Court Filing Contradicts Cortes’ Form 700s
San Bernardino County Sentinel
Friday, October 15, 2010
Grand Terrace City Councilwoman Bea Cortes consistently failed to disclose a significant portion of the income she received on the financial interest disclosure forms she was required to fill out throughout her tenure as an elected official, court documents Cortes herself filed in conjunction with her divorce show.
Cortes, who was elected handily in 2002 and reelected by a comfortable margin in 2006, is involved in a campaign for reelection in the upcoming November 2 election and has come under exacting scrutiny this election season. Cortes succeeded in avoiding any major controversy during her first six years in office but courted acrimony in 2008 when she worked in consort with then-acting city manager Steve Berry to spark an investigation into her then-council colleague Jim Miller. Miller was later charged with a violation of state conflict-of-interest law for voting with the rest of the council to approve consent calendar items on the city council agendas that affirmed payments made to the Grand Terrace City News for municipal legal notices that ran in that newspaper. The City News is a publication owned by Miller’s wife. The popular Miller was eventually forced to resign his council position as a consequence of the ensuing controversy.
Cortes’ involvement in Miller’s political demise, along with reports that she had engaged in an affair with San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos, a married man, significantly undercut her popularity in Grand Terrace and has earned her the enmity of a contingent of that city’s residents. Several of those have carried out a concerted effort to prevent her reelection. That campaign has included intensive research of the public record for any potentially derogatory information relating to Cortes.
Perhaps the most damaging information unearthed relates to Cortes’ 2008 divorce from James Moore. The Moore/Cortes union lasted a single day, from February 21, 2008 to February 22, 2008. Previous reports were that the marriage had been annulled. But documents filed with the San Bernardino County Superior Court show that the marriage ended in a divorce, initiated by Cortes. One of the documents filed in conjunction with the matter reveals that Cortes was receiving money from Moore from shortly after their relationship initiated in 1999 continuing up until the time of their marriage – including the first six years that Cortes was serving on the city council.
Moore has been described as a wealthy Newport Beach entrepreneur.
In a declaration Cortes signed under penalty of perjury on August 21, 2008 and filed with the court on August 22, 2008, Cortes stated, “Mr. Moore and I have been in a relationship since 1999. He insisted throughout our relationship that I limit my professional and business activities so that I would be available to him. He consistently gave me between $1,000 and $3,000 per month prior to our marriage. He also bought me a Mercedes automobile.”
The declaration continues, “Prior to our marriage, he made it very clear to me that if we married, that he would provide for all of my needs, including a home, automobiles, travel, food, etc., and that I would have in addition to all of that, I would minimally have every week $500 in spending money (sic). He would also pay all expenses connected with my daughter who had graduated from college, in working on her Masters Degree and he would provide her with a Toyota automobile. He specifically indicated it would be up to approximately a $30,000 automobile.
“He also promised me,” the declaration continues, “that I would have an interest in an apartment partnership he has in Texas and that I would receive $1,000,000 as an irrevocable heir to his estate.”
Cortes made the declaration as part of a motion to convince the court to increase the amount of alimony to be paid to her.
In California, elected and other government officials are required to annually fill out statements of economic interest, known as California Form 700s. In her Form 700s filed with the Grand Terrace City Clerk’s office for the years 2002 until 2008, Cortes makes no mention whatsoever of any money she received from Moore. Those documents require the signature of the office holder and contain an affirmation, under the penalty of perjury, that the information contained therein is accurate.
District attorney Mike Ramos in 2009 filed felony charges against former assistant assessor Jim Erwin for failing to disclose on his Form 700 filed in 2008 to cover the year of 2007 that he had received $14,265 worth of travel, accommodations and gifts from a real estate developer. Those gifts included airline tickets to New York and Washington D.C., hotel accommodations there and a Rolex watch. Ramos filed ten felony counts against Erwin for his failure to disclose those gifts.
No such charges have been lodged against Cortes, who was widely reported to have had a physical relationship with Ramos. Ramos has acknowledged knowing Cortes and being associated with her politically but has declined to respond to questions about the exact nature of his personal involvement with her. Previously, Cortes said her relationship with Ramos was “friendly” and “political.” She declined at that time, December 2009, to enlarge upon the exact nature of her relationship with the district attorney.
Cortes did not return phone calls seeking comment on the apparent discrepancy between her declaration filed in conjunction with her divorce and her Form 700s.
Apparently the FPPC considered the Relationship Between Mrs Cortes and Mr. Moore as one where Palimony Rules Apply. However, Ms. Cortes always indicated she was living in Grand Terrace during the time in question so Cohabitation was sporadic or she was not representing her ties to Grand Terrace correctly. Her dislike for her little house in Grand Terrace is clearly stated on the Declaration she filed in court.
The FPPC investigator has been excessively determined not to investigate nearly 12,000.00 to 36,000.00 in cash per year Ms Cortes said she receive from Mr. James L Moore and in the year she got her 30,000.00 car it should have been particularly of interest to the investigator. Who is this Mr. James L Moore. Does he lobby for some one related to Grand Terrace or SanBag? She met him in Sacramento as part of her political activity. If he is not reportable how would a citizen know? He was not her husband, and she represented to the public she lived in Grand Terrace, not Newport Beach. Citizens are between representations here, as an elected official, Bea Cortes should make a full disclosure of the facts of the past and her current situation in relation to where she is living. Perhaps there are other agencies that will be interested in this mystery and the financial arrangements that are tangled up in it.
