Rudy Navarro describes being the treasurer of South Gate after the Albert Robles era as "going from 100 mph to 5 -- in a second."
Guarding the fiscal health of a 7.4-square-mile city of 98,721 isn't what it used to be. The salary went from $60,000 to $7,200; Navarro won't be quitting his day job at an accounting firm.
He also won't be able to manage the city's investment portfolios and funds, as Robles did.
The position, Navarro said, has reverted to the "watch the money and deposit the money" position it once had been.
"I used to joke that my name was Rudy 'You-Can't-Do-That,' " Navarro said with a laugh. "I used to say, 'Albert used to be able to do that.' And they said, 'Yeah, but he shouldn't have been able to.' "
Federal authorities have indicted Robles on public corruption charges. He is accused of plundering $12 million from the impoverished city while holding dual positions as treasurer and city manager.
Robles' tenure was a tumultuous period in which one councilman was shot, Robles was accused of threatening to kill political opponents and the city neared bankruptcy.
Two years ago, fresh from San Diego State, with no political experience to speak of, the 23-year-old Navarro decided to take on Robles in a recall election. He won. Robles and his allies on the council lost, but not before a last-ditch negative campaign in which they accused Navarro of kiting checks.
On Tuesday, Navarro was reelected in a far more civilized contest against two relative unknowns.
Navarro, now 25, is settling into a position in which it is best to be neither seen nor heard, for the time being. And that's tough for a guy who says he wants to be governor and retire as a U.S. senator. Returning to the treasurer post, in fact, wasn't what Navarro had in mind. He filed instead to run for the City Council.
"I wanted to be a policymaker and contribute in that way," he said. Older and wiser friends, such as South Gate Mayor Henry Gonzalez, convinced Navarro that he was still young and could stand to learn some more in a second term as treasurer.
"I told him, 'Look, young man, you need to learn to keep your mouth shut,' " Gonzalez said. "That's the dilemma of young people. He'll learn as he gets older not to be so impetuous and go out there and create problems for himself."
Navarro was disappointed. "But I understood why they felt this way," he said. "I'm 25 years old, there's not a lot of people in my position.... I've still got some things to learn."
