amendment, the statute under which Defendant is being prosecuted, 18 U.S.C. § 704, cannot be deemed unconstitutional as applied in this case. Furthermore, a legislative act is facially unconstitutional only when no set of circumstances exist under which the act would be valid. United States v. Salerno, 481 U.S. 739, 745 (1987). In finding that the application of 18 U.S.C. § 704 is not unconstitutional as applied here, this Court therefore concludes that the Act is not unconstitutional on its face.

In light of the forgoing, the Court DENIES Defendant's Motion to Dismiss.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

See here for the Bulletin's copy of the entire decision.

The statement at issue by Alvarez, the first one he was cited for (there is now another) was, “I’m a retired Marine of 25 years. I retired in the year 2001. Back in 1987, I was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. I got wounded many times by the same guy. I’m still around.”

Apparently so. Meg, over at M-M-M-My Pomona, yesterday reported a "Xavier Sighting" at Los Jarritos II in Pomona.

*Our title comes from a phrase in the decision of the Court, "These cases are all inapposite..." We had to look it up too. It means the attorney cited cases that don't apply.

Mustachioed Malingerer No More

Alvarez Arrives in Court Clean-Shaven
Still a Malingerer, no longer Mustachioed

The Daily Bulletin reports that yesterday, in Pomona Superior Court, Xavier Alvarez had his arraignment postponed to December 18, 2008. He was charged in September with misappropriating public money, insurance fraud, and grand theft of personal property in connection with the allegation that he fraudulently placed his ex-wife, Juanita Ruiz, on his insurance benefit at Three Valleys Municipal Water District, where he was elected a Director on 2006. In 2007 it came to light that Alvarez had been falsely claiming, among many other falsely-claimed things, that he had won the Congressional Medal of Honor. Turns out that is a federal crime, and he was convicted earlier this year.

The Bulletin says that before yesterday's proceeding, Alvarez was asked if he had any comments. He is reported to have replied, "Comments about what? I ain't got nothing to say."

We have covered Alvarez in this space previously, ad nausem. See here for one of the many examples, or search the blog for "Xavier Alvarez".

We can only imagine Alvarez clean shaven, and we do so nearby courtesy of Photoshop.

It may be that Alvarez subscribes to the "Tony" Rezko school of facial-hair innocence, reported here, under the subhead: "Can a mustache affect a person's credibility?".

Meanwhile, Xavier's patroness, Norma Torres, is starting her new job in the State Assembly

H/T to Meg for the appellation, "Mustachioed Malingerer"

The Xavier Alvarez Saga Continues

Our favorite local water official, Xavier Alvarez, has returned to the headlines the past couple weeks. Alvarez, South Pomona's representative to the Three Valleys Municipal Water District board, was back in Pomona Superior Court for a February preliminary hearing on felony insurance fraud, grand theft, and public corruption charges.

Alvarez pleaded guilty last year to a federal misdemeanor for falsely claiming to be a Medal of Honor recipient.

The current local charges stem from Alvarez's use of his Three Valleys health care benefits to cover his ex-wife, Juanita Ruiz, whom Alvarez falsely listed as spouse. The benefits to Ruiz amount to about $4,000, which put it at grand theft level.

The Claremont Courier's Tony Krickl blogged about Alvarez's defense at the February preliminary hearing. According to Krickl, Alvarez's public defender claimed that Alvarez was ignorant of what the health benefits application's definition of "spouse" is. If this line of thinking sounds familiar, you may recall that Alvarez's defense in last year's federal case was that lying was a form of speech protected under the first amendment.

Krickl wrote that Alvarez's defense did not sit well with the judge:

Despite the alleged confusion, Alvarez never bothered to ask the staff at Three Valleys Municipal Water District if Ruiz was a legal spouse or not, according to Three Valleys staffer Kirk Howie, who testified in court. According to testimony from Michael Holguin, a DA investigator working the case, Alvarez no longer lives with his ex-wife but maintains "a friendly relationship" with her, seeing her once or twice a month.

Judge Charles Horan didn't buy into the defense's ignorance argument. "You don't need a legal definition or a bylaw dictionary handed to you to know what a spouse is," he said.

Alvarez doesn't seem to be in any hurry to strike a deal in the current charges. It may be because a felony conviction would result in his automatic removal from the Three Valleys board, a seat he seems to covet above all else. We're not sure what Alvarez has against Three Valleys, but he sure seems intent on showing up his fellow boardmembers.

Another factor in Alvarez's thinking may be the five years in state prison he faces, though dragging the public and the court through the spectacle of a trial in a matter that he's pretty much stipulated to doesn't really set him up for leniency should he be convicted at trial.

Alvarez certainly makes an easy target. He might as well be wearing a "Hit Me" sign on his back. The Courier's publisher, Peter Weinberger, even got into the act, chiming in recently with an opinion piece last Saturday titled, "I don't know why they don't get it."

Weinberger compared Alvarez's refusal to step down from the Three Valleys board to Illinois' ex-Governor Rod Blagojevich hanging on to his office after public sentiment turned against him. Weinberger called on Alvarez to spare himself and everyone else by stepping down from the water board:

We understand people are innocent until proven guilty, but with the case of Water Board Member Xavier Alvarez, his actions not only reflect on him, but the Water Board in general. Unfortunately, all the Board members can do is let this play out before they get rid of him.

