Leftovers column

The latest installment:

You can't have a campaign without political mailers, and apparently you can't have political mailers without a little scandal.

Sen. Gil Cedillo is getting a negative reaction from the recent round of mailers he sent out attacking Emanuel Pleitez, 26, one of 11 competitors facing Cedillo in the 32nd Congressional District race.

The mailers show pictures of Pleitez found on Facebook and accuse him of "flashing gang signs" and being a "party animal."

"Pleitez has tremendous potential. He is an intelligent young man and probably has a great future in politics," said Victor Abalos, spokesman for the Cedillo campaign. "But those photos indicated a level of maturity that was inappropriate for someone running for Congress."

Dante Atkins, the Political Director of the Los Angeles County Young Democrats -- which endorsed Cedillo -- recently wrote on the Calitics California Political Blog that he was offended by Cedillo's mailers.

"This is really a low blow," he said, "and smacks of desperation to have to resort to this."
Emily Dulcan,spokeswoman for Pleitez, said the photos were taken out of context. Most of them were taken while Pleitez was at a study-abroad program in Chile through Stanford University.

"We feel like it was definitely an immature move on (Cedillo's) part, which is ironic considering the content of the claim in the mailer," Dulcan said.

****One city manager out, another one in
Somewhere in the San Gabriel Valley last week, the city manager revolving door was swinging.

As Temple City bid farewell to its top executive, Covina was welcoming in a new city manager.

Charles Martin got the boot from the Temple City Council on Tuesday, according to reporter Alfred Lee.

That essentially ends a 55-year public employee career for Martin, 85, who had been serving as Temple City's city manager and city attorney since 2005. He'll stay on as interim city attorney until the end of the month, according to Lee.

Martin, who is 85, initially wanted to keep his city manager gig until a replacement was found, Mayor Judy Wong told Lee.

But the council decided to move forward instead.

"To eliminate him from both positions would have been quite too much for him, so I was thinking to maybe do it more gently," Wong said.

In Covina, city officials are welcoming its newest addition to the team with open arms.

After weeks of delay and negotiating, the city finally announced the hiring of Daryl Parrish as the new city manager.

He will replace interim City Manager Cynthia Kurtz.

*****Covina hospital gets a second chance

It looks like Covina is a place for second chances.

In April, the City Council denied a 39-bed expansion to Aurora Charter Oak Hospital.
But officials have recently had a change of heart.

Last week, the council overturned its earlier decision and are looking forward to revised plans for the project.

City officials said representatives of the psychiatric hospital have shown a renewed willingness to "reach a compromise" with concerned residents on the project.

Those residents aren't so sure.

"They have never been honest with us," neighbor Ron Poloni said. "They say they are willing to work with us now, but we will have to wait and see."