Duarte hopes documents prove allegations false
There will be more on this in tomorrow's newspaper, but Duarte has submitted a rebuttal to claims the council misused public funds by hiring a public relations firm to help with the Azusa referendum effort.
Duarte sent a large packet of documents to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office whose Public Integrity Division is investigating the allegations submitted by former Azusa Mayor Diane Chagnon.
Duarte believes those documents will exonerate them from the charges.
According to a statement from the city:
"The documents submitted by Duarte to the District Attorney confirm the work performed by the firm was not related to the referendum but rather to inform Azusa residents about the adverse environmental impacts the Vulcan mining expansion project would have and to encourage residents to attend the Azusa City Council's public hearings on the project on May 17, 2010 and July 6, 2010. Englander Knabe & Allen completed all of its work for Duarte prior to the July 6, 2010 decision by the Azusa City Council to approve the Vulcan project and therefore prior to the referendum effort undertaken by Azusa residents."
Duarte officials have said they believe this is a political ploy by Chagnon - a member of Canyon City Alliance - to cast doubt on the referendum and attack Duarte.
The Canyon City Alliance is a group of individuals who support the new mining plan and advocate in favor of Measure A. Vulcan Materials Co. is part of the organization and is the main financial supporter for the group.
It is a ploy by Diane Chagnon. This is just one of many of her attempts to smear the names of people for political gain.
Just like when she used Azusa's tax dollars to try to help her win an election against Joe Rocha (now Mayor Rocha).
She is a shameless liar and hypocrite who just wants to smear the name of good people by making unfounded allegations.
"The City of Duarte has submitted documentation to the office of the Los Angeles County District Attorney that CONCLUSIVELY rebuts allegations made by former Azusa Mayor Diane Chagnon..."
"“It’s unfortunate that Vulcan, through its supporters, has chosen to smear Duarte as a public relations ploy when the volumes of public records released to them and provided to the District Attorney confirm that Duarte has not spent public funds on the referendum,” said Duarte City Manager Darrell George. “VULCAN’S SUPPORTERS KNOW FULL WELL WHAT THE TRUTH IS AND YET FILED THE COMPLAINT WITH THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY ANYWAY."
Vulcan Materials is the ONLY financial supporter of the group. Mr. Tedford, if you would like their financials, email me, I'll fax them over.
And, considering the public lambasting I received at the last City Council meeting because of these false allegations, I will be ecstatic to have the actual facts to counter and demand a public apology.
I realized right after I posted Mr. Tedford already has the financials. Sorry about that.
(I was wrong, I was wrong, I was wrong. A little known rule in my family, if you are mistaken you must admit to it three times to the person. Keeps a person from making inaccurate erroneous statements.)
Keep it cmoing, writers, this is good stuff.
Weeeee, what a quick and easy slouiton.
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