El MONTE Residents Against Corruption

BRINGING TO LIGHT THE ONGOING SCHEMES AND CORRUPTION OF
EL MONTE POLITICIANS, Shady CITY OFFICIALS,
AND DIRTY LOBBYISTS.

Jerry Velasco, Marisol Cortez, and Viviana Longoria are back, once again running for office in El

Monte with hopes of scheming residents out of their hard-earned money. It's crucial to vote no

on these candidates, as they will only continue to drag El Monte down with their dishonest and

untrustworthy practices. Velasco, Cortez, and Longoria have no place in El Monte's city

government!

Neighbors have reported that law enforcement has raided Councilwoman Cortez's family home for major drug offenses, raising serious concerns about her trustworthiness as a candidate for Mayor. With potential criminal ties in her household and ongoing drug activity reported, it is troubling that the Police Association supports her candidacy. In just 20 months as a councilwoman, Cortez has proven to be inexperienced and ineffective for District 6, where streets are covered in graffiti, vacant properties remain vandalized, and the district is filthy—issues she has done nothing to address. If she can’t handle her current role, she is unlikely to succeed as mayor and could lead our city into decline. Furthermore, Cortez approved a massive raise for City Manager Alma Martinez while city workers received only a 3% to 5% increase, showing poor judgment and a troubling prioritization that undermines fair treatment for city employees. Her reckless vote to grant lifetime medical benefits to Martinez and her family will drain taxpayer dollars long after Martinez retires, demonstrating a disregard for El Monte residents.

Adding to these concerns, the El Monte Chief of Police has admitted that the current Bearcat military-grade vehicle sits unused for weeks, yet Cortez has voted to acquire a second, wasting half a million dollars on another vehicle that will also collect dust. These poor decisions are diverting funds from our most vulnerable residents—children, veterans, and seniors—while critical programs and services are neglected. Marisol Cortez's inexperience and poor judgment put El Monte’s future at risk; she has been a complete failure as a councilwoman and would likely be even worse as mayor. Our city deserves better leadership than what she offers.

SAY NO TO MARISOL CORTEZ!

Jerry’s history is troubling; in 2014, he was seen drinking excessively at a community event and left intoxicated, later crashing into another vehicle. He filed a workers' compensation claim against the city, reportedly receiving over $200,000, a claim that should have been denied since he wasn’t acting in an official capacity. Velasco’s actions show a blatant disregard for public trust, exploiting taxpayers with his deceit. Following his accident, he had staff drive him around for years while still collecting a vehicle stipend of about $5,000 annually, further wasting taxpayer money and staff resources. This clear abuse of power demonstrates that we cannot afford to let Jerry Velasco back on the council—who knows what other schemes he might devise to exploit taxpayers?

Jerry Velasco claims that District 1 has no parks and promises to bring one, but the reality is that District 1 already has Lambert Park, revealing his lack of knowledge about the area he seeks to represent. District 1 deserves a leader who truly understands the community’s needs. In 2020, El Monte voters overwhelmingly rejected Velasco’s re-election bid due to his ties to Team El Monte and corrupt cannabis dealings, and it’s time to send him that same strong message again: KEEP JERRY OUT!

SAY NO TO JERRY VELASCO!

Viviana Longoria has approved the reallocation of ARPA funds to cover a looming $13 million deficit over the past two years, redirecting critical funding from children and families to conceal the mishandling of city funds by Team El Monte and the City Manager. This cover-up reflects a troubling pattern of behavior, as she has reportedly laundered thousands of dollars for Team El Monte while lying to El Monte voters about her fiscal responsibility. Citizens deserve an honest council member, yet Longoria continues to mishandle the city’s finances as the current Treasurer, relying on pre-prepared scripts from the finance director instead of conducting thorough reviews of financial decisions.

A complaint has been filed with the Fair Political Practices Commission based on her actions, highlighting her failure to properly report contributions, misfile statements, and lose track of her finances. This raises a critical question: how can we trust her to oversee El Monte’s funds as a council member? Longoria's actions waste hard-working El Monte families' tax money, making it clear that we can’t trust Viviana Longoria, the Treasurer of El Monte, to act in the best interests of our community.

SAY NO TO VIVIANA LONGORIA!

El Monte Councilmembers Maria Morales, Martin Herrera, and Alma Puente have once again shown their true colors with their latest scheme.

We knew that to them, our City is just a treasure trove to be divided up. now they’re pushing for districting - drawing lines and splitting up the city to be controlled by each Councilmember. To accomplish this, they’ve dug up a loophole in the government code that makes it OPTIONAL to have voter approval when creating the new ordinance for districts.

As the ones leading the change, Morales, Herrera, and Puente had the choice to ask what you think about their plans for council districts, but they deliberately CHOSE not to ask. The so-called leaders of our City have shown that, when it’s not required by law, they won’t just ignore the opinions of residents, they will not even give you a voice. These councilmembers have made their disregard for the needs of their communities blatantly obvious - their two REQUIRED public hearings will be held only AFTER their maps have already been drawn up in a quick 45 day time span hoping residents aren’t paying attention.

They have no desire nor need to listen to what the people want. They care only about how splitting up territory nets them the most power and influence.