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Moreno Valley Water Company   Embezzlement Was Reported Repeatedly But The Board Refused To Act. Three Years and $280,000.00 Later ...

First Published: 17 March 2012 06:25 PM

BY LORA HINES 

The former general manager of the Box Springs Mutual Water Co. in Moreno Valley said he thinks the alleged embezzlement of $280,000 could have been prevented had authorities paid attention then. Between 2004 and 2009 he reported theft of money from the company.

Bruce Gottschalk worked at the company between 2004 and January 2009. He twice contacted the Moreno Valley Police Department in 2009 to report the theft of $31,000 by a former employee after bookkeepers auditing the company’s accounts alerted him. Nothing came of Gottschalk’s reports because of lack of information and cooperation from the water company, police said.

He said he also tried to warn the company’s board of directors, of which he was a member. In January 2009, Gottschalk quit his job and was forced off the board when he said colleagues became hostile toward him rather than investigate the theft.

“It’s been very frustrating,” he said.

William Batey, the Moreno Valley councilman who represents the area, said he’s heard allegations about water company corruption for years. He said he told people to report their suspicions to law enforcement officials, but he could do nothing more because the city doesn’t oversee the company.

The company’s troubles have led to the community’s decay and impoverishment, making it unattractive to potential developers and homeowners.

Box Springs, a private nonprofit organization, provides water to about 3,300 people in the Edgemont community on Moreno Valley’s west side. As Moreno Valley’s east side thrives with development, Edgemont looks as if time forgot it. Side streets between Alessandro and Eucalyptus avenues are filled with potholes. Many houses appear uninhabitable and have yards covered with dirt, not grass. Most residents are renters.

The area needs developers, whose fees would pay for improvements to sidewalks, hydrants and the water-system. But builders and property owners can’t get building permits because of safety issues.

Box Springs’ water lines don’t provide enough water needed to fight a fire. Water company officials have said there's no money for upgrades, estimated to cost at least $15 million. So, new construction and property upgrades are out of the question. The water company can’t benefit from any new customers.

“I’ve got 3 acres behind my house that I can’t build anything on,” Gottschalk said.

He said he was on vacation in Mexico when he found out that his successor, Debra Sutton, resigned last month from the company. Investigators served search warrants at her home and office Jan. 23 seeking evidence that $280,000 in company funds were used to pay for cruises and casino gambling.

Sutton, who lives around the corner from the water company, has not been arrested or charged with any crimes. Her salary was $42,000 annually.

She declined to comment when reached at her house following the warrants.

Search warrants claim that a water company ATM card issued to Sutton was used for cruises to Alaska, the Bahamas, Mexico, the Caribbean and other places. Additionally, the ATM card was used for purchases and withdrawals at the Morongo and Edgewater casinos. Charges also were made to Alaska, Continental and United Airlines; Cheaptickets.com; Macy's; and Disneyland. The warrant also listed Carnival Cruise Lines of Florida; San Diego Cruise ship terminal; and Sam's Club in Bullhead City, Ariz.

According to court documents, Sutton told a Riverside County district attorney’s investigator that she thought she was using her personal money for the trips and casinos. Sutton also said she would make restitution if she had used the water company card, according to court documents.

The search warrant affidavits also showed her company ATM card was frequently used at Soboba Casino near Hemet. Casino records showed that Sutton gambled $5.6 million from February 2003 to December 2011.

“It’s a waiting game now,” Gottschalk said. “We’re waiting for indictments to come down.”

Sutton began working at the water company in January 2009 when Gottschalk said he hired her as a secretary. She replaced the employee who Gottschalk said he suspected of theft late in 2008. That employee was fired but was never charged.

Sutton later was promoted to general manager after Gottschalk left the company.

During Gottschalk’s tenure, Western Municipal Water District provided contract services for Box Springs, including bookkeeping. Box Springs is one of several of Western’s wholesale agencies. Western’s bookkeepers told Gottschalk about the missing $31,000 in 2008, he said.

Western spokeswoman Michele McKinney Underwood said she couldn’t comment because of the investigation. Western stopped providing Box Springs with contract services in February 2009, she said.

