Late last month, the OC Register’s Brian Joseph stirred a pot when he begged the question, “where does AD-69 candidate Julio Perez live?” Joseph cited failed attempts by a process server attempting to serve Perez with a lawsuit for an unpaid debt. While the issue of Perez’s residency was cleared up by reporter Andrew Galvin, Joseph missed a bigger story — Perez accrued $35,000 in credit card debt for which his bank was suing him for to collect. And AD-69 candidate and Santa Ana council member Michele Martinez is in no position to go after Perez on his personal finances. She nearly foreclosed on her condo in 2011 and forced into a short sale after failing to keep up with payments for her home at 303 East 9th Street #406 in Santa Ana.
This begs the question: if a candidate for state assembly can’t manage their own money, how can taxpayers expect them to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars in Sacramento?
For Perez, the credit card debt stems from living expenses while a student at the University of Michigan and medical bills he covered for a relative. Joseph details the lawsuits here:
Questions about Perez’s residency have been raised because he is being sued by Midland Funding LLC, a debt-buying company. Midland is trying to collect more $7,800 in debts that it says Perez racked up with Chase Bank. (Click here to see the complaint). Midland previously won a $10,000 judgement against Perez in 2011. (Click here to read that judgement.) The current Midland suit was filed in Orange County Superior Court on Jan. 19. Perez on Wednesday confirmed that Midland had won a judgement against him in 2011 but said that he was unaware that another suit had been filed this year.
Perez offered this statement to TheLiberalOC:
“It is unfortunate when anyone in California struggles with unscrupulous lenders in this economy. I am one of them, and it’s frustrating. But I’m working diligently to settle this private matter responsibly. What humbles me is the knowledge that hundreds of thousands of Californians are dealing with the same issues – particularly in this community. That’s one of the reasons why I’m running for the Assembly. To help the little guy who is struggling to make ends meet.”
Martinez’s condo was sold in a short sale in February 2011 (with a date time stamp from the OC Clerk Recorder’s office of Tom Daly which is a tad ironic) in a move to avoid foreclosure proceedings against her. You can see the other documents associated with the short sale here, here, and here. Martinez currently rents an apartment in Santa Ana.
While both Perez and Martinez can make the case that their own personal financial troubles certainly mirror the financial problems many voters in AD-69 face, there are some significant differences. Perez also rents and has a roommate to cut costs. He drives a high mileage older model Ford Explorer SUV. Perez is living within his means and making good on his debt. Martinez, we believe, lives alone and drives a BMW convertible for which she gets a $500 a month car allowance as a city council member; this allowance goes towards car payments, insurance, maintenance and fuel. Her income is largely derived from her work on the city council and via paid commissions and boards. Her LinkedIn page does not list any private sector experience.
We also posted about Martinez’s $15,000 in loans to her own campaign in addition to the theft of her high end training bicycle. Santa Ana Planning Commissioner Sean Mill, in a comment on the OC Political blog, revealed that Santa Ana police had recovered Martinez’s bike which he said was valued at $6,000. So within a span of a year, Martinez loses her home, continues to drive a pricey BMW, and has an expensive bike stolen, and wrote a big check to herself. With two candidates with a history of poor personal finances, which candidate seems to live more like those in the district they seek to represent?
Republican candidate Joe Moreno has already reported he lives paycheck to paycheck. Francisco Barragan has saved enough dough to live a life of an activist while still paying his bills. Tom Daly is putting two older children through college now, making both he and Barragan the two candidates most fiscally responsible. Moreno, a working class father with a number of small children, is probably the candidate who most voters could identify with based on the way he lives his life.
Daly is often criticized as someone who wastes taxpayer dollars with the most frequent example being the purchase of a building for the county archives, and as we’ve pointed out, Daly didn’t have the authority to purchase said building. This transaction was approved by the Board of Supervisors (all Republicans) and deemed a quality asset for the county by CEO Tom Mauk. Martinez has been on the Santa Ana City Council since 2007 as the city’s financial picture has grown increasingly dim, critics (and allies of Martinez) point the finger at former City Manager Dave Ream. But Ream never made a single vote to approve any of the budgets. Conversely, moves being made to improve the city’s financial picture now should be attributed to Acting City Manager Paul Walters — simple stated, you can’t blame the city manager when things are bad and then take credit when things are good. It doesn’t work that way. Perez, Barragan and Moreno have no record of voting on any sort of public budgets.
