Ex-Bell, Calif., Mayor Oscar Hernandez too uneducated to know his actions were illegal, lawyer says
Oscar Hernandez, former mayor of Bell, Calif., listens to closing arguments in a massive city corruption trial in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Feb. 20, 2013. / AP Photo/Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES The unschooled and illiterate former mayor of the scandal-ridden suburban city of Bell had no training that would have alerted him that his huge salary was illegal, his lawyer told a jury in closing arguments Thursday.
Former Mayor Oscar Hernandez didn't have a college or high school degree and didn't even finish elementary school, defense attorney Stanley Friedmand said.
Hernandez is among six former Bell city officials on trial for allegedly misappropriating funds. He was earning just under $100,000 a year for the part-time job.
Friedman argued that financial advisers hired by the city could have informed Hernandez that salaries being paid to council members were illegal, but no one did that.
"They didn't say, 'Stop in the name of the law. These salaries are illegal,'" he said.
Hernandez was known around town for having a big heart and being willing to listen to everyone's problems, and like many other politicians of simple backgrounds, he wasn't required to be scholarly to be mayor, the lawyer said.
"We elect people who have a good heart. Someone who can listen to your problems and look you in the eye," Friedman said. "There are a lot of elected officials who may not be the most scholarly. We had a vice president of the United States who didn't know how to spell potato."
Friedman said former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's main qualification was "he portrayed a killer robot in the movies. And (former Minnesota Gov.) Jesse Ventura was a professional wrestler."
In prosecutors' closing arguments on Wednesday, they said the six officials facing charges of misappropriating funds felt they were above the law and collected paychecks for jobs that didn't exist.
Legally, the officials could have paid themselves $673 a month for what was a part-time job, since they didn't actually run the city, Deputy District Attorney Ed Miller said. But in addition to their inflated council salaries, the officials appointed each other to commissions that did nothing and often met yearly just to increase their pay, he said.
In the midst of a national economic meltdown, the council members were drawing salaries 3 1/2 times that of the median income of a resident in the blue-collar town, he said.
If convicted of various counts of misappropriation of funds, they could face sentences ranging from 11 to 20 years.
Later Thursday, lawyers for two other former officials claimed their clients were victims of a city attorney who never told them what they were doing might be illegal. Lawyers for the other three defendants — former council members George Mirabal, Victor Bello and Luis Artiga — were to present closing arguments later Thursday.
After disclosure of the scandal in 2010, Bell residents revolted and turned out in the thousands to protest at City Council meetings. They ultimately staged a successful recall election in 2011, throwing out the entire council and electing a slate of new leaders.
An audit by the state controller's office determined Bell had illegally raised property taxes, business license fees and other sources of revenue to pay the salaries and ordered the money repaid.
Former city manager Robert Rizzo and his assistant city manager, Angela Spazzio, face a trial later in the year.
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is broke because of idiot politcians. If your an illegal in Ca you can
get benefits easier than an american. If California did not have open door to the state with free medical care and other benefits they would not
be broke.Thats why hispanic population is almost forty percent there.
Immigration is fine but LEGAL immigration only. If people no matter where
they are from came here illegally or use anchor babies they should quickly be deported. Our population has increased over thirty million in less than
ten years at that rate it will be 6 to 700 million in eighty years or less.
do we want to be crowded as China??
is broke because of idiot politcians. If your an illegal in Ca you can
get benefits easier than an american. If California did not have open door to the state with free medical care and other benefits they would not
be broke.Thats why hispanic population is almost forty percent there.
Immigration is fine but LEGAL immigration only. If people no matter where
they are from came here illegally or use anchor babies they should quickly be deported. Our population has increased over thirty million in less than
ten years at that rate it will be 6 to 700 million in eighty years or less.
do we want to be crowded as China??
"I would have to argue you get what you pay for." -Angela Spaccia (LA Times 7/15/10)
"Our city is one of the best in the area. That is the result of the city manager. It's not because I say it. It's because my community says it." -Mayor Oscar Hernandez (LA Times 7/15/10)
"Our streets are cleaner, we have lovely parks, better lighting throughout the area, our community is better," Hernandez said. "These things just don't happen, they happen because he had a vision and made it happen." -Mayor Oscar Hernandez on Robert Rizzo ( LA Times 7/15/10)
"a miracle from God." -Councilman Luis Artiga on receiving his first check ( LA Times 7/15/10)
"I will resign to my salary, but I will not resign to my position. I am here to stand by my people, to make the changes necessary and to apologize for all of this turmoil," -Councilwoman Teresa Jacobo (City Council meeting, ABC 7 7/27/10)
"Unlike the skewed view of the facts, the Los Angeles Times presented to advance the paper's own agenda, a look at the big picture of city compensation shows that salaries of the City Manager and other top city staff have been in line with similar positions over the period of their tenure," -Oscar Hernandez in letter to the LA Times (7/23/10)
"George Mirabal himself assured me they were doing nothing wrong," he said, adding he often accepted invitations from city officials to sing mariachi music at various community events. He was never paid, he said, because the officials told him the city didn't have any money. "I really thought they were broke," he added. "Otherwise I might have charged them." -Bell Resident on George Mirabal (Associated press via SCPR.org)
"I should have asked more questions, I'm not denying that," "If ignorance is a crime, I guess I'm guilty." -Councilman Lorenzo Velez in testimony to the Superior Court Judge (CBS2 News 2/9/11)
Obama way better than Dumb Dubya.
Dubya was a rich fighter pilot. Obama is a community organizer whose wife gets fatter on the public dole.
He probably thought making 1/10 of what a CEO makes would be about right for a mayor.
Yes, like Obama, he approves of stealing from taxpayers, unlike CEOs.