LONG BEACH – Long Beach Councilman Rex Richardson is making it a habit to work for companies that he has voted in favor of contracts they have sought in the city of Long Beach. Richardson’s recent position has him required to register as a lobbyist in various cities across Los Angeles County.
On August 15, 2017, Richardson voted “yes” to award a ten year license agreement between the city of Long Beach and Crown Castle LLC, who lays the foundation for 5G mobile technology. According to this annual statement of economic interests, otherwise known as Form 700s, Richardson claimed that he began working for the company in July 2019.
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2UrbanGirls was able to reach Mark Guillen, Public Affairs Manager for Crown Castle, who shared “it’s not typical that we hire current council members for government affairs work but Richardson does not represent himself as a councilman while working for us nor does he do any work in the city of Long Beach.”
When asked how many of the 87 cities in Los Angeles County, does Richardson work in, on behalf of Crown Castle, he said 86.
This is the second time Richardson has appeared to have made money from his vote.
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In April 2018 Richardson began working for Renovate America, which some describe as a predatory lender, who sought out homeowners to take out loans on their homes for energy efficient upgrades that would be assessed on their property taxes.
HERO and CalFirst took the extra step of also having the Long Beach City Council vote to officially join their programs on April 7, 2015. Another PACE provider called Figtree was also voted on by the City Council as part of the same vote. All were approved unanimously and all three motions were made by Councilmember Andrews, and seconded by Councilmember Uranga. All three votes happened back to back and are here.
Rex started with the HERO Program more than 6 months later on October 27, 2015. Rex doesn’t represent HERO in Long Beach, and doesn’t use his title of Long Beach City Councilmember when working on HERO issues outside of Long Beach. The one time that the subject of PACE has come before the Long Beach City Council since then, Rex recused himself. This happened sometime in 2016 when the City Council approved another PACE provider, Ygrene.
Rex Richardson is well known around Los Angeles County and unless these elected officials are living under a rock, they would immediately know he is a member of the Long Beach City Council.
2UrbanGirls reached out to other elected officials to inquire if it were typical for elected officials to work for companies, after voting favorably for their projects.
“Absolutely not, don’t you think if it were possible all of us would do it?” said an elected official who refused to be publicly identified for this article.
Related: Inglewood councilman’s clients include companies he’s supported with his votes
This issue has come up in Inglewood with Inglewood Mayor James Butts and Councilman Eloy Morales personally benefitting from their votes on the city’s trash contract.
L.A. County District Attorney spokesperson Greg Risling confirmed they have received a complaint, that’s under review, into Richardson’s current employment and the question will become has he violated Government Code 1090.
**update**
The DA has determined that a conflict did not exist as the councilman took the job two years later, and cited the quote in this article from Crown Castle as determining Richardson does not perform work in Long Beach.
11 Comments
My councilman dee andrews is being investigated for defrauding money out of the city through the Martin Luther King Day Parade why are you not reporting on him I don’t understand how he still a council person he should be in jail
please send us the details: hello@2urbangirls.com
https://nextdoor.com/g/nbpl8f9bm/
We need help to get the word out. In what we believe Al Austin and the city Is trying to gentrify our neighborhood by forcing minority own businesses out by stealing their paid for private parking lot.
We also believe Al Austin has his hands in the cooking jar by making deals to allow a private sale of an abandoned and condemned building to an investor in promised for a business license.
Please see the conversation in Nextdoor link I provide.
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This my first visit to your site. Thank you for this most informative article! Elected officials raise suspicion whenever there is an appearance of impropriety. A city council member who works for a company with business in his city certainly meets this criterion.
It will be interesting to learn what the DA’s review reveals. Based on 1) what I have read in this article and 2) my knowledge of California FPPC ethical standards, in my opinion there is insufficient evidence to establish that Mr. Richardson has violated ethics guidelines. Unless the DA finds more or unless Mr. Richardson fails both to recuse himself and leave the council chamber whenever the LB City Council votes on something involving his employer(s), he is probably in the clear — although his constituents might disagree — and vote accordingly.
Just because it’s Legal doesn’t make it right.
Speaking as a former city council member, Rex Richardson has not committed fraud or any other crime by taking a position with Crown Castle. The vote that he made to support this company was two years before he was hired by Crown Castle. He is not under investigation, at least according to the DA office.
Most blog followers appreciate the investigative results that are unveiled to us. That being said, we must also be able to believe these articles are based on the truth not sensationalism. Try doing a better job!
Our article said their office was reviewing complaints made. reviewing a complaint and being under investigation, are two different things Ms. Gabelich. Thanks to you, we have updated this article with the email from the DA’s PIO unit confirming complaints were received and are under review. Furthermore, you yourself are being disingenuous considering their office doesn’t confirm investigations are taking place nor do they provide updates other than confirming a matter is under review. This is probably why you are a FORMER councilwoman. You mislead the public under the guise of being a former elected which in itself is no barometer on your credibility as a character witness for Mr. Richardson.
For what it’s worth, I used to be quite active in LB politics. I happen to know that Ms. Gabelich left office because she was termed out.
Residents should be concerned with the optics of a council members appearance of profiting from their votes. You of all people should know that.
Preventing legal and ethics violations and avoiding any actions that give the “appearances of such impropriety” are both fundamental premises to good governance. By accepting the Crown Castle role, Rex has wrapped himself with serious appearances of impropriety that cannot be undone. No matter the possible explanations, anyway you look at it smacks of conflict of interest. What happened to responsibility, transparency, accountability by this city official?