Moreno Valley Police Department records show that Gottschalk reported the embezzlement of $31,000 on Jan. 14, 2009, and April 6, 2009. Records indicate that Moreno Valley police tried to investigate both times.

The first time, officers didn’t have enough information to start a case, according to reports. Following the second report, officers contacted board president Joseph Heeter, who told them he didn’t want a criminal investigation, a police report states. He told police that he wanted to conduct an audit, records state.

When reached at the Box Springs office on Wednesday, Heeter, who has been board president since January 2009, declined to answer questions about the water company.

Records show an investigator met with Heeter and Sutton on Dec. 19, 2011, about the missing money. Heeter has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

For years, the Box Springs board has been mired in dysfunction stemming from longstanding feuds and mistrust among members and shareholders, said several members and shareholders who were interviewed. They accuse each other of stealing, lying, being disrespectful of one another, conspiracy and using the company for personal gain. No charges have been filed, they said.

Board member Irene Kendall, who has been active in the company for decades, said she believes the board should have kept a closer eye over company recordkeeping. She doesn’t think it was negligent.

Kendall, who turns 92 Monday, said she worries Box Springs and its board could be sued as a result of the alleged embezzlement. The board is to meet with the company attorney, Joe Aklufi, she said.

Aklufi couldn’t be reached for comment.

The water company on Wednesday is to have its regular monthly board meeting. Gottschalk wants most water company customers and property owners to attend and demand that new leadership be appointed.

Batey said he has repeatedly heard about possible mismanagement and embezzlement at Box Springs over the past 10 years. He said he always has urged people to report suspected wrongdoing to law enforcement officials.

“I’ve helped to the extent that I could,” Batey said. “We’ve got no say-so over there whatsoever.”

The City Council has no authority over Box Springs. The water company’s customers rely on the board of directors for company oversight.

Batey said Box Springs’ problems have negatively impacted the city and have reached a breaking point. Living conditions in many homes in the area have become some so poor that Batey said he thinks residents’ health and safety might be in jeopardy.

“Something has to be done,” he said. “Now it’s time to cooperate.”

Batey said he thinks the embezzlement investigation surrounding Box Springs will bring change. He wants Box Springs and Western to work with him to develop solutions to correct Box Springs’ problems and revitalize the Edgemont area.

“We can’t continue on the way it is,” Batey said.

Box Springs meeting

What: The regular monthly meeting of the Box Springs Mutual Water Co.

When: Wednesday, 12:30 p.m.

Where: At the company’s office, 21740 Dracaea Ave., Moreno Valley.

Study Warns of Limited Savings from Closing Schools

Edited by I, Praetorian

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Closing schools doesn’t save air academic progress. And it says school districts can help generate some acceptance for a downsizing plan by involving the community early and establishing clear reasons for why certain schools must close.

The report, released Oct. 19, was written by the Philadelphia Research Initiative to foreshadow what the 154,000-student Philadelphia district can expect over the next few years as it plans to close a number of schools because of declining enrollments. The district currently has 70,000 empty seats, according to the report. School administrators have not decided which schools to close and how many, but internal school documents published in June by the website Philadelphia Public School Notebook listed 26 schools that could be shut down.

The report looks at school closings in Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City, Mo., Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, and the District of Columbia. Each of those districts has closed at least 20 schools in the past decade, and most of the buildings have been shuttered in the recent past.

For example, Pittsburgh, with around 25,300 students, went through a “right-sizing” effort that closed 22 schools in 2006. The district is now discussing closing seven more schools. The 17,400-student Kansas City district closed 29 schools—nearly half of its school buildings—in 2010.

A Matter of Context

Closing schools does save money, but in districts whose budgets add up to hundreds of millions of dollars or more, the final savings are relatively small, said Larry Eichel, the program director for the Philadelphia Research Initiative, which is a project of the Pew Charitable Trusts. Philadelphia’s current annual budget, for example, is $2.8 billion.

Six Cities Shuttering Buildings

To inform deliberations over plans to close schools in Philadelphia, researchers conducted case studies of recent school closings in six other urban districts.

