Club Rumors: "He-Said, He-Said" in Azusa

Despite the fact that by the middle of February, Azusa Mayor Diane Chagnon had raised more than all 7 of the other city council candidates combined—$32,123 was the figure Alison Hewitt of the SGV Trib reported on Feb. 15th—she still lost, in a race in which her accusations of turkey stealing against eventual winner Joe Rocha, as well as campaign contributions from Athens Services trash company, the developers of the massive Rosedale (you've-seen-the-signs-on-the-210) project, and her ties to Vulcan Mining all became issues during public debates.

After the election, in which she had been strongly endorsed by the SGV Trib, she hinted that she would be interested in taking the open seat on the council left because of Rocha's win ["Of course, there is an open seat, and if the council wants to appoint someone with 13 years of experience, that's their option"], but the council (just recently) appointed the third place candidate, Robert Gonzales to the seat vacated by Azusa's new mayor, Joe Rocha.

In any event, Chagnon appointed one Mark Ades to the planning commission after he served as her campaign manager in the 2005 election. (People argued about this on a local website forum here, some disparaging Ades' political style.)

Ades made the papers recently when the D-Club and Restaurant tried to start a weekly gay themed "Club Rumors" night. The Alison Hewitt SGV Trib article is posted on the forums at Azusa Pride, a website that says Azusa is "the gay friendliest city in the valley." [And here you always thought the evangelical Azusa Pacific University was defining of Azusa.] City officials said that the D-Club actually didn't even have the right permits to be a club in the first place, and "was also the site of underage drinking, large fights and lax security." Ades, "who said he had attended the club in the past," was cited defending the club, which appears to have weathered the storm.
All of which brings us to the current situation. The day after Joe Rocha won the mayoral election, Mark Ades resigned and sent out a letter to the city council and the city manager alleging that Joe had always wanted to get a little gay friendly with Mark. And so, as Bethania Palma and Frank C. Girardot have it in the SGV Trib: "Mayor Joe Rocha has filed a complaint with the Los Angeles County District Attorney alleging a former city planning commissioner [Mark Ades] used threats to try to force him out of office."

The threat [(s)?], according to mayor Rocha, was going public with claims that he "aggressively initiated a 'disturbing sexual encounter' during an unannounced visit to Ades' home on North San Gabriel Avenue. The incident occurred in 'early 2005,' according to [Ades' PR person, Brenda] McGann.

McGann declined to elaborate on the nature of the alleged contact.

Rocha's supporters expressed outrage at the allegation..."

(See also the CBS2 report here.)

Ades says he didn't threaten anything, but simply resigned and provided his reasons: a sordid history of "unwanted advances." Rocha supporters might chalk it all up to a particularly acute case of sore loser syndrome. But both guys have some explaining to do. Whoever is in the right, I'm guessing the rumors are flying at Club Rumors...