Mr. Alvarez, you need to resign. Do taxpayers a favor. You rarely say anything at the board meetings, which makes us think you’re simply there to collect $200. Pay the fine, cut a deal and begin the rest of your life. You’d be surprised at how things can turn around over time.

Alvarez was back in court yesterday for an arraignment hearing, as the Daily Bulletin reported. A trial was set for 8:30am on April 29th.

LA County Superior Court Image

(Click to Enlarge)

Xavier Alvarez Redux - UPDATED

Three Valleys Municipal Water District Board Member Xavier Alvarez is in the news again. You may recall that Alvarez is facing federal criminal charges for falsely claiming to be a Medal of Honor winner.

Alvarez, who represents Pomona on the Three Valleys board, won election in November, 2006, in no small part because of his endorsement from Pomona Mayor Norma Torres, who was apparently more concerned with building a political machine manned by delusional fools than with getting qualified candidates elected.

A Daily Bulletin's article by Will Bigham yesterday indicated that Alvarez's crack legal team is pursuing a novel legal strategy. According to the article, Alvarez is not even trying to contest the fact that he lied about his Medal of Honor. Instead, he is claiming that the law under which he is being prosecuted, the Stolen Valor Act of 2005, is unconstitutional.

Alvarez's public defender has filed a motion to dismiss the charges because the right to lie is protected under the First Amendment. According to the Bulletin article:

In the Dec. 22 motion to dismiss, Alvarez's court-appointed public defender, Brianna J. Fuller, argues that claims such as Alvarez's are protected by the First Amendment.

"Falsehoods are not outside the realm of First Amendment protection, and therefore restrictions on false statements must be supported by a strong government interest and must be directly related to that interest," says the motion.

"The Court's scrutiny of the law should be especially demanding here, where the statement was made by an elected official, during a public meeting, on an issue of public concern: his qualifications for office.

"The Government's stated interest in this law, protecting the reputation of military decorations, is insufficient to survive this exacting scrutiny."

While elected officials everywhere, including Claremont, may be heartened by the prospect of a free pass on lies, they should wait until after the judge in the case rules on the motion. Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig H. Missakian, who is prosecuting the case, has contested the motion, Bigham reported:

"It is only in the realm of ideas - unlike the case here which involves a readily verifiable misstatement of fact - that falsehoods garner any free speech protection," Missakian wrote.

"Moreover, even if the Court were to conclude that defendant's lie deserves a modicum of protection, the government's undeniable interest in protecting from dilution the significance of the nation's highest military distinction and the magnitude of the accomplishment of those who actually earned it clearly outweighs that interest."

Alvarez's motion is scheduled to be heard on January 14th.

[UPDATED 8:10AM]:

The M-M-M-My Pomona Blog, which doesn't usually venture in the wacky realm of Alvarez, had a post from some far hollow about how Alvarez seems to be getting much more than his allotted 15 minutes of fame.

News of the weird sure gets around.

* * *

LEFT: Three Valleys Board Member Xavier Alvarez (Pomona) prepares to make war on common sense. Alvarez, self-awarded winner of multiple fictional military decorations, dons imaginary uniform in defense of hypothetical honor.

Alvarez is currently on leave to the Planet Earth from his native Zoltar, a distant Class-M world in the constellation Orion.

Xavier Alvarez in Court Again

This time it was only briefly, to have his arraignment delayed until December 4th.

Yesterday's Daily Bulletin, in its Crime and Public Safety newsbriefs section, reported on the delay:

"Alvarez, 50, stared ahead with his hands folded in front Tuesday morning at Pomona Superior Court. Alvarez ws charged Sept. 19 with misappropriating public money, insurance fraud, and grand theft of personal property. Alvarez--who represents south Pomona on the water board and was elected in 2006--reportedly placed his ex-wife, Juanita Ruiz, on his insurance from Jan. 24 to Oct. 31, 2007."

Last week, according to an October 15 story, Alvarez had taken a "tough guy" approach with Will Bigham of the Bulletin: "When asked by a reporter whether he intended to plead not guilty at his arraignment next week, Alvarez said: 'Why don't you go on the court date and find out?' "

For those just joining this story, Xavier Alvarez is the local Three Valleys Municipal Water District director who was fined and sentenced in July of this year under the Stolen Valor Act for claiming that he had been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. He hadn't.

The DA Public Integrity Section had been on this insurance business which arose in the course of the scrutiny Alvarez received for his medal claims.

(We have covered the mustachioed malingerer many times over the past year, for example here for an early one, and here for a search of this blog for posts relating to Xavier.)

We have already commented on Alvarez's bio on the Three Valleys website. It was substantially downsized last summer and we think that is unfair. We think, since Three Valleys sees fit to disclaim the information presented in the biographies anyway, that the directors should be allowed to put up anything they want. We would like to see this one for Alvarez:

parody alert for the humor-challenged

Dumb and Dumber: Rise of the Machines

The mess over at Three Valleys Municipal Water District over board member Xavier Alvarez's apparent false claims of winning a Medal of Honor has gotten wide play in the local blogosphere, at least on the FC Blog.

