ABC School Bond Supporters Slam ‘Self-Serving’ Campaign Opponents

CERRITOS MAYOR PRO-TEM CAROL CHEN, EX-MAYOR GRACE HU, UNITED HOA, EX-ABC SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER CECY GROOM CALLED TO TASK BY MEASURE AA SUPPORTERS.

By Brian Hews

Supporters of Measure AA on the upcoming November ballot have denounced campaign mailings and websites from opponents of the $190 Million general improvement bond this week in an interview with Hews Media Group-Community Newspaper.

Maynard Law, who is a current member of the ABC School Board, told HMG-CN that the campaign that is currently being conducted to defeat the bond measure is “totally misleading” and that “false information” is being distributed on two websites that are “destroying the future progress at ABCUSD.”

Law specifically mentioned two websites, one that is being managed by Cerritos resident James Yee and another from Ben Ao who is the leader of the United Homeowners Association also based in Cerritos.

Law said that Yee, and Ao need to be “called to task” and that they are “spreading lies and misstatements about what Measure AA will do and what it will not do in the future.”

Law also said that current Cerritos Mayor Pro-Tem Carol Chen and former Mayor Grace Hu need to be “held accountable” for their “actions” in “spreading lies” to the voters.

“Look, Carol Chen and Grace Hu stand to lose a lot of money if this ballot measure is approved, since both of them own multiple properties within the ABC School District,” Law said.

Law also said that Hu and Chen as well as Yee and Ao have “been working in tandem” with two organized campaign committees that have been legally filed with the California Secretary of State.

Ao admitted that he personally wrote a check recently to “cover the costs” for a post card that arrived in voters mailboxes last week.

Other sources tell HMG-CN that a formal complaint may be filed with both the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Public Integrity Office regarding the mailer.

Law said that the current ABC School Board came up with six different areas of cconcern that are the focal points contained in Measure AA.

Law said that the bond is intended to update classrooms and to “bring them into the 21st Century, instead of being stuck with broken chairs and desks from the 1970’s and 80’s.”

He also said that Measure will deliver the funded for updating Science and Technology labs, addressing how to maintain, upgrade or remove 107 “temporary” portable classrooms that have been dotting local campuses for more than 20 and 30 years.

“This bond is needed, no question about it.  Our newest school is 40 years old, and that school is Whitney High School,” Law said.  A majority of our schools were built in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.

Law and other supporters of Measure AA said that they “did not expect this type of opposition.”

“This is an anti-school and anti-kids campaign that they are waging against us,” Law said.

Law also said that another former ABC School Board Member Cecy Groom is also working hard to defeat Measure AA.

“Some people have told us that they can’t support the bond, because we are getting to much pressure from Republican relators and Cecy Groom,” he said.

Law said that proponents of Measure AA plan to raise around $65,000 in the campaign.  “We plan to spend every penny of it educating voters.”