All these issues aside, it is a crying shame there is no debate in this race. Voters deserve to hear from the candidates themselves on a host of difficult questions. Perhaps the OC Register can get one started but it only matters if all of the candidates attend and participate. A debate will gives voters a chance to see how candidates think on their feet and get a sense of their experience and ideas without turning this election into a race for student coucil president.
Perez told Liberal OC in an email, “The voters have a right hear from us all, directly and unfiltered — not scripted and piecemeal. That why I’ve called for a series of debates. My sincere hope is you use your blog to amplify my call for all of us to come together and debate how to get California back on track. I’ll answer any question voters in the 69th want to pose to me. My cell is all my handouts. I’m happy to answer any question in an open forum.”
Dan: Your call for a debate is an excellent decision. Perez and Barragan did a debate – Martinez and Daly no-showed because raising money was more important to them than actually appearing in a spanish language debate. (The alternative and equally cynical point of view would be that neither speaks spanish)
The management of finances is a relevant area of consideration, especially in the current state of the economy.
I believe you are somewhat hit and miss on your observations, although overall a decent piece. I do not believe that your comparison between Michele Martinez and Julio Perez as both portraying examples of “poor personal finances” is fair, based upon the facts you have shared.
Julio Perez graduated from the University of Michigan with a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from one of the top Universities in the Nation. He, like many, had incurred substantial debt as a student to get through college. This is not a socially rare, or socially unacceptable or frowned upon practice. It is regretable that students in our great nation and our great state have had their Universities mismanaged and have to incur these costs to better themselves and better serve their country and its economy. But education should be valued. As our president stated, he only paid off his student debt a mere 8 years ago.
Further, the number of people in our country who are uninsured, or despite insurance get saddled with astronomic debt and co-pays when they or their loved ones get ill is not rare, it is symptomatic of a country with fundamentally poor values and public policy toward health care. Is the choice the debt collector or the “death panel”? It appears that Julio Perez stepped up to the plate to assist his parents during a health crisis. Can you imagine what would, legitimately, be the questions any candidate would be asked if they watched a father, mother, brother or sister suffer or die from illness when they could, through self sacrifice, assist them financially? Perez’s actions speak of moral propriety and family values, not of selfishness or irresponsibility. Moreover, as you note, he is working through this debt, not disowning it. He is uniquely educated to understand and work to form Public Policy, and uniquely qualified to address the issues from a 99 Percent point of view, not the 1 percent point of view. He does fit his potential district and understand the issues they confront in all of these regards.
Regretably, I do not believe the same can be said of Michele Martinez. She is a single woman whose resume does not display the ability to hold down a public sector job. As a single woman she purchased a home, not for her family but for herself. She lived alone, with no roommates. She drives an expensive BMW, which is not paid for by the large $500 a month public stipend she gets as an elected official for a vehicle. Therefore, she is spending substantial money beyond her car allowance for appearances, for the social cache of driving an expensive foreign sports car. This speaks of superficiality, not an understanding of necessity or personal financial management. She could get around just as well in a Ford Explorer(!) or a Chevy Lumina, and live within the (public, tax free) payments she is provided.
Financial responsibility is about responsible financial decisions: Buying and keeping $6,000 (SIX THOUSAND DOLLAR!!!) bicycle, a fancy BMW sports car, her own bachelorette pad without roommate, and then walking away from your financial commitment to a lender because you no longer wanted to be saddled with the financial responsibility for the home you chose to purchase on your own while living beyond your means speaks of blindness to financial reality and personal responsibility. If she could afford all this money for luxuries and personal financial loans of $15,000 to her campaign (seriously – where does she get all this money with her resume?), how can she justify bailing on her financial obligations to the lender? What about getting a roommate? Selling your $6,000 bicycle? Driving a less expensive car? Using the $15K you apparantly have magically lying around? From a public policy standpoint, Martinez’s situation reflects policy decisions of who should be able to walk away from what obligations and at whose cost? If you really want to dig into it, you should see if she got a 1099c for written off bad debt, and how much debt she was forgiven.
