Council Member’s Residency Is Probed

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office is investigating whether a South El Monte councilman who listed a local hotel as his address on his voter registration and nomination papers really lives in that city or in nearby Alhambra.

Councilman Allen Co, elected in March, was interviewed by prosecutors shortly after his victory and last week a district attorney’s investigator reviewed Co’s nomination papers at the South El Monte city clerk’s office.

Co’s opponents have questioned whether he really lives in South El Monte, a community of 21,000 that is seven miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Some have hired a private investigator to track him and demanded an official investigation.

Prosecutors declined Monday to name the target of their probe. “We do have a matter under investigation involving a person with the South El Monte city government,” said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office. She refused to elaborate.

Co, 49, a real estate agent who often works in South El Monte, said officials from the district attorney’s public integrity division interviewed him in March about where he lives.

“I did volunteer an interview,” he said. “Attorneys advised me otherwise. I’ve nothing to hide.”

Until last week, Co said, he heard nothing further and thought it was a closed issue.

“I just want to get this resolved so I can get on with tackling the city’s problems,” he said, insisting that he is a legal resident of South El Monte.

Co said he owns a house on Alhambra’s Siwanoy Drive, where his wife and children live. But he said he is separated from his wife, though he visits the Alhambra house to see his children.

The councilman said he could not find a house to buy or rent in South El Monte when he decided to run for the council. So, after checking on election laws, he moved during the winter into Travelodge, 1228 N. Durfee Ave.

“There’s a shortage of housing in the city,” he said. “Travelodge became available. It’s so close to everything. It’s the newest place [in town]. So I registered [to vote] there and lived there.”

The councilman said he is not planning to immediately buy a house or rent an apartment in town. Recently, he moved to the Ramada Suites in South El Monte.

Co said he registered as a voter and candidate with the Travelodge address after checking with South El Monte City Clerk Kathy Gonzales. She said the secretary of state’s elections staff instructed her that Co could use the hotel address.

In interviews Monday with The Times, however, state elections officials said the registration is questionable.

“A temporary residency in a hotel wouldn’t meet the definition in the Election Code,” said Alfie Charles, a spokesman for Secretary of State Bill Jones. “It seems to be a stretch for someone to forego a permanent residence for a motel/hotel address.”

Charles said a voter or candidate must have a domicile in a district to vote or run for office. “A domicile is a place where one not only lives but plans to return,” he said. “A person can have more than one residency but only one domicile.”

George Lujan, who lost his council seat to Co, and his mother, Helen, filed complaints about Co’s address with the state and county a month before the election. They maintain that Co lives in Alhambra.

Earlier this month, Lujan sent a letter to the district attorney’s public integrity division about Co that included a report from a private investigator that Lujan hired. “We need to get to the bottom of whether this kind of activity is legal,” Lujan said.

The same public integrity unit recently charged Richard Mayer, a candidate in an earlier South Gate election, with multiple felony perjury charges involving his contention that he lived in that city. The district attorney’s office contends that Mayer lived in another town at the time.

Co, who is the first person of Asian descent elected to the council, said he is the victim of South El Monte’s traditionally nasty politics and sour grapes by Lujan.

“There are always charges when people aren’t satisfied with the result.” he said. “I am trying to make this city better.”