Chicago
Closure Period: 2001-2009
Number Closed: 44
Buildings in Use: 602

Detroit
Closure Period: 2009-2010
Number Closed: 59
Buildings in Use: 130

Kansas City, Mo.
Closure Period: 2009-2010
Number Closed: 29
Buildings in Use: 29

Milwaukee
Closure Period: 2005-2010
Number Closed: 20
Buildings in Use: 137

Pittsburgh
Closure Period: 2006
Number Closed: 22
Buildings in Use: 64

District of Columbia
Closure Period: 2008
Number Closed: 23
Buildings in Use: 11

*As of 2011.

Source: The Philadelphia Research Initiative

“The savings are under a million dollars per school,” Mr. Eichel said. “That’s real money, but not money that changes anything fundamentally.”

The biggest chunk of district money is spent on teachers, and those staff members typically are still needed, just at different locations.

A district also has to pay for some maintenance on shuttered buildings so they don’t become neighborhood eye sores.

And districts should not expect a windfall from selling their old buildings. Those facilities are undesirable to businesses for some of the same reasons that districts decided to close them: The buildings are often located in areas that are losing population. Also, they tend to be in poor condition, and it may be hard to convert them to other purposes, Mr. Eichel said.

The study found examples of repurposing, however. In Milwaukee, a former middle school was bought last year for $600,000 to be converted into senior housing. In Chicago, several closed schools have been converted to charter schools.

Impact on Learning

In examining the academic performance of students in schools slated to be closed, the report focused on a study by the Consortium on Chicago School Research that looked at students whose schools were closed between 2001 and 2006. That study found that student performance fell at schools that were slated to be shut down and remained low for the rest of the school year. A year later, though, the academic performance of those displaced students had rebounded to preclosure levels.

The Pew report also cites a study led by researchers from the RAND Corp. that examined achievement from students from closed schools in a “midsized urban district in the Northeast.” Though the district was not named, the paper noted that the district closed 22 schools in the 2005-06 school year, which corresponds with Pittsburgh’s experience.

That paper said students in the district whose schools were closed did see a drop in their reading and math scores, but researchers found the effect could be mitigated or eliminated if the students were moved to schools that were higher-performing than the ones they left behind.

The Pew report offers several tools that districts can use to reduce the pain of closing schools. For example, it suggests that outside experts can bring a level of objectivity to the proceedings. Seeking community support early is also essential, the report notes.

It says that the 45,000-student District of Columbia school system committed a misstep by moving too quickly to close schools in the face of a 30 percent decline in enrollment. Under the leadership of then-Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee, the school system announced that closures were coming in September 2007, and the final vote to close 23 schools came, after much controversy, four months later.

Mary Filardo, the executive director of the Washington-based 21st Century School Fund, studies school facilities issues and agrees that the system in Washington moved too quickly to shut down schools. Too many school districts distrust the public when it comes to closure decisions, she said.

Taking It to the Public

“The reason you involve the community is not to make [closings] palatable,” she said. “The reason you involve the community is because you want to make better decisions.”

She added that people whose children attend school in such urban areas often “are working-class or low-income. They know about making tough decisions and struggling” and can understand the necessity for some closings.

As District of Columbia school officials learned, making a misstep in school closings can cause political fallout. The community uproar over the closings in Washington was one of the ingredients that led last year to the primary-election defeat of then-Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, who had selected Ms. Rhee, and to the chancellor’s departure.

And after community members in Chicago protested that school- closure decisions were being made in secret, the Illinois legislature passed a law in August that governs how that 409,000-student system can make facilities decisions.

“The political fallout is from not having a trusting relationship with your public,” Ms. Filardo said.

Being Transparent

But involving the public can be a delicate balancing act, said Nancy R. Kodman, the executive director for academic and operations integration for Pittsburgh schools. Just introducing the problem to the community, she said, leads to people saying, “You don’t have any solutions? You don’t have any ideas?” But a full plan is criticized for being drawn up in secret.

“You lessen that by being as transparent as you can,” Ms. Kodman said.

When Pittsburgh closed more than 20 schools, she said, the district talked with the public about what it was hoping to achieve. Academic improvement was put forward as the top goal, and to eliminate some political horse-trading, the closures were considered as a group, in a single up-or-down vote by the school board.

