Political Novice Fills Post Once Fraught With Drama

Rudy Navarro describes being the treasurer of South Gate after the Albert Robles era as “going from 100 mph to 5 -- in a second.”

Guarding the fiscal health of a 7.4-square-mile city of 98,721 isn’t what it used to be. The salary went from $60,000 to $7,200; Navarro won’t be quitting his day job at an accounting firm.

He also won’t be able to manage the city’s investment portfolios and funds, as Robles did.

The position, Navarro said, has reverted to the “watch the money and deposit the money” position it once had been.

“I used to joke that my name was Rudy ‘You-Can’t-Do-That,’ ” Navarro said with a laugh. “I used to say, ‘Albert used to be able to do that.’ And they said, ‘Yeah, but he shouldn’t have been able to.’ ”

Federal authorities have indicted Robles on public corruption charges. He is accused of plundering $12 million from the impoverished city while holding dual positions as treasurer and city manager.

Robles’ tenure was a tumultuous period in which one councilman was shot, Robles was accused of threatening to kill political opponents and the city neared bankruptcy.

Two years ago, fresh from San Diego State, with no political experience to speak of, the 23-year-old Navarro decided to take on Robles in a recall election. He won. Robles and his allies on the council lost, but not before a last-ditch negative campaign in which they accused Navarro of kiting checks.

On Tuesday, Navarro was reelected in a far more civilized contest against two relative unknowns.

Navarro, now 25, is settling into a position in which it is best to be neither seen nor heard, for the time being. And that’s tough for a guy who says he wants to be governor and retire as a U.S. senator. Returning to the treasurer post, in fact, wasn’t what Navarro had in mind. He filed instead to run for the City Council.

“I wanted to be a policymaker and contribute in that way,” he said. Older and wiser friends, such as South Gate Mayor Henry Gonzalez, convinced Navarro that he was still young and could stand to learn some more in a second term as treasurer.

“I told him, ‘Look, young man, you need to learn to keep your mouth shut,’ ” Gonzalez said. “That’s the dilemma of young people. He’ll learn as he gets older not to be so impetuous and go out there and create problems for himself.”

Navarro was disappointed. “But I understood why they felt this way,” he said. “I’m 25 years old, there’s not a lot of people in my position.... I’ve still got some things to learn.”

Navarro already has scrawled one political note-to-self: If you’re the chairman of the local Democratic committee in a heavily Democratic city, endorse a Republican at your own political peril.

Last fall, after Navarro endorsed Republican Tim Escobar for Congress over Democrat Linda Sanchez, he was pressured to resign his committee post. Navarro is unrepentant -- he still believes Escobar deserved the position. And he still resents that Sanchez had defeated Navarro’s political mentor in a previous election.

“It’s not like we excommunicated him,” said Allen Treen, vice chairman of the organization. “But the consensus was that for whatever ... reason, Mr. Navarro made his choice, and that we couldn’t tolerate it.”

Gonzalez chuckled and called it a political mistake bred by youthful inexperience.

“He’s a novice,” Gonzalez said. “That’s the worst thing that you can say about him. But his intentions are good, and he’ll be a good councilman in the future.”

Navarro is the middle son of Rodolfo and Maria Navarro. He grew up in South Gate and graduated from South Gate High School. When he was 12, Navarro walked precincts and volunteered in the campaign of Nina Banuelos, a former South Gate city clerk who lived across the street from his family home.

When he was 17, he helped Hector De La Torre’s campaign for City Council. De La Torre would end up taking the teenager to Sacramento, where he was made a Democratic Party delegate.

Navarro majored in political science and finance at San Diego State, where he was active in student government and the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA), which drew him into protests and hunger strikes over education policies and college affordability.

As he was nearing graduation, the South Gate recall campaign was heating up. After consulting with a committee vetting candidates to challenge Robles and other incumbents, Navarro decided to face Robles.

His parents were aghast. They worried he would be assaulted or politically corrupted.

“Truth be told, I was scared,” Navarro said. “I told them, ‘Whatever [Robles] does, let him do it. The truth will come out.’ ”

Navarro said his race against Robles was largely uneventful, except for one political mailer that accused Navarro of writing dirty checks. “I think he knew he was going to lose,” he said.

Moments after being sworn in as the new treasurer at City Hall, Navarro was greeted by Robles, who extended his hand.

“Some people booed. They said, ‘Don’t do it! Don’t do it!’ ” Navarro recalled. “But I shook his hand. You know what? He put up a fight, and he was being a gentleman about it.”

Navarro said Robles has called him a few times since then. One of the calls came while FBI agents were looking for the ex-treasurer.

“He said, ‘You’re an extremely bright young man with a great future ahead for you, like I told your parents,’ ” Navarro recalled.

Navarro said the man he unseated, whose reputation made him a feared player in city politics, has never been rude to him.

Today, Navarro runs an office that is half as small as the one Robles had as treasurer. Among his first acts was to order a full audit to assess the damage.

“It’s a much lower-profile position than it used to be,” said Gary Milliman, the new city manager. “And Rudy’s really working the position at the appropriate level. He’s not trying to make something out of it it’s not supposed to be.”

Gonzalez said the young treasurer is going places.

“He’s very energetic and bright, and I’m not just talking about one of those kids who needs to be moving all the time,” Gonzalez said. “He knows where he wants to be in five years, and he’ll probably get it.”

Treen, vice chairman of the local Democratic committee, isn’t sold on Navarro yet.

“Rudy is very charming, very sociable, articulate and reasonably intelligent,” Treen said. “In other words, he’s pretty well-equipped to be a political candidate. But I’d like to see some evidence of real ability.”

Navarro said he looked forward to being more involved in the day-to-day decision-making that could help South Gate.

“I care about this community, and I want to be here long enough to fix whatever was made wrong and better the life of residents, then move on.”

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Background on Rudy Navarro

* His first paying job was as a 14-year-old teacher’s aide at Roosevelt Elementary School in Lynwood.

* He graduated from South Gate High School in 1997 and from San Diego State in 2002. He is pursuing a master’s degree in finance and accounting at USC.

* He enjoys karaoke singing, particularly with his 64-year-old father, Rodolfo, a retired AM station DJ. The pair enjoy singing songs such as “Amor de los Dos” (Love of Us Both) by Mexican mariachi crooner Vicente Fernandez. “My dad has a great voice,” Navarro says.

* In his car, you might find CDs of the British group the Smiths, the Mexican pop band Mana and the late mariachi icon Jorge Negrete.

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Los Angeles Times