San Gabriel Valley Tribune writer Frank Giradot got into the act, filling readers in on the story behind the story. Alvarez's imaginative powers must not be too great. He seems to have pulled a lot of the material for his war stories from movies, or so Giradot's piece tells us. At least Alvarez seems to have been watching dramas and not movies like "Stripes" or "Private Benjamin." Though, if he had, he might make for a more sympathetic character, rather than simply pathetic.

All this Alvarez news has the Insider waxing philosophic. How exactly does such an obvious doofus like Alvarez replace a respected, knowledgeable incumbent like Luis Juarez as Pomona's District I representative on the Three Valleys board?

The vote, in November, 2006, was close - 50 votes out of 7,658 ballots cast. Yet, Alvarez emerged victorious. How? One reason, may be that he had some powerful supporters, such as Pomona mayor Norma Torres and some of her well-placed friends, telling people what a fine fellow Alvarez is.

That sort machine politics makes the quality of the candidates irrelevant, at least until some embarrassing, unpleasant truth comes out. The machine just tells people to vote a certain way, and they do.

The same sort of nonsense by the Claremont 400 has in the past resulted in a succession of sycophants and incompetent, petty tyrants on both the City Council and the local school board. Watch the ads and mailers coming out for the current Claremont Unified School District election, and you'll see the same people urging you to vote for this or that person because Judy Wright or Diann Ring or Helaine Goldwater or Ellen Taylor says this person is qualified. It's been thus in Claremont for a generation, and all signs point to more of the same in the future.

That's why, as we pointed out a couple days ago, an underqualified substitute elementary school teacher like Hilary LaConte, can be touted as an expert in anything. The only things LaConte has done to merit consideration are such good works as serving as Claremont Councilperson Linda Elderkin's campaign co-chair, along with Helaine Goldwater.

Of course, LaConte's lack of competence doesn't sink to the depths of an Xavier Alvarez (few do) but is she really deserving of the position she seeks? We think not. Yet, the machine grinds on, telling us you must vote for her. Her qualifications matter not a whit.

As a result, real issues, such as they may be in a upper middle-class community like as Claremont, never get an airing in the election process or during school board meetings. The level of debate, or non-debate, is dumbed ever downward.

Well, as they say, you gotta throw the hay low enough for the goats to eat.

Bowcock on Alvarez

Three Valleys Municipal Water District boardmember Brian Bowcock, who represents Claremont and La Verne, was interviewed by the Daily Bulletin's Will Bigham recently.

In the interview, Bowcock calls on his fellow boardmember Xavier Alvarez following Alvarez's conviction in federal court for lying about being a Medal of Honor recipient. Alvarez represents South Pomona on the Three Valleys board and was elected largely because of his endorsement by Pomona Mayor Norma Torres. Bowcock explained his reasons for calling on Alvarez to resign:

Question: Why did you decide to break your relative silence regarding Xavier Alvarez and call for his resignation?

Answer: I waited until the meeting following his guilty plea in the federal court system, to give him the opportunity to do the right thing - resign.

Q: Why do you think Alvarez [pictured right in full dress regalia ] should resign?

A: He lied on his initial statement for the ballot in November 2006, i.e. claimed he was an engineer. He lied, on his Web site, i.e. claimed he was an engineer and a graduate of Cal Poly Pomona and claimed to have earned the Medal Of Honor. He claimed to be married when he wasn't and fraudulently requested medical benefits (paid by district monies) for the woman he had divorced long before his election to the board. His long list of lies makes me feel that he cannot be trusted or taken seriously to make the right decisions while sitting on the board.

Q: What has been the day-to-day impact for you and other board members of the attention Alvarez has received for his medal claims?

A: It's been very time-consuming for staff and directors. Amount of time this takes under "public comment" every meeting. If this helps him make the right decision, great. The embarrassment he has created at ALL water functions attended by all directors and staff. It really takes away the time that our focus should be on the "major water crisis" here in our area and in all of California.

Q: What has been the public reaction since you called for Alvarez's resignation?

A: Overwhelming. From the veterans, parents of our service people serving right now, business people in the community, residents on the streets of my service area of La Verne and Claremont, when I go to the store and restaurants, so many e-mails through the district and to me personally from all over the USA. People tell my wife to thank me. I even received a small cake, delivered to my home from a business, with the owner saying "thanks for hitting a home run." His dad was at Pearl Harbor. Even when we go out of town, someone will thank me for "doing the right thing."

Q: As of May 30 no one has filed papers to recall Alvarez. Do you know of any pending recall campaign?

A: I hope the people of south Pomona will follow through. The day after the story broke I personally received 12 phone calls, eight were from residents of South Pomona. Someone hopefully will step up and do it. The problem is no one knows how to run a recall campaign, including myself. But I'm willing to find out and help any way I can.

Despite Bowcock's offer to help, Pomonans seem quite satisfied with Norma Torres' man, and there's been no groundswell so far to recall Alvarez. Pomonans also helped reward Torres' good judgment by voting for her in the recent Democratic primary for the State Assembly's 61st District seat.

* * *

Bowcock isn't the only one to call for Alvarez's resignation/removal. The Claremont Courier ran a letter from veteran Mike Massarro, who expressed his anger over the Alvarez affair:

As a veteran with several honorable discharges I am outraged that someone would claim such an honor as one bestowed upon our nation’s bravest soldiers, sailors and marines. Mr. Alvarez, according to the article, has not even served one day in uniform.

Now, more than ever, we need trust and confidence in our elected leaders and those serving the public trust. Mr. Alvarez’s bio on the Three Valleys website sites membership in the American Legion and American Veterans. His bio should be removed immediately until his credentials are verified.

Claremont to Pomona: Take Him, He's Yours - UPDATED

What did Claremont ever do to Pomona
to deserve this?

KABC Channel 7 news had a story today about Xavier Alvarez, the Three Valleys Municipal Water District boardmember who was in a downtown Los Angeles federal court this morning to face a misdemeanor charge of lying about being a Medal of Honor winner. The KABC website's headline describes Alvarez as a "Claremont official." The fact is, Alvarez is elected by Division I--South Pomona.

UPDATE, 11:00 a.m.: As pointed out by Meg at M-M-M-My Pomona here, the L.A. Times didn't get the memo. See the Times headline on this article, "Claremont Water Official Pleads Guilty to Lying about Medal of Honor". Are the tyro-journos at Pomona College's The Student Life writing these headlines?

How Claremont ever got stuck with Alvarez, who actually represents Pomona on the Three Valleys board, is beyond us. Upland must have worked something out with KABC and Pomona after getting stuck with the 1990 "Upland" earthquake, a 5.4 magnitude temblor that had its epicenter near Mt. Baldy Rd. and Mills Ave. in northeast Claremont.

Those Uplanders are a sneaky bunch, and, boy, can they hold a grudge!

It's hard to watch Alvarez and not think, "How did those folks in Pomona ever fall for this guy's act?" Of course, when you have the mayor of Pomona endorsing the guy, that significantly enhances your chances.

We're still waiting for Pomona Mayor Norma Torres to step up and put some pressure on Alvarez to resign, but Torres seems to be too busy with her other activities to care much about the goings on in the Pomona area, as John Clifford at the FC Blog tells us.

Alvarez could at least thank Norma for her original support and her relative silence on Alvarez's legal troubles by going out on the stump for Mayor Torres as she runs for the State Assembly's 61st District seat.

In the meantime, you and I are stuck with our friend Xavier, though the KABC piece does indicate that if convicted Alvarez could face up to year of jail time, which would cause him to miss sufficient meetings to be removed from the Three Valleys board.

UPDATE, 6:00AM: Will Bigham in the Daily Bulletin reports that Alvarez pleaded guilty to the charge yesterday. Bigham's article says that the plea agreement with the assistant U.S. Attorney gives Alvarez probation and no jail time, though the judge could impose a harsher sentence:

The maximum sentence allowed is one year in prison, $100,000 in fines and one year probation, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig H. Missakian, the prosecuting attorney.

Alvarez originally pleaded not guilty to the medal charge and attempted to have the case dismissed by claiming the Stolen Valor Act was unconstitutional because it criminalizes free speech.

His motion to dismiss the case failed, and last week he agreed to change his plea to guilty.

The plea agreement allows Alvarez to appeal his case on constitutional grounds. Missakian has said he expects Alvarez to appeal.

Alvarez Camp Takes down Web Pages in Record Time. See Them Here.

Somebody is making up stories," said Alvarez... "What you got there is a bunch of crap."

--quoted in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

Well, yes.

Three Valleys Municipal Water District I Director Xavier Alvarez made the above statement in answer to the accusation that he has claimed to be a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. See our post from yesterday morning.

The Insider is well familiar with the beauties of ambiguous speech. In the blog business, you have to be adept at hedging and maintaining plausible deniability. (I said that? I didn't mean it that way!)

We believe this statement is an admission by Alvarez. Let's parse it: "Somebody is making up stories (yes, Xavier Alvarez). "What you got there is a bunch of crap." (the whole Congressional Medal of Honor fairy tale) Alvarez is finally telling the truth.

* * *

We get the feeling you'll be hearing a lot more of this story as it develops. More people are coming forward who have heard Alvarez's claims, and we are sure there are some in Claremont.

Usually people spinning yarns don't stop at one fairy tale. You normally get layer upon layer of fabrication. From what we know, Alvarez's fabrications have been building for some time, elaboration upon elaboration. Already the Daily Bulletin has gotten him to admit that he was never in the military, and has raised large questions about his claimed membership in the American Legion. Look for a lot more fantastic claims to come out.

As if to prove our point, the news coming out today includes interviews with two veterans and one of his fellow board members, all of whom say they've heard Alvarez making statements about his combat military exploits. One interviewee said he and his buddies took to derisively calling Alvarez "Rambo."

* * *

What Alvarez's people don't want you to see: Our modest contribution to this dialogue yesterday morning was a set of three links to three web pages put up by a supporter of Alvarez. In what must be a record time of under six hours--even beating the City of Claremont in rapid response--the web pages were taken down by 5 p.m. Fortunately, the Insider is a packrat and downloaded the web pages and screenshots. They decorate this post. Click on the images for readable versions. By the way, here is a screenshot of the statement by the Alvarez supporter who put the web pages up, and who presumably took them down yesterday:

Alvarez Returns (to Court)

Three Valleys Municipal Water District board member Xavier Alvarez is back in the news today. Wes Woods II writes that the Los Angeles District Attorney's Public Integrity Division is charging Alvarez with three felony counts:

CLAREMONT - Three felony charges have been filed against Three Valleys Municipal Water District Director Xavier Alvarez in connection with accusations that he had the district pay for his ex-wife's insurance.