As you correctly note, Martinez’s understanding of financial responsibility and fiscal management is not well reflected in her tenure on the Santa Ana City Council. The salary of controversial City Manager Dave Ream topped $500,000 – none higher other than the City of Bell. We are losing Santa Ana’s Fire Department to make up for financial shortfalls that she did not see coming? Excuse me? Her fiscal responsibility in office reflects that of her fiscal responsibility personally: apperance is what matters. In her own words: “Its all name recognition, baby!” Whne she had a $40K post mayoral run debt, who helped her pay THAT off?
Tom Daly. You really do not have a lot to say about him, primarily because there really isn’t much to really say about him. He supports a 158 Million dollar tax break, and as an ostensible democrat, he has more republicans supporting him than democrats. How he will represent, or represents a primarily latino district certainly says more about the political establishment in OC than it does about Daly’s qualities to serve the 69th assembly district.
1. Julio’s debt is credit card debt and not the smartest way to finance college expenses nor medical expenses, but easy to secure. And it should have been resolved before he became a candidate.
2. Regarding Michele and her $6,000 bike; there is no way of knowing if she bought it herself or if it was a gift from a friend. If it was a gift from some sort of vendor with ties to the city, she’d have to report it. Michele doesn’t return phone calls and getting campaign team to respond to even basic questions is like getting blood from a stone; so when she chimes in about transparency, it makes us laugh a lot. We’re at the point where it’s why bother calling her on anything?
3. Tom Daly doesn’t have personal financial issues and neither does Paco Barrigan nor Joe Moreno for that matter. This post is about two candidates for AD-69 who can’t seem to manage their own money well.
Absolutely we should care about a canidates finances after all they represent us. And yes it says a lot about them. Seriously, only a professional bike rider should own a six thousand dollar bike. Martinez isn’t fit to hold any elected office. She should go back to selling weed.
Let’s not forget Jose, your friend Art Pedroza who is a candidate for OC BoE filed bankruptcy last year…it’s his second. Given his spotty employment history, I suspect he’s more interested in the free benefits that come with being an elected official as opposed to actual public service. Additionally, his BK filings revealed he owes significant back taxes to the IRS and the State of California. Art was also sued by lenders for his credit card debt. If elected, do you think his vote is for sale to the highest bidder?
Wait – Jose’s friend Art Pedroza? Since when does Jose get on with Art?
Oh. Because he criticized your lawsuit against him.
Jesus, there’s nothing between black and white with you people.
Still, good fair article.
It was tongue in c heek Vern because I know Art banned Jose from commenting on his blogs because Jose’s comments dont fit with the ministry of truth.
Maybe Michele is selling weed. How else can she afford all this?
If she was selling weed she wouldn’t have lost her home.
I don’t think she’s selling weed. But I would love to ask her what drugs she did sell and if she ever sold any to kids. And ask what she’s done to atone for her actions early in life. Its a valid question.
Pedroza is not my friend don’t confuse me bashing you over that stupid lawsuit that should have never happened. And of course he wants to be elected so he can cash in no matter how small. He sold out to the tiny dark lord for peanuts.
Oh, I’m busting you. Sorry, but the lawsuit was necessary
Ya keep telling yourself that. Doesn’t matter how big of a douchebag pedroza is it was still a stupid lawsuit. It was embarrassing. I felt embarrassed for you man.
then you can be embarrassed for all of us cause I am not embarassed in the least. I have a number of people who ask to shake my hand because of the lawsuit when I go to political events in OC. The people I care most about dont share your point of view
I am embarrassed for all of you but for you the most.
