U.S. Politics Not as Usual

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When Scott Flabetich went to Mexico City for six weeks recently as part of an Ernst & Young outreach program, he was taken aback by the intense interest Mexicans expressed about the American presidential campaign in general and Donald Trump in particular. But maybe not for the reason you’d assume.

Trump, of course, is known for proposing to build a wall at the border, but the Mexicans Flabetich talked with were mostly baffled by how a real estate developer and reality TV star could get into politics at all, he said.

“They have a perception that politicians are politicians for life,” he said. They kept asking how it was possible a TV figure could even get in politics. But other than that, they expressed a good deal of knowledge about the campaign. I was quite surprised by how interested they were and how much they knew about it,” Flabetich said.

He was in Mexico from mid-September through late October as part of EY’s Vantage program, which sends high-performing managers to work, pro bono, for foreign companies. Flabetich, 31, a consultant in EY’s office in downtown Los Angeles, helped a company named Advenio, which provides employer-sponsored day care service, expand its business.

The business experience was great, Flabetich said, but getting to know the people was truly memorable. Living like a local helped.

“It was an interesting and rewarding experience,” he said.

Landing More Vets

Joe Czyzyk, chairman and chief executive of Torrance’s Mercury Air Group, has been elected chairman of U.S. Vets, a nonprofit that provides housing, employment and other critical services to veterans.

The Veterans Affairs Department is mandating that in the next year, 80 percent of homeless veterans will be in a program for permanent housing, said the 68-year-old Czyzyk.

Czyzyk, who joined Mercury in 1984, also has a long history of civic involvement. Some of his main goals for U.S. Vets include making sure veterans’ psychological needs from dealing with war are met and focusing on women veterans’ issues.

“Our job is not of a soup kitchen,” he said.  

He hopes to search for homeless veterans who do not seek out shelter in order to provide them with counseling to improve their situation.

U.S. Vets operates in seven states with a total of 21 locations. The group offers both transitional and permanent housing.

Staff reporter Gabriela Fernandez contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by Editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].

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