Alvarez, 50, was charged Friday with misappropriating public money, insurance fraud and grand theft of personal property, said Sandi Roth, a prosecutor with the Los Angeles County district attorney's Public Integrity Division.

Roth said Alvarez - who represents south Pomona on the water board and was elected in 2006 - placed his ex-wife, Juanita Ruiz, on his insurance from Jan. 24, 2007, to Oct. 31, 2007.

The water district - which provides medical insurance to its directors, their spouses, children and other dependents - paid $4,100 in premiums, Roth said.

"I don't have (the date) when they divorced," she said. "But they are divorced and have been for years."

The felony counts continue a turbulent period for Alvarez. He was fined and sentenced to probation in July for violating the Stolen Valor Act, which criminalizes false claims of military valor.

According to the article, Alvarez will be arraigned at the Pomona Courthouse on October 21st and could face up to five years in prison if convicted.

Xavier Alvarez Censured

The Xavier Alvarez saga continued today in the Daily Bulletin. Will Bigham's article, posted last last night on the Bulletin's website, noted that Alvarez's latest faux pas includes possible felony charges.

Alvarez was censured yesterday in a special meeting by the Three Valleys Municipal Water District, where he is Pomona's representative. As readers will recall, Alvarez is already facing a federal misdemeanor charge for falsely claiming that he is a Medal of Honor winner.

Alvarez has also made false claims that he served in the military in Vietnam and other exotic locales (he has admitted he was never in the military), that he is married to a starlet (he is not married), and that he graduated as an engineer from Cal Poly Pomona (there is no record of him having attended Cal Poly).

Bigham's article noted that Alvarez also obtained health benefits for his ex-wife, Juanita Diana Ruiz. The two have been divorced since 2002, but after he was elected in November, 2006, Alvarez listed Ruiz as his wife and Three Valleys paid $4,873.76 in benefits for Ruiz. The health benefits were what led to the board censuring Alvarez.

Bigham reported that Alvarez has promised to repay the benefit money. However, since the amount is over $500, Alvarez could be charged with a felony for misuse of public funds, according to Three Valley's president Bob Kuhn.

It struck us that there might also be fraud and grand theft charges in there, and Three Valley's board member Dan Horan said as much, accusing Alvarez of fraud.

For his part, Alvarez was keeping quiet, a refreshing change for him. He isn't talking to reporters, other than Bulletin columnist Dave Allen, who caught up with Alvarez after yesterday's meeting:

I followed Alvarez out, and as always we had a friendly chat.

"I've told you my story. Do you have a story?" he cracked. "I'm out of stories."

"You're a creative guy," I reassured him. "You'll come up with more stories."

"No, no more of that," Alvarez promised.

Alvarez may be down, but he's not out - yet. For him to actually be removed from office, he'd have to be convicted of a felony. Since the federal charge against him is a misdemeanor, that wouldn't suffice. Alternatively, if Alvarez had to go to jail for more than six months, the seat could be vacated.

The thinking here at the Insider is that if Alvarez does not show the good form to step down voluntarily, then Three Valleys should make a felony complaint for the health benefits. We also believe that Pomona officials, in particular Pomona Mayor Norma Torres, who as Alvarez's political patron provided the political backing that helped get Alvarez elected, should publicly campaign for his resignation.

Sooner or later Alvarez will be gone, he could help himself and the public by ending things as quickly as possible.

Hey, Xavier, Come Back When You Can't Stay So Long

According to an article in the Daily Bulletin, the Three Valleys Municipal Water District board is putting pressure on Three Valleys District I board member Xavier Alvarez to resign. Alvarez recently pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor charge of lying about having been awarded a Medal of Honor.

Alvarez, who represents South Pomona on the water district board, was also censured by his fellow boardmembers last year after an investigation showed that Alvarez had falsely claimed that he was still married to his ex-wife so that she could qualify for health benefits through Three Valleys.

The Bulletin article indicates that at least some of the Three Valleys boardmembers are tired of being questioned about Alvarez's antics and are ready to be rid of him. The article quotes Three Valleys boardmember Brian Bowcock, who represents La Verne and Claremont, as well as board president Bob Kuhn:

Bowcock said he will urge Alvarez to resign after reading a three-page list of what he says are Alvarez's lies at this morning's board meeting.

If Alvarez refuses to resign, Bowcock said he will urge his fellow board members to approve a symbolic, nonbinding resolution calling for Alvarez's resignation.

Alvarez could not be reached for comment.

Bowcock, who represents La Verne and Claremont, said he has received "continued questions about why the board has not followed through and asked for his resignation publicly. And that is why I'm doing it."

Bob Kuhn, board president, said, "I think there's a strong feeling on the board that we're spending way, way, way too much time on this guy's misgivings."

In addition to calling for Alvarez's resignation, Bowcock said he intends to formally lodge a complaint with the California Fair Political Practices Commission over Alvarez's false claim on the November 2006 ballot that he is an engineer.

He also said he will follow up with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office to inquire about its progress in investigating Alvarez's registration of his ex-wife for district health benefits.