While many urban districts are struggling with how to handle excess space, Ms. Filardo noted that Seattle is dealing with overcrowded classrooms, thanks to unexpected population growth. The Seattle Times reported in October that in one school, a 4th grade class is meeting in a hallway, and many classes are meeting in portables. An infusion of about 1,500 more students than expected is prompting the district to reopen some schools that it had closed, over community objection, in the past few years.

Part 1 of Deconstructing Hate Sites

This Information is Provided by the Victim of Such A Hate Site: A Man Still Fighting One Year Later to Clear His Name From the False Accusations of Belonging to Such Hate Based Internet Sewage... I am that Victim along with another outstanding person and Journalist MVgordie (mvgordie.com). I, Praetorian Responding to Online Hate When people see hate on the Net, they just say: "Well, what can I do about it?" And they move on. But the only way people can start to get rid of the hate is by taking some interest in the ways in which we, as human beings, can prevent hate from spreading. A Vancouver Island high-school student MNet’s 2001 survey "Young Canadians in a Wired World" showed that when young people came across a "hateful" Web site, more than a third (36 per cent) simply ignored it. If they received hateful e-mail messages, again more than three in ten did nothing—though a similar percentage told a friend, an adult, or the police. There is no reason to believe that adults’ rate of response is any higher. Granted, it’s not always easy to tell whether hateful online content is actually illegal, rather than just offensive and annoying. Sometimes material can only properly be defined as illegal by the courts. Still, the courts can’t prosecute what they don’t know about—so public response is crucial. If people want to do something about hate material they see on the Internet, there are several options: Contact the Internet Service Provider All over the world, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are being forced to become more proactive about hate material on their servers. Most ISPs now have Acceptable Use Policies that clearly define the guidelines for using their services, as well as the penalties for violating those guidelines. In Canada, most ISPs belong to the Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP). CAIP’s Code of Conduct states that its members will not host illegal content, and will make a reasonable effort to investigate legitimate complaints about illegal content or network abuse—taking appropriate action, if needed. However, ISPs do not have the legal power to decide what material is illegal; and so most are reluctant to remove suspect content from their servers without official direction from a law enforcement agency. Report online hate to the police Some urban police departments now have a High-Tech Crime Unit to investigate online offences. If none exists, a complaint can be made to the local police. It’s advisable to attach a copy of the offending material to the letter of complaint. File a complaint with the F.B.I. Good for the records otherwise pretty useless unless threats of violence are made. Check out "hate watch" Web sites A number of sites exist to monitor and document illegal material on the Internet. Some notable examples are B’nai Brith League for Human Rights, which hosts a hate hotline; and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which has identified thousands of offensive Web sites. Its CD entitledDigital Hate 2002 lists sites that promote antisocial and illegal activities ranging from hate music to suicide bombing. The Southern Poverty Law Center is another good resource. Any hate found on a California Web site is now subject to new legislation—though hate encountered on other states sites must be dealt with differently. However, the U.S.-based Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Anti-Defamation League both recommend that surfers alert them to any online hate, so that they can try to get the offending material removed. And since the active promotion of tolerance is one of the Abest responses to hate, check out the online pamphlet 101 Tools for Tolerance: Simple Ideas for Promoting Equity and Diversity, developed by the Web-based group Tolerance.org. For more detailed information about the organizations mentioned here, as well as information on how to report online hate, see the links in the sidebar.

The Self Harm Cycle

Latest Evidence Suggests

Self-harm is most common in children over the age of 11 and increases in frequency with age. It is uncommon in very young children although there is evidence of children as young as five trying to harm themselves.


Self-harm is more common amongst girls and young women than amongst boys and young men. Studies indicate that, amongst young people over 13 years of age, approximately three times as many females as males harm themselves.


A study in Oxford found that approximately 300 per 100,000 males aged between 15 and 24 years, and 700 per 100,000 females of the same age, were admitted to hospital following an episode of self-harm during the year 2000. Community based studies report higher rates of self-harm than hospital based studies.


A national survey of children and adolescents carried out in the community found that 5 per cent of boys and 8 per cent of girls aged 13-15 said that they had, at some time, tried to harm, hurt or kill themselves.
In the same national survey, rates of self-harm reported by parents were much lower than the rates of self-harm reported by children. This suggests that many parents are unaware that their children are self-harming.


