No Place of Grace

Maywood’s Mayor faces a death threat, allegations of corruption and, now, a recall

By Matthew Fleischer

“You have to know the city of Maywood. It’s a little bit different from other cities.”
–Felipe Aguirre speaking to Tucker Carlson March 27, 2006

Felipe Aguirre made national headlines in 2006 when, as a city councilmember, he proclaimed Maywood a sanctuary city for the undocumented. Then came an attempt on his life, his election to the mayor’s office, allegations of corruption and, next Tuesday, a recall vote.

Welcome to Maywood.

The drama began in the winter of 2006, when Aguirre helped pass legislation that prevented police from conducting random DUI checkpoints within the city limits. Aguirre argued that the real purpose of the checkpoints had nothing to do with drunk drivers, and everything to do with rounding up undocumented immigrants, who make up almost a third of the town’s population. Removing the checkpoints made Maywood a defacto sanctuary city for the undocumented, who, provided they followed traffic regulations, were free to drive unlicensed without fear of police.

The move made Aguirre an overnight media sensation—a hero to the immigrant rights community and a galvanizing figure for Minuteman-types across America. Maywood found itself headline fodder for the nation’s major dailies, and Aguirre appeared on Tucker Carlson’s MSNBC show, CBS News and NPR.

The heat generated by Aguirre’s performance boosted him into the mayor’s office. Now, with Aguirre up for recall, Maywood’s sanctuary status may be in jeopardy.

Back in 2006, the debate surrounding Maywood was couched in the language of immigrant rights. But the national media missed the real story, which is this: Maywood may be among the most crooked towns in the country, a working-class city where state and federal authorities seem to have reached full employment, constantly investigating payoffs and systemic police corruption.

At the center of the controversy was Maywood Club Towing, a major campaign donor to Maywood city council races, as well as to the campaigns of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Maywood Towing had an exclusive towing contract with the city, and was the primary beneficiary of the city’s intensive checkpoint policy. Many in town felt those checkpoints were nothing more than a shady revenue-generating measure.

“The police were running DUI checkpoints during the daytime,” says longtime Maywood resident Gustavo Villa. “We were being taken advantage of.”

Last year, City Beat’s Jeffrey Anderson reported that Maywood police manning the DUI checkpoints were impounding cars for infractions as minor as driving with an out-of-state license. Those caught up in the checkpoint web sometimes had their cars impounded for up to 30 days, and were often forced to pay hundreds, even thousands, of dollars in fees to Maywood Club Towing. If they didn’t pay—and many couldn’t—their vehicle would be repossessed.

Anderson reported that the FBI was investigating Maywood Towing for offering kickbacks to both the Maywood City Council and to the Maywood Police Department. A subsequent investigation of the Maywood Police Department by California Attorney General Jerry Brown’s office is still in the works.

Last year, the Los Angeles Times found that nearly a third of the Maywood’s 37 police officers either had ethical violations on their records when they were hired, or had run into legal trouble since joining the force. In May, Maywood officer Ryan Allen West was arrested and charged with 12 felony counts of rape, burglary and sexual assault—all which allegedly occurred while he was in uniform. Another high-ranking officer allegedly sexually assaulted a transsexual man repeatedly over a period of seven years.

Aguirre’s push to end the checkpoints and his subsequent elimination of the Maywood P.D.’s crooked traffic division helped propel him to the mayor’s office.

It also earned him enemies.

Shortly after Aguirre led the council to bring down the checkpoints, Maywood’s deputy city clerk, Hector Duarte, launched a plot to have Aguirre assassinated. Duarte was arrested in early July 2006, on the day Aguirre was supposed to be executed. He eventually pleaded guilty on the death threat charges.

Despite the threats, and the opposition of the powerful Maywood Club Towing, Aguirre’s handpicked allies Ana Rizo and Veronica Guardado won city council seats in 2007, giving Aguirre a 3-2 majority in city government.

“I had a lot of hope that things would change when Aguirre came in,” says Gustavo Villa, who supports the recall effort. “But he abused his powers.”

Documents obtained by City Beat show that Aguirre’s immigration advocacy group Comite Pro Uno last year received upwards of $95,000 in city funds through Maywood’s Commercial Façade Program, a city beautification effort. But both Aguirre and his business partner Hector Alvarado live on the grounds of Comite Pro Uno. The Commercial Façade Program isn’t intended for residential use.

Then there’s this: The three city checks used to finance the refurbishing of the mayor’s business and residence were made out directly to Aguirre’s business partner Alvarado—not, as is usual in Maywood, to the contractor who πperformed the work.

Mayor Aguirre says City Beat’s documents are genuine, and that, indeed, nearly $95,000 in city funds went to refurbishing the exterior of Comite Pro Uno.

“I can understand how that could be viewed as a conflict of interest,” he says. “But it was all done above the board. I have nothing to hide.”

Aguirre says that before applying for the funds he consulted David Mango, Maywood director of building and planning, and then-City Attorney Francisco Leal. He says they told him that, as a business owner, Aguirre was entitled to participate in the program—provided he didn’t use his political influence to skew the application process in his favor.

But the city attorney whose advice Aguirre sought has problems of his own. Back in 1999, the Los Angeles Times reported that Leal, working as a private attorney, threatened to launch a recall campaign against city council members in Lynnwood, Commerce and Bell Gardens if those cities didn’t retain his legal services. Last year Jesse Jauregui, Leal’s former law partner, told Jeffrey Anderson that Leal’s style was straight out of Tammany Hall, the infamously corrupt Democratic club that ran New York City politics from the birth of the nation through the 1950s.

Aguirre says he had to fire Leal a few months ago for allegedly demanding kickbacks from a local developer, Gabriel Guerrero, who was negotiating with Maywood’s Community Redevelopment Agency for several fat city redevelopment contracts. According to Aguirre, Leal is now among those leading the recall effort.

Neither Leal, nor Maywood Club Towing owner Tooradj Khosroabadi, also known as “Tony Bravo,” responded to calls for comment.

Aguirre admits that city checks should not have gone directly to his business partner Alvarado, but instead to either Comite Pro Uno or to V & M Iron Works, the Maywood contractor that refurbished the building.

“If I had it to do over again,” Aguirre says, “I wouldn’t have taken any of the money because I realize that this is fuel for my opponents.”

Aguirre says the recall effort stinks of Maywood Club Towing and that voting him out would be “turning back the clock to the days of the checkpoints.”

He may be right. But as is usually the case in Maywood, that’s only half the story.