The article goes on to say that Bowcock will call on South Pomona voters to recall Alvarez. The FC Blog also picked up on the story and is open to comments on their post, including this one from Miss Havisham:

He’ll just wear his mustache bigger.

Has the Mayor of Pomona made any kind of statement or demand to atone for her misguided endorsement of him?

Bulletin to Alvarez: Don't Let the Door Hit You

The Daily Bulletin's editorial staff has Xavier Alvarez-sized burr under its saddle. Friday's Bulletin editorial called for the resignation of the Three Valleys Municipal Water District board member from Pomona.

This latest call for Alvarez to step down came after Alvarez recently claimed that the Pomona Police Officers' Association somehow altered or fabricated a tape of an interview the association had with Alvarez when he was running for office in 2005. Alvarez had tried to get the association's endorsement and falsely states on the tape that he was a Medal of Honor winner.

The Bulletin's editorial said:

Normally, it would be a blockbuster of a story if a police officer claimed that an elected official had lied. But Alvarez is no normal elected official, so observers were not rocked back on their heels by Bozoich's allegations.

At the July 23 meeting of the Walnut Valley Water District where Alvarez claimed he had won the Medal of Honor, he said he was wounded multiple times while serving as a Marine during the Vietnam War. He later admitted he had never served in the military.

At the same meeting he said he has an engineering degree from Cal Poly Pomona, which has no record of him.

He has been censured by his fellow Three Valleys board members for funneling spousal health benefits to his ex-wife, who divorced him four years before he was elected to the board. Federal prosecutors are considering filing felony charges for that misrepresentation, which cost Three Valleys about $4,800. (Alvarez said last week the district was not harmed by his actions because the agency's insurer reimbursed it; a fine justification that is.)

As we've pointed out, the last bit about the ex-wife amounts to theft and fraud and are felonies, unlike the current federal misdemeanor charges against Alvarez for lying about the Medal Honor.

Alvarez has made it clear that he plans on sticking things out and being around for the duration of his term (barring the intervention of the criminal justice system). It is ironic indeed that Alvarez, whose term runs through 2009, may be in his current office longer than than his patron, Pomona Mayor Norma Torres, is in hers.

Torres is running for the California State Assembly, and given the realities of Assembly District 61, which is considered a safe Democratic seat, Torres should win the seat, assuming she wins the June Democratic primary. Torres would succeed former Pomona Mayor Nell Soto, who has been missing in action (but not in per diem) for several months in the past year.

The Goddess of Pomona recently found a photo of a smiling Torres stuffed into a one-size-too-small, gray, pinstripe pantsuit standing on the concrete median of a Pomona road overgrown with weeds. The photo captures Torres and her accomplishments as mayor perfectly.

Incredibly, the photo (seen at left) was uploaded to Flickr by the Torres campaign. Pinstripes seem to be the fashion choice of the Torres political machine, and Torres protégé Xavier Alvarez may be getting fitted for his in the not too distant future.

Xavier Alvarez Update

Not to pile on, but Will Bigham reports in the Daily Bulletin that erstwhile Medal of Honor winner and Three Valleys Municipal Water District boardmember Xavier Alvarez faces an additional charge of a false Medal of Honor claim.

According to the article:

Alvarez made the newly discovered medal claim while he was a candidate for mayor in Pomona's January 2006 special election, said Craig H. Missakian, assistant U.S. attorney.

Alvarez's claim was recorded during a meeting with the Pomona Police Officers Association when he was seeking its endorsement, Missakian said.

The LA Times Dumbs Down

On Saturday the Los Angeles Times' California Section had a profile of Pomona Mayor Norma Torres. The article, by Times reporter Paloma Esquivel, did a very poor job of presenting a balanced view of Torres' record as mayor.

The Times piece was really a campaign kick-off for Torres, and we think the Times owes an apology, as well as equal coverage, to the other candidates running to replace Nell Soto. And we're not the only ones who feel this way. Ed Barrera at the Editor's Corner, a San Gabriel Valley Tribune blog, had a blurb about the Times article.

John Clifford at M-M-M-My Pomona also wrote about the piece and said:

An obvious PR piece in the news business is usually called a "puff" piece and this certainly qualifies. How anyone can spin the mayor's "feud" with chief Romero as a positive, really doesn't understand the outrage of the community.

Esquivel's article claimed that Torres is "considering a run for the state assembly." But it's no secret (except to the LA Times) that Torres is running, and the seat Torres is seeking, the 61st Assembly District, is occupied by Torres' mentor, former Pomona Mayor Nell Soto - another fact omitted from the Esquivel piece.

The article also barely touched on the feud Torres started with Pomona Police Chief Joe Romero, who is generally well-liked by Pomonans. And it completely ignored the fact that Three Valleys Municipal Water District board member Xavier Alvarez would never have been elected had Torres not endorsed Alvarez. Alvarez, as most of you know, is facing federal criminal charges for lying about having won a Medal of Honor. Alvarez also falsely claimed he was still married to his ex-wife so that she could get medical benefits from Three Valleys. Alvarez is also the fellow who is defending his behavior by arguing in court that he has a First Amendment right to lie.

