Ex-Political Power Broker to Stand Trial

The former political power broker of Bell Gardens goes on trial this week, accused of orchestrating her appointment in 2000 to a high-paying administrative post while on the City Council.

Maria S. Chacon, a Mexican immigrant whose leadership helped transform politics in the working-class city, is charged with violating a conflict-of-interest law in a two-pronged plan: First, by voting for a measure that cleared the way for her appointment as city manager. And then by influencing other council members to give her the job, which paid $80,000 annually.

Chacon has denied the felony charge. Her attorney, Michael D. Nasatir, is expected to pose an entrapment defense, saying Chacon relied on the advice of the city attorney, who said the arrangement was legal.

The Chacon investigation, launched in March 2001, polarized the largely Latino community in southeast Los Angeles County. Tensions ran so high that Mayor Ramiro Morales, a Chacon ally, was accused of trying to run his car over a key witness against Chacon.

But Chacon’s power has waned. Her former council allies fired her shortly after she was charged in June 2001. They also refused to subsidize her criminal defense fees. If convicted, she faces a potential three-year prison term. The felony conviction would bar her from seeking office.

Chacon still has admirers from the days she helped organize a Latino takeover of the City Council. But many say the community is better off without her.

“What I want is for Bell Gardens to finally function well, and if that means to have her out, that’s what Bell Gardens needs,” said Jennifer Rodriguez, whose father, former Councilman Rogelio Rodriguez, will testify against Chacon.

Prosecutors say Chacon launched her plan in 2000. Then a councilwoman, she voted to repeal a law requiring one year to elapse before an elected official could be appointed to a staff position. Chacon then allegedly met privately with two council members and influenced them to vote for her appointment as city manager. She was appointed in late 2000.

Prosecutors say Chacon violated a law that prohibits public officials from voting on issues in which they hold a financial interest. Nasatir, Chacon’s attorney, said she was merely relying on the advice of City Atty. Arnoldo Beltran, who allegedly authorized the procedure leading to her appointment.

The evidence “demonstrates that the city attorney not only advised the defendant that becoming city manager was lawful, he drafted the very ordinance which made her alleged crime possible,” Nasatir states in a court document filed last week.

In an unusual twist, Chacon’s defense also is expected to call as a witness the district attorney’s head of investigations, Steve Simonian. He worked as a consultant in Bell Gardens before taking his current post as head of investigations, which handled the Chacon probe.

Chacon’s defense -- calling Simonian’s role a conflict of interest -- succeeded in getting the district attorney’s office removed from the case. An appeals court later reversed the ruling.

The trial, which is scheduled to start today and is expected to last less than a week, also will feature the testimony of former council members Pedro Aceituno and Rodriguez.

Rodriguez, a day after Chacon was charged, accused Mayor Morales of plowing his car into him in the City Hall parking lot. Rodriguez suffered a bruised shoulder. Sheriff’s investigators did not file charges, citing insufficient evidence.

Chacon, who rose to power in the early 1990s as an activist helping to sweep out the white-majority council, was not available for comment.