VENTURA : Port Officials Won’t Resign Over Starr

Two members of the Ventura Port District Commission said they have changed their minds about resigning over the City Council’s failure to remove Robert (Nick) Starr, a port commissioner who has come under fire for not divulging his role in a 24-year-old bribery case.

Board Chairman Richard Hambleton and Commissioner William Crew, who had threatened to quit if Starr stays, said Tuesday that they will remain on the five-member panel because they have business to complete that is important to the district.

“I have some really important negotiations that are under way that will be very important to the harbor and the city,” said Crew, who declined to be more specific.

Hambleton said, “There was a clear message from the City Council that they want the other four members of the commission to remain.”

Some council members publicly asked the commissioners Monday to stay on the board after the council voted 4 to 3 against starting a preliminary investigation of Starr because it would be too costly.

Mayor Greg Carson and council members Cathy Bean and Gary Tuttle dissented.

Instead, the council passed a resolution calling for Starr’s resignation.

That vote was 5 to 2, with members James Monahan and Jack Tingstrom dissenting.

Hambleton and Crew said Tuesday that they did not think that Starr’s presence on the commission would be in the best interests of the city but were reconciled to working with him.

Commissioner Gary Jacobs was on vacation, and Commissioner Ernest Thorpe could not be reached.

In an interview Tuesday, Starr said, “I’ve served on boards before where you don’t have people you agree with. . . . I’m ready to get down to business.”

Starr was convicted in 1968 of bribery charges while he was a Los Angeles Harbor commissioner.

The verdict was later overturned because the jury was not properly instructed.

Starr did not mention the case when the City Council appointed him to the position in June.

When those events became public in late August, some council members began pressuring him to resign.

Starr has refused to leave, saying he has done nothing wrong.