Print Ramon Medina spent eight years achieving his small-town political dream and about half of that time tarnishing it. After winning a seat on the Maywood City Council in 2015, Medina was engulfed in scandals. He voted on issues that raised questions of conflict of interest, including a 2016 caught growing marijuana as he pushed for a cannabis ordinance at City Hall. The following year, his home and auto shop were part of an anti-corruption raid. Undaunted, he ran for reelection in November but lost. Advertisement That Medina believed he had a chance of being reelected despite the controversies swirling around him might seem like a surprise. But he was a politician in one of a warren of small cities in southeast Los Angeles County where scandals have long festered and weren’t always a knockout against political ambitions.
Across Southern California, cities are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to help people get through the pandemic. Money is going to pay utility bills and rent, feed families, and help businesses keep the doors open. It s also backstopping stressed local government budgets in some places, and paying for coronavirus testing in others. Relief was supposed to come from California s allocation of federal CARES Act money. But the mayors of 60 cities are complaining that the way the money was divided meant their communities didn t receive a fair share. They ve signed a protest letter, from the California Mayors Coalition to Governor Newsom, asking for a larger share of the money.