The Alvarez affair alone should disqualify Torres from running for higher office. In endorsing Alvarez, Torres indirectly aided in the perpetration of a fraud on the the people of her city, and she was responsible for a highly qualified and experienced incumbent, Luis Juarez, losing his water board seat. Yet, no mention of any of this in the Esquivel article.

Torres' patron, Nell Soto, herself came under the spotlight last year when she missed months of Assembly legislative sessions due to illness. Although she remained at home in Pomona, Soto continued to collect tens of thousands in per diem for living expenses. Soto's absence wasn't really noticed locally until the Foothill Cities wrote about it.

As we've written in the past, the type of political machine that produced Torres seems to encourage incompetence because the people at top generally don't want to be shown up by surrounding themselves with underlings who might be smarter or more talented. Consequently, there's a gradually dumbing down of the process: Nell Soto begets Norma Torres begets Xavier Alvarez. With each iteration, the quality of leadership is diminished. We've seen this happen here in Claremont over the years, and it's hell pulling the community out of the pit that's been dug.

The LA Times and their reporter not only missed the pertinent facts behind their story, they also failed the voting public with what is at best lazy reporting and at worst a use of the paper as an adjunct to a political campaign. We expect better reporting from a national paper like the Los Angeles Times, and we trust they'll not repeat this sorry performance in the future.

Soto, Torres, and Alvarez do not emerge out of a vacuum, and the Times ought to devote its resources to understanding and explaining what is really happening here rather than presenting a People Magazine profile in its news section.

In the meantime, if you really want to catch the Pomona Troika, you can see them hawking themselves nightly on the Home Shopping Network:

AS SEEN ON TV!
(Click to Enlarge)

Following the 61st Assembly District Race

The race for the State Assembly's 61st District has been getting some local coverage. As we've observed, the seat is pretty safely Democratic, so it'll be the June primary that decides the eventual winner.

The Daily Bulletin has noted that Pomona Mayor Norma Torres has raised the most money of any of the Democrats and has also garnered the endorsement of the incumbent Nell Soto, who is retiring due to poor health. Soto, missed a good chunk of the last year's worth of legislative sessions because of her health problems.

The Bulletin reported that Torres had raised $200,000 as of May 10th, which dwarfed the $20,000 reported by fellow Democratic candidate Maurice Ayala. Cal Poly Pomona professor Ken White had raised between $5,000 and $6,000, according to the article.

The Bulletin piece also noted that Torres had spent some of her money on polling, which is usually pretty expensive and is another sign that Torres has money to burn. Torres is the state Democratic Party's anointed one in this particular campaign, due solely to her work within the party. Her party associations helped get her a PR piece in the Los Angeles Times, for instance, and has enabled Torres to raise money from deep pocket donors - the type that usually end up wanting a favor from a bought assembly person somewhere down the road: Say, Norma, how about some help killing that bill in your Assembly committee, or Hey, Norma, can you vote for this [fill in the blank] bill?

As the Bulletin piece also noted, the 61st Assembly District is drawn in such a way that it's become a Democratic monopoly:

The Democrat who wins the June 3 primary is expected to easily defeat the Republican nominee in the November election.

The 61st District, like most districts in the state, has been gerrymandered by the Legislature to protect the incumbent party. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 46 percent to 33.6 percent.

The problem here is that as with any monopoly, competition has been quelled - competition for ideas from within the party as well as from the outside. So, with this gerrymandering repeated across the state and the country, can there be any end result other than gridlock?

It's no surprise that Soto endorsed Torres. Torres is, after all, Soto's protégé, just as Three Valleys Municipal Water District boardmember Xavier Alvarez was Torres' after a fashion. Alvarez, who used to call himself a Medal of Honor winner, also used to represent Pomona, before KABC TV News reassigned him to Claremont.

Nell Soto, herself a former Pomona councilmember, preceded Torres within the party, then picked Norma as a successor. Torres in turn backfills the lower-tier political positions with folks like Xavier Alvarez in order to build a layer of politicians on the local level loyal to her. As a result, Torres' right to represent her district owes nothing to her performance as Mayor of Pomona and everything to her social and political network.

So, the fact that Torres instigated a silly feud with Pomona's police chief or that her city's budget is in the red a projected $3.6 million, have no bearing on her qualifications for office. The very inevitability of the ascension of a relatively mediocre mayor to state assembly embodies the corruption at the heart of the system.

And, lest you think we're trying to favor one party over another, keep in mind that the Republican party has had its own troubles and is equally culpable for the gridlock at the state and national level. Both parties need to step back and realize that competition makes them better. If they really cared about the public welfare, they'd scrap the current system of drawing districts and create one that results in as many balanced districts as possible.

Let's see them have to work to get elected. The very act of having to earn one's vote tends to make one more sensitive to one's constituency. Here in Claremont, we've seen in the recent past, a ruling group dependent on its social network and firmly ensconced in power move farther and farther out of step with the community, creating unnecessary crisis and community turmoil.

It's really been nothing more than a microcosm of what's happening at higher levels of government. Both parties have for too long been more interested in preserving their own power than in serving the public, and they have run from competition rather than embracing it. In doing so, they've encouraged the rise of mediocrities like Norma Torres, much to the detriment of voters everywhere.