jose s
We continue to thank Dan for standing up to that POS Pedroza. It isn’t often that a man stands up for what is right, in this case it was time consuming and expensive for Dan, but he did it anyway. And yes, Pedroza is a douchebag, that’s the only thing you got right
Seems to be a bit of a pattern in Santa Ana politics. Santa Ana Planning Commissioner Sean Hartley Mill also lost a condo to foreclosure and had a lot of credit issues but after getting appointed to Planning Commission manages to find the cash to mantain a time share in Hawaii,travels abroad extensively and get his hands on tickets to major sporting events around the country.Mills buddy and political attack blogger Arturo Pedroza also is close to losing his home to foreclosure and has filed bankruptcy not once but twice.Yet Arturo Pedroza also finds the cash to maintain a rundown timeshare in less than glamourous Carlsbad California.Arturo Pedroza continues to rack up debt while having a spotty employment record.When will this house of cards come tumbling down?
I thought it was due to a failure to pay HOA fees. Wasn’t Sean in hot water for driving without a license, registration and insurance once?
Dan, Thank you for this generally balanced post.
Mismanagement of personal finances of any candidate for public office, in particular that of Michelle Martinez and Julio Perez, matters greatly because it demonstrates lack of judgment and foresight. Judgment and foresight are important for handling our districts and state’s complex issues.
I want to offer some observations with respect to Julio’s credit card defaults and what I consider empty comments, which so far have gone unchallenged.
Julio says:
“It is unfortunate when anyone in California struggles with unscrupulous lenders in this economy.”
My response:
1) First of all, it is clear Julio is NOT accepting responsibility for his defaults, and instead is shifting it somewhere else. These are bad traits to demonstrate, but it is good to know this so that voters can decide for themselves.
2) Also how were Julio’s lenders unscrupulous?
3) What about being lenders made them unscrupulous?
4) Didn’t Julio borrow this money so he could allegedly pay for his college work and an illness in the family? (I hope his family has recovered from those medical issues.)
5) It seems Julio is now conveniently throwing under the bus, those “bad” lenders who bailed him out…If this is how Julio treats those who benefit him directly, I hate to think how he treats others who don’t benefit him or his family.
6) But it should also be obvious that no matter how supposedly unscrupulous a lender is, anyone who is not delinquent will generally not struggle with them.
Secondly, Julio says, “But I’m working diligently to settle this private matter responsibly.”
My response:
1) How can Julio claim to be diligently working to settle this private matter responsibly, when he also says “that he was UNAWARE that another suit had been filed this year.”
2) Claiming ignorance of a second lawsuit for a continuing debt, which would be filed after CONTINUED DELINQUENCIES because of non-payment, defies logic.
3) Also, because of his large delinquencies and possible communications from the lenders, Julio knew or should have known about the impending lawsuits.
4) I don’t find Julio’s essssplanations credible. I think somebody has some real “essplaining to do”.
Julio also says that “he is in this race to help the little guy.”
My response:
According to your story “Perez accrued $35,000 in credit card debt for which his bank was suing him for to collect.”
1) Irresponsible behavior does not help the little guy.
The little guy is either hired or fired by his employer. Because of Julio’s large debt default of $35,000, which is equal to the median income in California, it is possible, Julio cost a little guy or gal his/her job.
2) If you find this too hard to accept, then let’s try another analogy. Imagine that Julio goes to a pizza restaurant in which employees rely and expect customers to pay their bills and to also leave a tip (many times employees have lower wages, because of expected tips).
And now assume that Julio dines and dashes on a $21 pizza and drinks, for which the employee may be “docked”.
This represents over 1,600 unpaid meals.
The lending businesses and pizza businesses are in business to be paid. And employees hire themselves out to be paid. Large delinquencies can harm businesses and consequently the little guy.
Furthermore, in business like in life, we always say, don’t lose sight of the big picture…don’t confuse the forest for the trees. Clearly our citizens expect their candidates or elected leaders to be focused on the citizens and state’s issues, and not be distracted by their own personal mismanagement troubles.
A little more troublesome is that a defense of Perez delinquent behavior is that he bailed out his parents “through self sacrifice”.
I am sorry, but this is anything but self sacrifice.
He used other people’s money, which he didn’t do anything to earn, and which he wasn’t paying back and has not paid back.
