In October of this year, I received an email from Mayor Alex Vargas of Hawthorne.
Just for sake of backround, Alex is a friend of mine. He has done great things for the city of Hawthorne, both as a city councilman and also as mayor. The city has a much better feel to it, and residents all over have told me that they love living in the city. At the very least, they like the fact that for the first time in nearly thirty years, they have a Mayor whom they can be proud of, who is not stealing food mixers from school cafeterias, or violating campaign finance laws, or stiffing landlords and political consultants while demanding to get some more “hot sauce, hot sauce.”
Gorgeous George, Meet Awesome Alex!
Well, as expected, Alex is going to get attacked for doing a good job. The Democratic Political machine in Hawthorne does not like him. His biggest opponent was Haidar Awad, a city councilman who was elected in 2015, the same year that Alex Vargas became mayor.
And so they thought … what better
He then shared with me this hit piece against him in his bid for re-election as mayor of Hawthorne:
WOW! I feel almost … flattered!
There’s a picture of me with three Hispanic Republicans, including Ruben Barrales, who was elected to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors and has helped other Hispanic Republicans get elected to office. There’s my other friend Suzanne Fuentes, who served for two terms as Mayor of El Segundo. She’s awesome.
And there’s Alex, too! Nice photo.
How interesting indeed, that this hit piece targets me as “anti-immigrant”, when at that meeting in particularly (March 2016 of the Beach Cities Republicans), a number of immigrants were in attendance, too! But more on that later.
Of coursed, at the end of it all, this was a stupid hit piece. Most people in the city of Hawthorne have NO IDEA who I am. I hardly know anybody in the city, besides Alex and a few other activists.
And the funniest part about this — I was running for State Assembly at the same time, and no one cared! No one bothered to smear me or target me as anti-immigrant or confront about my stance on illegal immigration.
Of course, the bigger irony is … I was Haidar’s speech coach when he ran for Hawthorne City Council in 2015!
Here’s the proof:
Five years ago, I was working as a tutor for Tutor Doctor, based in Redondo Beach. Initially, I worked as a math tutor for Haidar’s younger brother Hamza.
Then the company asked me to help Haidar himself with his speaking skills, since he was interested in running for city council in the city of Hawthorne!
And help him, I did!
Here’s the record that I was assigned to him:
And you know what the biggest irony of all is?
Haidar’s parents are both immigrants! They both hired me to serve as tutor for their two sons. They both said that I did good work, too!
So, I am anti-immigrant, but I was hired by two immigrants. Really.
The most vindicating outcome from all of this, however, is that Mayor Alex is still mayor Alex. He won big time! And he deserved it. The city of Good Neighbors remains in good hands.
Haidar lost big time, and he deserved it. He spent big money, too, and STILL LOST! He smeared someone who had helped him get elected to city council–and he got what he deserved–HE LOST!
All of this brings to mind one of my favorite verses:
