Xavier Alvarez, Pomona's erstwhile Medal of Honor winner and current Three Valleys Municipal Water District board member is back in the news, mostly as a result of the effluent that continues to issue from his mouth. (Get your waders on!)
The FC Blog has a post up with links to the Daily Bulletin's most recent coverage, which includes a Will Bigham article and a couple Dave Allen columns.
The Daily Bulletin also has the audio of Alvarez's false claims having served in the Marines for 25 years and having earned the Medal of Honor in 1987. Alvarez's comments were made at a July 23rd meeting of the Walnut Valley Municipal Water District.
The Bigham article noted that at the most recent Three Valleys meeting, several veterans got up at public comment to berate Alvarez. These included former Rancho Cucamonga mayor Jim Frost:
"I'm embarrassed for Three Valleys MWD," said Jim Frost, former mayor and current resident of Rancho Cucamonga. "I'm embarrassed for its professional staff, and I'm embarrassed for other members of its elected board.
"And I'm especially embarrassed for any voters who placed Mr. Alvarez in office in the belief that he is of honorable character."
The story even made the California section of the LA Times yesterday. Norma Torres, Pomona's mayor, and one of Alvarez's political patrons, even got a mention in the article:
Torres said Alvarez was a community activist from a hardscrabble neighborhood in South Pomona. She said he never told her he was a war hero. [if not, she must be the only one]
"It's unfortunate that this has all come up," she said.
Unfortunate for Torres because without Norma's backing, Alvarez, who only won his seat by 50 votes, most likely would not have been elected.
Dave Allen may have had the best comment of anyone observing the Alvarez spectacle:
If the feds really want to stick it to Alvarez, I suggest they go after him for a more obvious crime, one of fashion.
C'mon, wearing that mustache has got to be a felony.
Three Valleys has been a scandal magnet in the past few years. In 2000 or 2001, the water district put General Manager Richard Hansen--never fired--on administrative leave and reduced his benefits for harassing his administrative assistant following a steamy affair that had tongues wagging over in the offices on Miramar. The woman had been hired by Hansen at what seemed to be an unusually high salary. The district settled with her for more than $60,000 as we recall, and later had to pay some $20,000 or $30,000 in court costs in the ensuing flurry of public records request lawsuits by the Courier, the Los Angeles Times, and others.
Then there is the matter referred to recently by the Daily Bulletin about former Three Valleys director Paul Stiglich getting drunk on a MWD-sponsored trip to the Colorado River in the late 1990s; about that whole unsavory episode the less said the better. (The September 27, 2007 article is behind a paywall in the archive; search on "Stiglich" and be prepared to pay a small fee.)
Posts