As a military person, and leader of a veterans organization, when I think of self sacrifice, I think of the selfless contributions and sacrifices of our active duty troops, our veterans, the families of the veterans and of the fallen, who have paid the ultimate sacrifice with their lives, or who have sacrificed time away from family, or have lost a limb or two or lost some mental ability.
I also think of the brave men and women in law enforcement or our firefighters who also put their lives on the line to save ours. That is earned respect and self-sacrifice. Borrowing and being actively delinquent is in no way self-sacrifice, but more like self-ISNHESS.
Additionally, ignoring debts or pretending not to know about them, is not owning up or stepping up to the plate to accept responsibility.
This is really a bizarre world explanation, where delinquent selfish behavior is somehow morally proper or representative of family values.
P.S. My comments may seem biased because I am running for the 69th Assembly District to bring solutions to our complex issues, but I’ll take my chances with the voters on this.
Francisco Paco Barragan
Business, Veterans and Community leader
Advocating for, creating opportunities for others, and implementing solutions in education and job creation, and advocating for victims of domestic violence and survivors of human trafficking.
To Restore Our Future Now!
http://www.linkedin.com/in/franciscobarragancpacia
Francisco:
Perhaps a “This attack post is in the interest of me, Francisco Barragan” might be appropriate at the beginning of your tome.
It appears clear that you are an advocate not for the struggling majority of our populace, and certainly not the struggling little businesses, either, when you equate them (Small pizzeria) to the BANKING INDUSTRY. It is self sacrifice to take on debt based upon credit available to you to save a loved one. During the national health care debate, the GOP used scare tactics talking about governmental “death panels” to prevent a society in which everyone had healthcare. Michael Moore did an entire documentary about the Health Industry documenting the financial ruin in which so many Americans have found themselves because of the American Health Insurance Industry and the very nature of medical bills.
Perhaps you advocate for the non-rich to die rather than have their family to use credit to pay for the medical services required for their loved one’s illness. Those who can pay for their illness deserve to live. If you have to use credit extended to you to assist a loved one, well, you are a bad person if in the greatest recession this country has seen since the Great Depression, you find yourself having difficulty paying your debts.
Last I checked, the banking industry and the major credit institutions were making record salaries, record bonuses, record profits. They were bailed out by what, a close to a trillion dollar Federal Bailout, for causing and profiting from an artificially inflated housing market that has further devastated the economy, and led to record foreclosures and families put out on the streets. Yeah, I see the parallel to the “Mom and Pop” neighborhood pizzeria there, Mr. Barragan.
It is clear the respect you would have for those in the 69th adversely affected by the economy and by family illness. Your judgmental attitude toward Perez shows the sensitivity and judgmental sneer more typically shown in GOP candidates, Mr. Barragan. It also belies the way you would handle policy matters in matters of the interests between Wall Street and Main Street, health care rates, consumer rights, tax breaks for businesses and not people.
However, I will especially remember your post for the gratuitous veterans/police/fire riff you brought in out of the blue to somehow bathe your conjecture and judgment in the sun-kissed backdrop of an American Flag blowing on the wind with police, fire and military all holding you up on a pedestal. Nice. So why did the Santa Ana Police endorse Michele Martinez (she of the pending foreclosure/shortsale) over you, the veteran, when only two short years ago they were paying for ads saying she was unfit to be mayor of Santa Ana because she was a self admitted former drug dealer and gangbanger?
Like I stated, Julio has some essssplaining to do . . .and none of that has been answered by your reply.
SHIFTING ARGUMENT.
In my opinion, I think you are shifting the argument by mentioning the GOP, Michael Moore, death panels, Federal bailout, and the Banking INDUSTRY instead of the ONE BANK with whom Julio is Delinquent.
And you make the avoiding and shifting the argument even worse by all this conjecture that I, or by implication any other concerned citizens with valid questions or concerns about Julio’s mismanagement is somehow “advocating for the non-rich to die” . . . really…no, really…
Follow link to see what I think about HEALTHCARE killed by moneyed special interests.
http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2012/02/defeat-of-single-payer-biggest-lost-savings-money-can-buy/
Follow link to see how I feel about gifts of public funds by governments, in particular the $158 million give-away in Anaheim and favored by SOAR which is endorsing Tom Daly.
http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2012/02/citizens-veto-power-over-gifts-of-public-funds-needed/
FALSE STATEMENTS by Political Entities.