Xavier, Back in the News

Someone forgot to tell Xavier Alvarez (image, left) that his 15 minutes of fame expired long ago. The former Three Valleys Municipal Water District board member from Pomona made the LA Times last week after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth District upheld an August 2010 ruling that the federal Stolen Valor Act, under which Alvarez was convicted for lying about being a Medal of Honor recipient, is unconstitutional.

According to the Times article, the court agreed that lying, however abhorrent, is protected under the First Amendment. The Times piece described the appellate court's reasoning:

It wasn't the only time Alvarez had traded in lies. According to an earlier decision in his case, he claimed to have rescued the U.S. ambassador during the Iranian hostage crisis (the reason for his fictitious Medal of Honor) and to have played hockey for the Detroit Red Wings. If Congress could punish misstatements about a military decoration, there would be no constitutional obstacle to criminalizing those other lies.

Chief Judge Alex Kozinski made the point more pithily: "If false factual statements are unprotected, then the government can prosecute not only the man who tells tall tales of winning the congressional Medal of Honor, but also the JDater who falsely claims he's Jewish or the dentist who assures you it won't hurt a bit. Phrases such as 'I'm working late tonight, hunny,' 'I got stuck in traffic' and 'I didn't inhale' could all be made into crimes."

Although Alvarez's misdemeanor conviction under the Stolen Valor Act is in question, his LA County felony convictions for misappropriation of public funds, grand theft, and insurance fraud still stand. Alvarez received a five-year prison sentence for falsely claiming he was still married to his ex-wife in order to qualify her for his Three Valleys healthcare plan.

* * * * *

Here is the appellate decision in the federal case:

3-21-11 appellate decision


The U.S. Attorney's office isn't letting the matter rest there, however. On Friday, they filed a motion to stay the appellate decision for 90 days pending a petition for a writ of certiorari seeking to have the Supreme Court to review the case. The government's motion questioned the court's decision to annul a law enacted by Congress:

A circuit court decision holding an Act of Congress unconstitutional inherently presents "an important question of federal law," Sup. Ct. R. 10(c), in a petition for a writ of certiorari.

Here is the U.S. Attorney's motion to stay:

3-25-11 motion to stay mandate

Down-ballot Election Results

A smattering of some of the down-ballot results of interest to Claremont. It's hard to get reliable links to the official elections websites, so take these with a grain of salt. (Results compiled between 6 and 7 a.m. on Wednesday, November 5)

David Dreier, incumbent congressman from the 26th district, which includes Claremont, appears to have withstood a challenge from Democrat Russ Warner. With 318 of 469 precincts reporting, Dreier had 53.5% of the vote to Warner's 40.2%. We commented here on one of the mail pieces opposing Dreier. The Federal Election Commission has now posted the campaign finance disclosure from the Blue America PAC for the hit piece. It cost $19,652.44 to prepare and mail.

click on image to enlarge

See here for latest results in Dreier's race.

In a district adjacent to Claremont, the north Pomona division of Three Valleys Municipal Water District, carpenter John Mendoza appears to have trounced incumbent Fred Lantz, 55% t0 45%. This has a lot of the look of the election two years ago when Xavier Alvarez took his seat from the then-incumbent: a relative unknown versus a long-time water wonk. We don't know much about Mendoza, he has no website and didn't fill out the League of Women Voters Smartvoter information. Mendoza didn't come off all that well in an article in last month's San Gabriel Valley Tribune, where he rapped the current board for "making a lot of decisions about water but they are just sitting there at the top, collecting pay and benefits." The article goes on to say that Mendoza, if elected, would still collect benefits, "but I won't take advantage of them." Huh?

Lantz is husband of Pomona councilmember Paula Lantz. Maybe some of our friends in Lincoln Park (Meg?) can elaborate on this race. [Update: John Clifford over on M-M-M-My Pomona points out that John Mendoza not only ran for and won the Three Valleys seat, but also ran unsuccessfully for a city council seat in this election, losing to Stephen Atcheley but edging out the Daily Bulletin-endorsed Querubin. Mendoza was busy; he also sponsored an increase in the Utility Tax in Pomona, Measure PC, which failed by nearly three to one.]

In incomplete returns, 21 of 25 precincts reporting, Glenn Southard nemesis Michael Wilson is trailing by 900 votes in Indio's city council election. Try this link for updated results--no guarantees it will work. The margin against Wilson has widened as more returns have come in. According to the Desert Sun, Wilson was outspent by the two leaders by four or five to one. Leader Wilson raised more than $60,000; incumbent Watson raised some $45,000, and Wilson raised around $12,000.

Measure R, the new Los Angeles County half-cent sales tax increase, squeaked by 67.4% to 32.6%. It needed 2/3 to pass. It was opposed by Claremont Mayor Ellen Taylor, the Claremont City Council, and many local politicos. It's a win for LA Mayor Anthony Villaraigosa and the MTA and the Westside. Whether we will see much out here in the San Gabriel Valley is doubtful, according to opponents.

Norma Torres, police dispatcher and Pomona mayor, and "Friend of Xavier", is on her way to the State Assembly. With about 2/3 of the votes counted, she leads by more than 15,000 votes, 60.6% to 32.8% for Wendy Maier.

Anthony Adams and Bob Huff both are leading comfortably in their races as Claremont's State Assemblyman and State Senator, respectively.

For you national political junkies, here is an interesting set of maps on the Obama-McCain race, with analysis.