SHOCK - Sheriffs Public Corruption Unit Investigating Artesia City Council, Former City Manager


 Artesia, California - Sheriffs from the LA County Public Corruptions Unit have served at least one warrant to the City of Artesia, asking for electronic equipment, documents, records and other communications between former City Manager Bill Rawlings, a staff member, and two councilmembers (Tony Lima and Monica Manalo).  

There are anonymous but unsubstantiated reports of other warrants served as well, including to the Rawlings residence. The warrant was served on December 14.

Of interest, the warrant demands any records, reports, documents, and communications that took place between the above named individuals during the 17-day application period for the City Council election (July 28-August 13). The warrant also mentions that this investigation is for a possible felony that was committed.

"This warrant seems to be related to allegations of election fraud that I have heard about," said Andrew Perry, President of AFSCME Local 1520, the staff union. "I don't know the details, but this particular allegation has something to do with preferential treatment for two candidates that Bill may have wanted to win the election, while also making it difficult for other candidates to even just file their paperwork."

At the last election, two candidates ran unopposed, Monica Manalo and Tony Lima. There were two other potential candidates who tried to file paperwork.

One of these candidates was former City employee and current Artesia businessman Tony Simoes. According to Simoes, on August 11 he asked the City Clerk if he can run for City Council.  The City Clerk sent the filing papers, and there was a consensus to meet with the City to submit the paperwork. Simoes said he tried to call to set up an appointment, and didn't hear anything.

Two employees, possibly including the City Clerk, reported this and other allegations to the City Council in April 2021.  However, at least three councilmembers seemingly tried to cover up Bill's activities in a subsequent council meeting. This reporting of allegations, and others, likely led to the retaliatory firing of the City's HR Manager in September 2021.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ABC School District Employees Speak Up After District Denies Study Results

Image
  A salary study commissioned by ABC Unified School District (ABCUSD) found that its custodians, bus drivers, food service workers and trade workers are among the lowest paid among other area school districts.  Despite their own research's suggestion to increase wages, ABCUSD is choosing to do nothing instead. ABCUSD and the employee union (AFSCME Local 2229) had previously negotiated to conduct the salary study. Local 2229 represents ABCUSD's custodians, bus drivers, food service workers and trade workers (electricians, carpenters and HVAC technicians).   The study compared six jointly selected school districts and the study was completed in June 2023.  In all job categories, ABCUSD employees were paid below average and in most categories, were last place or second to last. Since the studies completion, the Union has looked at even more districts and has found this situation to be generally true.  For example, the top salary for mechanics at ABC District is be...
Read more

City of Artesia Rewards Bad Behavior in Two Managers, While Completely Ignoring Everyone Else

Image
  By Andrew Perry President, Artesia Local 1520 Vice President, AFSCME District Council 36 Artesia, California - City employees had to do a double take when the City Council decided to offer handsome salary increases for two managers in particular, while maintaining historic low salaries for all other employees. As union president, I take the philosophy of transparent local government to heart. Many Artesians have expressed to me the approval of not just the fight for the City in 2021, but also the reasons behind it - that employees were concerned about the City's finances and the ability of the City to serve its residents. Recent events have again raised concerns about transparency, particularly in light of the roles these two managers played in 2021, when the City was under a different city manager, whom employees contend ran the City like a mafia boss. How Two High Level Managers Compromise Artesia's Integrity When every employee rebelled against the former City Manager for...
Read more

Corporate Money Seeks To Undermine Artesia Residents This Election Season

Image
  Artesia, California - Corporate interests are seeking to undermine the ability of Artesia residents to govern themselves. National Ready Mix, and allegedly others, have apparently partnered with a San Diego corporate activist attorney called Everview Law to create an initiative to alter Artesia’s residential zones. But that’s not how they sold it to the Artesians: in flyers and in person, petitioners have told residents that the purpose of the initiative is to prevent a sales tax increase. Residents who signed the petition are saying that the company lied to them by saying the initiative was about preventing sales taxes. National Ready Mix is a successful corporation in Artesia. For years, National Ready Mix has been opposing a housing development bordering its property line, from the developers at G3 Urban.  Bait and Switch This bait and switch tactic was successful in convincing enough Artesians into signing the petition and therefore qualifying it to go to election. Thes...
Read more