Council Member, Ricardo Pacheco Paid on Public Agency Money to be at Strip Clubs

Baldwin Park Council Member, Ricardo Pacheco,
 looking upset at losing Free Speech trial.

Baldwin Park Council Member and West Valley Water Board Assistant General Manager, Ricardo Pacheco, allegedly frequented strip clubs, at which time he was paid by the water board, according to a one-million-dollar lawsuit filed against him. The complaint suggests that he may have charged the strip club services to a waterboard issued credit card. Allegedly, Pacheco has maxed out the credit card for these indulgent and personal expenses. The West Valley Waterboard and other plaintiffs have sued Pacheco, board members Michael Taylor and Kyle Crowther; its general counsel Robert Tafoya; and others, to recover a million dollars, which has allegedly been stolen by them.

In his past, Pacheco has been the center of both political and sexual scandals. First, there was his South Gate days, where Pacheco had to quit around the time the City Treasurer Albert Robles was indicted and eventually convicted of bribery and corruption. In 2003, for working 8 months and quitting, South Gate gave Pacheco an extra $95,000 (closer to $135,000 today). At the time, "Experts in municipal affairs say such separation agreements are almost unheard of."

Michael Taylor,
Fired Baldwin Park Police Chief,
and Current West Valley Water Board Member

Next, a number of anonymous Baldwin Park police officers have confirmed that Pacheco has been caught receiving oral sex from a prostitute at Baldwin Park's Green Spa during a police raid. At the time, Police Brass, Michael Taylor, who is the Water Board Member who hired Pacheco without following standard policy and procedure, refused to file charges against Pacheco.

Some witnesses have wondered whether he abused his own daughter. Several times, witnesses have reported the repulsive body language she's given in response to Pacheco hugging her in public.

Furthermore, there are so many scandals tied to Pacheco, an entire page has been devoted in chronicling them.

Then, in his most latest scandal, Pacheco voted to fire former Police Chief Lili Hadsell. Recently, however, a jury found that Pacheco sexually and racially harassed her. As a result, he cost the City of Baldwin Park $7 million.

Now there's West Valley Water Board. Pacheco's hiring at the board has been controversial from the start. Pacheco voted to hire Michael Taylor as the Chief of Police. After his hiring, contracted Baldwin Park City Attorney, Robert Tafoya, then drafted a contract for Taylor - which stated he could only be fired for felony. Pacheco and two others voted to accept the controversial contract.

Then, after the legalization of cannabis in California, Taylor received dirty drug money to run as a waterboard member in West Valley. By pumping more money into his campaign, Taylor finally won a seat on the West Valley Water Board. Taylor's previous attempt at public office failed abysmally.

After being elected, one of Taylor's first acts was to create a new position and hire Ricardo Pacheco as the first Assistant General Manger. The position pays close to $200,000 a year.

Yet, Pacheco has no experience in executing one of the primary functions as Assistant General Manager - which is to procure grants. In fact, Pacheco struggles with grammar, spelling, and writing in general. Although Pacheco tells others he's graduated in engineering from Cal State Los Angeles, he will not prove he's even graduated with a high school diploma. To date, and expectedly, Pacheco has obtained zero grants for the waterboard.

Robert Nacionales-Tafoya, aka Robert Tafoya,
Attorney for both Baldwin Park and West Valley Water Board

Taylor also hired Tafoya as the new general counsel of West Valley Water. Before Taylor was elected, Tafoya was already fired once for allegedly being incompetent. After his firing, he told the board members that he swore revenge and that he'd be back.

And even though Tafoya allegedly works full time for Baldwin Park, he billed the waterboard over $320,000. Tafoya bills Baldwin Park almost $500,000 a year. Therefore, in total, it appears Tafoya grosses over $800,000 a year.

Furthermore, Taylor authorized Pacheco to have a government agency credit card, which appears to have been used exorbitantly for expensive food, hotels, casinos, and possibly strip clubs. Pacheco maxed out the credit card, it appears on personal expenses.

This entire example points to our failed American system of checks and balances. How can someone, who has stolen so much money from the public and violated so many laws, still be allowed to stay in government?

One, Pacheco and Tafoya, given the conflicts of interest associated with Taylor, should've never been hired by West Valley.

Yet, in countries like New Zealand, Germany, or Sweden, exposed facts like this would lead to resignations, prosecutions, and even convictions. But here, Pacheco is getting paid as an assistant general manager to be at strip clubs for sexual services.

In the end, there's no doubt that ratepayers will be affected by rate increases. But rate increases were never meant to pay for the sexual addictions and indulgences of corrupt government officials and administrators.

At the very least, to solve problems like this, the California Public Records Act needs to be overhauled. (1) Records need to be released sooner by faster court adjudication. (2) Heavier attorney's fees and sanctions need to be levied against intentional violators. (3) If records reveal self-dealing, as here, there needs to be personal accountability for those with dirty hands that stonewall the truth from surfacing.

As Bono said: "The worst disease in the world today is corruption. And there is a cure: transparency."