EXCLUSIVE: Three Commerce City Councilmembers Observed Dining Together at Local Steak House

[l-r] Tina Baca del Rio, Ivan Altamirano, Randy Economy and Lelia Leon at Stevens Steakhouse. The three may have violated strict California Open Meeting Law. Photo by Brian Hews

By Brian Hews

Last week while dining at Steven’s Steakhouse in Commerce, Hews Media Group Publisher Brian Hews and Investigative Reporter Randy Economy witnessed three current members of the Commerce City Council dining together at the next booth from them a possible violation of the State’s Brown Act.
The three Commerce City Council members that were dining together were Tina Baca del Rio, Ivan Altamirano, and Leila Leon. After more than two hours, Hews and Economy were approached by the three elected officials who introduced themselves and started brief cordial conversation.
The three elected officials then posed for a photo in the booth that Economy and Hews were dining at to document the encounter.
In the photo, taken by Hews, is a beaming Baca del Rio, Alamirano, (Economy) and Leon.
The three elected officials may have broken the California Open Meeting Law, also known as the Ralph M. Brown Act for dining together as a group, at the same time, without a scheduled city meeting being officially noticed or posted at the upscale popular steak house. It is not known if taxpayers from Commerce are going to be billed for the charges of the dinner, or if the meal was paid for with a city issued credit card.
HMG-CN will ask the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office to review the photo and documentation to see if the three city officials violated any laws. Baca del Rio, Altamirano and Leon are all facing a current petition drive that would force the trio and current Mayor Joe Aguliar out of office.
Brian Hews Photo (Copyright. Property of Hews Media Group, Community Newspaper. Feb. 14, 2014)