A study carried out in schools in 2002 found that 11 per cent of girls and 3 per cent of boys aged 15 and 16 said they had harmed themselves in the previous year.
Greater incidence of self-injury amongst gay and lesbian young adults; five times more likely than their heterosexual counterparts. A greater number of occurrences of self-injury exist among those with physical disabilities and epilepsy.


The UK has one of the highest rates of self-harm in Europe, at 400 per 100,000 population. It is estimated that there are at least 170,000 cases of self-harm which come to hospital attention each year. Many more incidents of self-harming behaviour probably take place but are not included in any statistics because people may choose not to seek medical help.


New estimates have been made about the most common form of Self Harm
Cutting: 72 percent
Burning: 35 percent
Self-hitting: 30 percent
Interference w/wound healing: 22 percent
Hair pulling: 10 percent
Bone breaking: 8 percent
Multiple methods: 78 percent (included in above)

If you would like to email Stop Self Harm, to ask for help or advice email us at stopselfharm@hotmail.co.uk or leave a message in our guestbook and we'll get back to you.

We Now Have Myspace. Check It Out

We also ask, if you are visiting this site, please leave us a message in our guestbook with what you thought of the site or ideas on how to improve it, we appreciate any feed back.

THE DEFINITION OF COURAGE. YOU NEED TO KNOW.

Please understand this is a 70 year-old former U.S. Prosecutor! This man, Dr. Richard I Fine, PHd is my hero (see video series below, courtesy of Full Disclosure) and model for my fights to come  with Moreno Valley USD  also one of the most litigated school districts in the inland empire. For over 20 years of corruption spearheaded by the personalities of the COWARDS and BULLY BOYS RUNNING MVUSD'S HUMAN RESOURCES.  One of the former participated in felony misuse and theft of public funds, one a convicted felon who used an unregistered pistol firing at a car fleeing his house with his own daughter inside the car. He is still employed and partially running a MVUSD middle school. This school was formerly the flagship of the entire district. The current coward is helping to cover up directly or indirectly the theft of  or miss use of  student funds that totals in the multiple $100,000s in cash  EVERY YEAR.


The man most responsible for this system wide cover-up, a man who lied more than once to me when I was looking for help with the criminal activity I stumbled upon, was fired early this year then allowed to stay on with a double demotion to assistant principal. The Board was afraid that out and out firing would tempt him to tell all. For years covered up by some of the Superintendents and their assistants, including Bob Crank who was one of the key players Most area taxpayers are paying twice over for there child's education without knowing and some of that money is stolen in cash! Watch for the documentation and names to come.  BUT lets not forget the School Board who hires these people, among which contains a documented CHILD MOLESTER and a yet to be charged criminal who used the power of the office for... well, come back and see. Another is on the payroll of local Developer and member of the shadowy Jewish "Gold Trust" and its silent members. An organization who's home is somewhere in Beverly Bills, CA. I have fired off a letter to the Jewish Defense League* asking point blank if they are associated... 

Did I mention the possible cover-up of an alleged murder of a 17 year-old student at the hands of a former school district employee? One of whom was working here until two years ago. I am still working on this. Time and the efficiency of the alleged cover-up has made it hard to follow.
Sincerely, I, Praetorian.

*The Jewish Defense League or JDL is a Jewish nationalist and far-right organization whose stated goal is to "protect Jews from antisemitism by whatever means necessary".^[1] While the group asserts that it "unequivocally condemns terrorism", and claims to have a "strict no-tolerance policy against terrorism and other felonious acts,"^[2] it was described as "a right-wing terrorist group" by the Federal Bureau of Investigation^[3] in 2001, and as a hate group involved in "anti-Arab terrorism" by the Southern Poverty Law Center.^[4] According to the FBI, the JDL has been involved in plotting terrorist attacks within the United States.^{[3] Outside the FBI, the}  Anti-Defamation League (ADL)^[2] and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).^[3 are the largest watch dog organizations in the US monitoring hate groups. 

TEST SCORES

September 28, 2011|By Brad Lendon, CNN; edited by Praetorian
7 arrested in alleged SAT cheating scam in New York

Authorities have arrested seven people in an, high school and are investigating whether the cheating extends to other schools. Samuel Eshaghoff, 19, of Great Neck, New York, was arrested Tuesday on felony fraud charges that could result in four years in prison if he's convicted, the Nassau County District Attorney's Office said.

