Parlier Mayor Alma Beltran’s bid for the Fresno County Board of Supervisors is running into a buzzsaw, courtesy of former Fresno Unified Trustee Brooke Ashjian.
Ashjian, who sparred with Beltran over the Measure C renewal effort, is behind a website in Beltran’s own name calling for her removal as mayor.
The big picture: An organization named Valley Watchdog, which is affiliated with Ashjian, has secured the domain name AlmaBeltran.com.
- The website features several links to news articles reporting on Beltran’s decade as mayor.
- One of the major themes of the site points to Parlier Police Chief Jose Garza winning a $1 million lawsuit after suing the city claiming Beltran fired him in retaliation for investigating a city employee for embezzlement.
- AlmaBeltran.com also points out that Parlier has had six police chiefs and six city managers under Beltran’s leadership.
- The site also lays out allegations that Beltran repeatedly missed paying her water bill to the city she leads, with lengthy documentation of cutoff extensions to her property.
Driving the news: Beltran and Ashjian repeatedly made headlines butting heads during the Measure C renewal process, which was ultimately shelved.
- Beltran was serving on the Measure C Steering Committee as the Chair of the Fresno Council of Governments (FresnoCOG), while Ashjian was one of three representatives on the committee for the City of Fresno.
- Ashjian resigned from the committee last August, and one month later he filed a complaint with the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office alleging that Beltran and others with FresnoCOG violated the Brown Act by holding a secret facilitation committee designed to kickstart a privately-funded citizen’s initiative, which later turned into the half-cent sales tax proposal known as Better Roads, Safe Streets, which is backed by groups including Fresno Building Healthy Communities and the Central Valley Communities Foundation.
What they’re saying: “‘LOCA AS THEY COME.’ Should tell you how racist they are! This is what 201k can buy you for a smear campaign! This is what happens when people feel threatened by real change,” Beltran wrote on Facebook when a mailer was sent into the 4th Supervisorial district.
- She followed up the post outing Ashjian as the architect behind the attack.
- “As I run for Fresno County Board of Supervisors District 4, I’m seeing the same political forces reappear that we faced during the Measure C debate,” Beltran wrote. “This is not new in politics—but it is exactly why people have lost trust in the system. Voters deserve facts, not personal attacks or misinformation.”
- “The site and mail says it all: she’s loca,” Ashjian said. “And Parlier voters deserve someone better, preferably someone who pays their own city on-time.”
The post “As Loca as They Come”: Parlier Mayor Beltran faces blitz over city turnover, unpaid water bills appeared first on The San Joaquin Valley Sun.
