Чарльз Наварро Гуарино: Политик и контролер Лос-Анджелеса

American politician

Charles Navarro Guarino (January 19, 1904 – September 7, 2005) was a Los Angeles City Council member between 1951 and 1961 and city controller from 1961 to 1977.

Navarro was born in New York City to Italian immigrant parents. He was a self taught guitarist and banjo player who moved to Los Angeles when he was 19 to be a professional musician. He worked for Paramount and Universal Studios. He also owned an apartment building on San Marino Street in Los Angeles. Navarro was married to Rose Northey for 70 years, then married Seda Stevens. Navarro retired in 1977 and spent the last 28 years of his life overseeing his investments and enjoying "dining at his favorite Westside steakhouses. . At 100 plus he was walking without a cane, driving his Cadillac and going to church every Sunday."

Navarro announced in December 1960 his determination to unseat 70 year old Dan O. Hoye, who had been city controller for 24 years and who said that his ambition was to equal the 28 year record of his predecessor in office, John Myers. Navarro, chairman of the City Council's finance committee, was endorsed by the president of the Merchants and Manufacturers Association and the Los Angeles Times. Navarro won the election, 187,122 votes against 133,569 for Hoye, 67,318 for certified public accountant Harry C. Fischer and 25.683 for management consultant Cecil R. Kay. The city controller was unopposed in the next two elections: He received 470,324 votes in 1965 and 379,971 in 1969. He won the 1973 election, with 300,511 votes against 56,924 for Democratic businessman David Gold. Other 1973 candidates were Hoag, 34,428 votes; Day, 27,957; Blount, 26,458; Taylor, 17,086, and Rees, 11,667. Navarro testified twice before City Council committees in opposition to proposals to make the city controller an appointive office rather than elective — in 1969 and in 1977. He testified also in the 1975 trial of a woman who was charged with taking part in a "multimillion dollar plan to defraud the Los Angeles municipal treasury by cashing stolen city checks." He said his signature had been forged. The same year he persuaded the City Council to purchase two check writing machines that "would make forging a controller's signature virtually impossible." Navarro left office in 1977.