Six students face misdemeanor charges. Their names are not being released because they are minors.

Prosecutors allege Eshaghoff impersonated six Great Neck North High students between 2010 and 2011, charging between $1,500 and $2,500 to take the SAT test for them.

Eshaghoff would take the test at schools other than Great Neck, where proctors would not be familiar with the students' identity, and present fake, unofficial identification, prosecutors say.

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said authorities uncovered the scam after hearing rumors of cheating, comparing the test scores of suspects to their school grade-point averages, and finding a "wide gulf" in the cases of the six suspects.

The district attorney's office said it is investigating possible cheating scams at two other Nassau County high schools as well as possible further instances involving Eshaghoff.

Eshaghoff's attorney, Matin Emouna, said his client pleaded not guilty in the case.

And he said cheating on tests is something that should be handled in schools, not in criminal courts.

"At what point are you going to draw the line?" Emouna asked during a phone interview with CNN Wednesday. "No one has had a case like this in the U.S., and I think attorneys are going to have a field day with it."

The victims in the case are other students who are denied admission at the colleges of their choice by the students who cheated, Rice said Wednesday on CNN's "American Morning."

"Honest kids should not be bumped out of college slots by kids who cheated," she said.

Rice called on the Educational Testing Service, the nonprofit entity that administers the SAT nationwide, to establish procedures to combat cheating, including photographing students as they take the test and attaching the picture to the answer sheet.

"We need ETS to tighten security they have at these test centers," Rice said.

She also called on ETS to inform colleges if cheating is suspected. ETS currently deals with suspected cheating by canceling test scores and offering refunds, retests or arbitration, according to the district attorneys office.

Rice said authorities have no evidence implicating parents in the cheating scandal.

Great Neck North identifies itself as a high-performing high school, with a 97% graduation rate and almost 97% of students planning to pursue higher education.

The mean scores achieved by Great Neck North students on SAT tests in 2010 were well above the national average, according to the profile.

Eshaghoff, a 2010 Great Neck North graduate, tested in the 97th percentile, Rice said. He is now enrolled at Emory University in Atlanta after attending the University of Michigan for his freshman year, the prosecutor's office said.

The next SAT test dates are this weekend, and Rice said authorities will be vigilant.

"These arrests should serve as a warning to those taking the SAT this Saturday that if you cheat, you can face serious criminal consequences," Rice said.

Campaign Season 2011: More importantly, the reals fights of right and wrong are less than a year away

We are less than two months away from Campaign Season 2011. More important, the big fights will come in about one year. That's why I thought it important pull up this old Press-Enterprise article (below). The thing that Dan Lee couldn't say (and keep his job) was that the $300,000 that Ieedo put into the front organzation. "Moreno Valley Taxpayers Association," was used in one of the most ugly and legally questionable smear campaigns since Carl Rove. It is estimated that only $10,000 were actually used to unseat White and 30,000 to unseat West who had stood up to the "developer" and "Israeli Ex. Pat." Ieedo Benzeevi in public session. The rest was easily channeled to other campaigns to skirt Campaign Finance laws and then the majority back to Benzeevi who probably got the tax write off anyway. Further, it is rumoured that Ieedo Benzeevi is on a "Home Land Security" watch list. Hmmmm!

 For those that don't remember Carl Rove, the brain (God knows Bush needed one) and executioner for the George W. Bushees run for the RNC nomination for the Presidency in 2000. Rove who dodged Vietnam, thus the name "Chicken Hawk" accused an actual veteran, John McCain of being dishonest and dishonorable in serving his country (Remember the "Sift Boat" Veterans ad?). Utter bullshit and the prelude for Bushes entire presidency.  McCain of course was a Vietnam Vet who spent many years as a POW, tortured regularly by his captors, and who came home via a prisoner exchange.

On the local Moreno Valley Front:

Beware conflicts of interest among newcomers, departing Moreno Valley councilman says

		Download story podcast

10:00 PM PST on Thursday, November 27, 2008

By DAN LEE
The Press-Enterprise MORENO VALLEY - A departing city councilman expressed concern Tuesday about the influence that development ()and real estate interests might have on the council in light of this month's election.

