Whittier Daily News reporter Airan Scruby has been closesly following the inner workings of Pico Rivera’s City Hall.

Her most recent story ran in today’s paper and was about Mayor Ron Beilke’s threat to recall two of his colleagues on the dais —- Councilmen Gregory Salcido and David Armenta.

Tomorrow, Scruby looks at City Manager Chuck Fuentes and how he may or may not play a role in the council’s deep divide. Here are some excerpts from the story:

PICO RIVERA — City Manager Charles ”Chuck” Fuentes has been at the center of Pico Rivera politics since he took his position for the first time in 2005.
His supporters say he is a capable civic leader, but detractors say Fuentes has politicized City Hall, showing favoritism to the three City Council members who hired him.
“Am I more political? I’m the first one to say yes, and that’s a plus,” Fuentes said. “Every city manager does what he or she has to do to take care of his majority.”

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When City Manager Dennis Courtermarche was fired in 2005, Beilke, along with then-allies councilmen David Armenta and Pete Ramirez, quickly brought in Fuentes, an acquaintance of Beilke’s.
Armenta, Ramirez and Beilke were ultimately served with recall papers because of hiring Fuentes.

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Armenta left the voting bloc and voted with Gregory Salcido and Carlos Garcia to fire Fuentes just nine months later. They cited Fuentes’ lack of education and city administrative experience as reasons for his termination.
Fuentes said he felt wronged by the decision and believed his work for the city had been positive.
He said being fired motivated him to help Beilke when he backed Gracie Gallegos-Smith and Bob Archuleta for City Council in 2007. Fuentes even did consulting work on their campaigns, he said.

What do you think?