Follow us
Guess Who’s Been Coming to Dinner at Veronica’s?
The rumors of City Council Member Veronica Vargas hosting questionable dinners at her home have been going around for some time. The fact that she is hosting dinner is not newsworthy or even interesting. It’s who has been coming to these dinners that is interesting. Let’s start with last November’s election.
Word has it that Veronica hosted several candidates for city council at her house before the election. We also heard that she met with candidates at the offices of one of the property owners in the Downtown Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) area. Veronica was apparently seeking support and endorsement for her ballot Measure Y in writing. One can assume this quid pro quo agreement was signed support for her measure to get her endorsement. We’d like to know who signed those agreements!
We’ve also heard that Pete Mitracos has been a regular at the Vargas’ house. It’s well known that Veronica is close with Mitracos, after all Pete’s wife Mary served as Veronica’s Treasurer for her 2018 council race. More information on that here. Veronica and Pete’s relationship isn’t significant until, as word has it, one learns that the Mitracos’ have financial ties to the TOD. That might explain why Pete campaigned so hard for Measure Y. (Transparent Tracy will be investigating the Mitracos’ link to the Downtown TOD further.)
But perhaps the strangest dinner guest at Veronica’s house has apparently been none other than City Council Member Dan Arriola. The same Dan Arriola who opposed Measure M but supported Measure Y. The dinner was said to have taken place following the November election. Arriola joined Vargas in moving forward the additional $500,000 of taxpayer dollars to move forward with the Downtown TOD Specific Plan. It was the same meeting where Arriola expressed that it didn’t matter a majority of voters rejected Measure Y. In essence, to him, the TOD is bigger than the majority will of the voters, a sentiment shared by Vargas.
A few takeaways. First, there is a common theme with Veronica Vargas lobbying hard for and on behalf of property owners et al who stand to benefit from the Downtown TOD.
Vargas will NOT answer the question if she is taking money in her professional capacity from any of these players - Sandhu or Mitracos. Until she is transparent with her financial ties with regards to the TOD development, Transparent Tracy will continue to question all of her actions - including dinners at her home.
Second, takeaway, is the odd alignment of Vargas and Arriola. Why is a Deputy District Attorney aligning himself with Tracy’s most controversial and unethical elected official? It deserves more focus.
* Blog Photo by News10's Amy Jacobson Kurokawa