Charles White , who was defeated in his re-election bid Nov. 4, noted that developer (and Israeli Ex. Pat.) Iddo Benzeevi and real estate broker Jerry Stephens donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Moreno Valley Taxpayers Association. The group, which is headed by city Planning Commissioner Michael Geller, campaigned strongly against White and Councilman Frank West.


"Because of developer and real estate broker relationships with the planning commissioner and council (and now the school board), I am concerned that money has taken control of our city," White said at the end of Tuesday's council meeting. "I believe conflicts of interest do exist."



Conflicts of interest, illegal campaign financing, threats and arson... the list of accusations goes on. I want to know is it true the now nearly bankrupt developer and Israeli Ex. Pat., Iddo Benzeevi is on a Homeland Security Watch List? Really? More will be revealed this time next year. I predict a surprisingly well-funded resurrection of the MPA a racist organization that never really went away and of course Vickie E. Baca or one of her (31 known alias.)

The background story continues below

Tuesday was the last regular council meeting for White and West, who represented the 1st and 3rd council districts, respectively, for the past 12 years. New council members Jesse "420" Molina and Robin Hastings will be sworn in Dec. 9 at the next regular council meeting. None of the council members responded publicly to White's concerns. Mayor Bill Batey did not attend Tuesday's meeting because he was working at his firefighting job. Council members Richard Stewart and Bonnie Flickinger thanked White and West for their service on the council.
"I think we can be collectively proud of what we have been able to accomplish together over the past 12 years," Flickinger said after White spoke.
The Moreno Valley Taxpayers Association sent out a barrage of mailers to voters before the election, saying White and West had failed to stop crime and traffic from increasing.
The councilmen said they were targeted because White had opposed naming eastern Moreno Valley "Rancho Belago" -- which Benzeevi had supported -- and West opposed Benzeevi's plans to build distribution centers there.
Geller said White was merely bitter about being defeated. The planning commissioner also disputed the notion that Benzeevi and Stephens might have undue influence at City Hall with the election of two new council members.
"Ultimately Jesse and Robin are going to make their own decisions," Geller said by phone Wednesday. "Anyone who thinks otherwise hasn't talked with them."
During the campaign, Hastings and Molina said they would act independently of Geller, Benzeevi and Stephens.

Geller, who is also a local attorney, also said he does not have any conflicts of interest. He said he personally has never taken any money from Benzeevi and does not take a salary from the taxpayers association. Geller added that he abstains from voting when Stephens' projects come before the planning commission, because he has done legal work for Stephens.

Benzeevi said he had the highest respect and admiration for White's dedicated service to the city and expressed hope that the councilman would continue to remain involved in the community. "I wish him all the best," the developer said by phone. He declined to respond further to White's comments about his potential influence at City Hall. Stephens did not return a phone call seeking comment Wednesday.

White also brought up the issue of Molina's campaign signs, which said, "Elect Jesse Molina, He's One of Us." He said he thought that was a reference to Molina's Latino background.
"I thought, 'What would have been the reaction if my signs had read, 'Vote Right, Vote White'?" White said. "We do not need racism in our city elections ... Hopefully, we have seen the last of it."
Molina, White's successor, attended Tuesday's council meeting and said the "He's One of Us" slogan was not meant to imply anything racial. It was meant to convey that he was part of the working class, he said.
"It's sad to think people felt that way," Molina said after the meeting. "I wish he could have taken it another way."

Meanwhile, candidate Mike Rios, who finished second in the 3rd District behind Hastings and ahead of West, told the council that he plans to remain active in city issues, vowing to fight proposals to build warehouses in eastern Moreno Valley and "special interests" like Benzeevi and Stephens, and starting his own city watchdog organization.

"Mike Rios is not going away, so get used to my face, because I'm not leaving," Rios said. "I will not rest until I give this city back to the people of Moreno Valley ... This is Round One. I've still got 11 rounds to go, and I will take that championship belt from Iddo Benzeevi."
Benzeevi said he appreciated everyone's participation in community affairs.
West did not make any departing remarks at the end of the meeting.

"(White) did a very dramatic and moving statement that should stand alone," he said afterward.

Reach Dan Lee at 951-763-3457 or dlee@PE.com