You ask “so why did the Santa Ana Police endorse Michele Martinez…when only two short years ago they were paying for ads saying she was unfit to be mayor of Santa Ana because she was a self admitted former drug dealer and gangbanger?” . . . it seems that by your question you seem to question their judgment.
I make a distinction between the Santa Ana Police DEPARTMENT, and the Santa Ana Police Officers ASSOCIATION (SAPOA).
I respect the work of the SA Police DEPARTMENT because they are serving and protecting our community, often at great risk to themselves.
As is obvious by your question, the decision of the SA Police Officers ASSOCIATION (a POLITICAL entity) is questionable.
Often times, the leadership of an institution gets the sentiment of their members wrong, or makes questionable decisions or statements to the detriment of their members or the overall community.
Case in point, October 2010, the Santa Ana Police Officers ASSOCIATION (SAPOA) Independent Expenditure, in support of Mayor Pulido stated that “crime is [DOWN] 64% over the past few years, making Santa Ana [is] the safest of America’s largest cities”. And Mayor Pulido’s website stated the same under his biography page.
Well, as I demonstrated by providing the FBI statistics which summarizes information of crime REPORTED to them by cities police departments, the SAPOA Independent Expenditure statement was FALSE.
Violent Crime had remained UNCHANGED for Santa Ana from 2008 to 2009 at 1,726 violent crimes according to the FBI. Furthermore, it is possible that some crimes were NOT reported to the police, and therefore were NOT reported to the FBI.
http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2010/12/violent-crime-unchanged-for-santa-ana-other-claims-way-forward/
Additionally, also in October 2010 the Santa Ana FIREMEN’s Benevolent ASSOCIATION, stated that Mayor Pulido had a BALANCED BUDGET, “to maintain its [LONG-TIME] financial stability.”
1) This was also a FALSE statement.
I pointed out that there was a deficit and a negative decline in the City’s budget of millions of dollars, by reviewing the CAFR – Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.
2) Not only was this statement False, and ignored reality, but a mere 15 MONTHS later and not a LONG TIME, the Santa Ana Fire DEPARTMENT CEASED to EXIST as a separate entity.
Have the Fire Department MEMBERS been affected or will they be HARMED because their team composition has been DOWNSIZED? Will the community be harmed because of LOWER staff on standby? I pray not.
3) Separately, the financial mismanagement by the majority of the Santa Ana city council, in which Michelle Martinez is included, is so bad that they are taxing small family-owned businesses into bankruptcy by quadrupling their taxes through the PBID. By comparison, last November the CITY of Santa Ana had about $300,000 in the reserves. Our homeowners association in whose Board I have served for more than 4 years, and which is made up of 63 homes had more than $100,000 in the reserves.
EMPOWERING CITIZENS/Families.
4) To empower our citizens with greater information, that is why as a contributing member for the proposed Sunshine Ordinance for Santa Ana, I am proposing that Santa Ana’s Annual independent financial Audit be completed BEFORE the ELECTIONS in Mid-October (fiscal year ends June 30), rather than completed and reported in December AFTER the elections. By comparison businesses with BILLIONS in revenues and assets complete their audits within 75 days Versus my proposal of cutting down to 105 days for Santa Ana, an entity with less than $500 million in revenues.
NARROW INTERESTS
Do you think institutions prefer to deal with independent minded citizens, or with candidates or politicians who bend over to their will, to the detriment of the community?
1) I don’t think I will be making friends any time soon with the SAPOA especially because I pointed out the improper way that Walters injected himself politically in violation of CA Police Chiefs Association Code of Ethics.
Hear it here in his own words.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9qcXj78EFo
SACRIFICE?
So do you still think delinquent selfish behavior is equal to the real sacrifice of members of our military and law enforcement?
Francisco Paco Barragan
For State Assembly 2012 – 69th AD
To Restore Our Future Now!
Three other separate points:
PART ONE:
BUDGETS.
A comment was made that “Barragan and Moreno have no record of voting on any sort of public budgets.”
My Response:
This is true, but it is not the full picture in my case.
1) While I have not VOTED on a budget, because I studied government accounting, while an auditor for Deloitte in the San Francisco office, I audited large and small cities; and universities and large multi-BILLION dollar businesses. Because of this, I had the opportunity to review budgets larger than Santa Ana’s and funds greater than Anaheim’s.
2) After several months of my budgetary and operational reviews, I found $7 million in improvements for one of these large cities.
3) As a Chief Audit Executive in four multinational companies, I also led global teams of MBAs and CPAs in various industries in companies with greater than $1 BILLION in revenues. I personally found millions in savings through process improvements, and identified and corrected fraud at the senior management levels.
4) I also helped identify improvements that facilitated job creation and large growth.
5) In one company, we also acquired another company for $750 million. As part of the Due-Diligence team, I led my internal audit team that reviewed the operations of the target company and proposed alternative solutions for either obtaining full control of operations and integrating those operations; or giving the target company some operational control where it made sense based on their operations and complexities, after we acquired them. This was a different acquisition scenario because our past over $300 million acquisitions had been smaller where it made sense to obtain full control.
6) So while I have not voted on budgets, I have reviewed larger budgets and found millions in improvements; or I have also been directly responsible for drafting and managing multi-million budgets for my global teams in large or exponentially growing companies.
PART TWO:
DEBATES.
1) I have been asking for candidates’ debates to take place. I have personally communicated this to ALL the other candidates, months ago. It seems that the other candidates are running for something, but away from something.
2) After, I announced my candidacy some members of Los Amigos of Orange County decided to endorse me rather than Julio who had been in the running for about half-a-year and the preferred candidate.
3) So I have asked the Los Amigos of OC, as we did at Los Amigos of Santa Ana, to host a debate, but so far I see no real progress . . .
4) I think it is irresponsible and dismissive of our citizens if the other candidates again do not engage in 1 or 2 candidates’ debates before June 5th.
PART THREE:
COLLEGE ACCESSABILITY & AFFORDABILITY.
1) I paid my way through college (I am the first to go to college from my family), and graduated at almost 30 because I was a working father and husband.
2) I also paid my ex-wife’s way through college so she could go to college and take care of our daughter (my daughter was born in 1988, and I graduated in 92, and her mom graduated in 93) while I worked and went to school. I spent 5 years in night school. I did not really qualify for financial assistance and was denied loans, because I made “too much” money. Catch 22. No scholarships or loans, therefore I had to work. But because I worked, I did not get financial aid. I would beg the school for loans so that I could focus 100% on my education and finish earlier…the most I qualified for was a $400 loan. I was hired by Deloitte & Touche (top CPA/consulting firm) and immediately paid my loan and became a continuing and very productive tax paying member of society.
3) I am on my second marriage, and have been married for over 15 years. I also paid my 2nd wife’s Bachelors and Master degrees. She graduated with zero debt.
4) I have two College age kids (son and daughter), they are both getting ready to transfer from community colleges. I have been paying for my daughter’s full expenses in San Francisco, although she does qualify for some assistance.
5) I want to ensure that our citizens are prepared to compete well in this global economy, and that our youth can be educated, and that they do not go through all unnecessary hardships I went through. This is a great investment in their future, and ours too because they become more productive members of society quicker.
Francisco “Paco” Barragán
For State Assembly 2012 – 69th AD
Accountant, Businessman, Auditor
To Restore Our Future Now!
barraganfj@yahoo.com / (714) 605-2544 cell
The state of California could use at least 80 to 90 members like “Barragán” in the assembly and senate
Perez is a hack. His parents mediacal bills come on…
It was a”family members” medical expenses; I don;t believe he ever said it was his parents. And caring for a parent or relative to the point of paying medical bills makes you a good son — just ask Sean Mill.
@ Dan C:
The way to confirm if Julio paid a family member’s medical bills is by
1)looking at the credit card bill, and
2) asking Julio to provide his tax return that demonstrates that he claimed the thousands of medical bill deduction allegedly for a family member.