Garofalo’s role in mall debate angers colleagues

Theresa Moreau

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- Mayor Dave Garofalo raised the ire of council

colleagues and residents Monday night when he orchestrated the discussion

involving the Huntington Beach mall redevelopment project, an issue he

has been advised to abstain from. Though he didn’t vote on the project,

he controlled the flow of speakers and called for the votes.

The mall’s owners are advertisers in the city’s 2000 visitors guide, a

magazine Garofalo publishes. City Atty. Gail Hutton has warned Garofalo

to abstain from voting on any advertiser that has appeared in his

publications, which include the Local News and the Chamber of Commerce

Business Directory.

Garofalo is under investigation by both the city attorney and state

officials for potential conflict of interest violations involving

advertisers in his various publications, among other things.

Councilman Dave Sullivan criticized Garofalo’s actions.

“As I understand, he’s supposed to leave the premises because any

comment made can affect the council,” Sullivan said.

Debbie Cook, a harsh Garofalo critic who attended the meeting, said

she was outraged that Hutton allowed Garofalo to participate -- even in a

limited fashion.

“It’s unheard of. When you abstain, you’re supposed to leave the

table,” Cook said. “It’s totally inappropriate. He’s the one in charge of

the buttons. He decides in which order people will be called on.”

Councilman Tom Harman echoed Cook’s opinion, saying: “Gail just sits

there. She should jump in. That’s what you’re supposed to do.”

State law requires public officials to refrain from making,

participating in making or trying in any way to use the official position

to influence a decision on matters that could benefit the public official

financially, said John Symkowick, spokesman for the Fair Political

Practices Commission.

Tempers also flared when council members pressed the city attorney to

explain delays in an investigation into alleged conflicts of interest

involving Garofalo.

At one point, Garofalo jumped into the fray, accusing Harman of hiding

his own conflicts of interest behind the excuse of attorney-client

privilege. Harman roared back: “Are you calling me a liar?”

The night’s verbal sparring began when Harman and Councilman Dave

Sullivan publicly chastised Hutton for what they perceived as a lack of

action in the Garofalo investigation and in forwarding the information to

the Fair Political Practices Commission.

Sullivan reminded the city attorney of a statement she made in a June

19 memo informing the council that she would submit the packet to the

commission as soon as Garofalo provided the information. Then Harman

tag-teamed with Sullivan, suggesting that she has “barely gotten

started.”

A bit flustered, Hutton said she is awaiting more information from

Garofalo and she had to pull one of her investigators off the case to

work on a more pressing legal matter because her office is so

short-staffed. She told the council her office required more time and

that Garofalo’s private attorney, Steven Churchwell, would also be

reviewing the information.

Churchwell worked as the general counsel for the Fair Political

Practices Commission from 1993 to 1999 and even reviewed a conflict of

interest case involving Garofalo and the Local News in 1998.

After the meeting, Sullivan expressed dissatisfaction with Hutton’s

comments, saying he “thought it was the FPPC that should be reviewing the

material,” not Garofalo’s attorney.

Hutton is looking into:

* whether Garofalo may vote on matters involving advertisers in

various publications he’s involved with who have made payments to David

P. Garofalo & Associates;

* details on the sale of a Holly-Seacliff home the mayor bought in

1998 with a friend’s money;

* if Garofalo may vote on projects located within 2,500 feet of his

home in the 600 block of Main Street.

* whether his publishing contracts with the city’s Conference &

Visitor’s Bureau visitors guide violates state conflict of interest laws.

Cook filed her own complaint against Garofalo with the commission in

May and followed up with three other letters -- the most recent one fired

off last week. The latest dispatch provides the agency with supplemental

information on Garofalo’s tangled business dealings and asks the

commission to broaden its investigation to include the mayor’s longtime

friend Ed Laird. Garofalo, who founded the Local News, maintains he sold

the bimonthly newspaper to Laird in 1997.

In her letter, Cook questions Garofalo’s claim that he sold his

publishing interests to Laird.

In a June 19 memo to fellow council members, Garofalo said he sold the

Local News in December 1997 to Laird’s Coatings Resource Corp. However,

he said, that transaction was not concluded until Jan. 14, 1998.

Laird, who owns Coatings Resource, recently said he owned the Local

News “a few years back through one of my companies” but said he later

transferred ownership to his son’s company, Air Quality Consultants Inc.

Documents retrieved from the secretary of state’s office show Air

Quality Consultants was dissolved as a corporation in December 1998.

Cook, an environmental attorney, opened her public comments with one

question: Does anyone know who owns the rights to publish the Local News?

The issue of ownership has remained foggy since Garofalo first claimed

he sold the Local News to Laird in 1997. In a document filed with the

county in April, Garofalo claims ownership since 1993.

Cook also asked Garofalo to explain why biographical information

published in July 1998 on bank directors in the start-up Pacific Liberty

Bank names Garofalo as the owner of the Local News.

As Cook turned from the lectern to take her seat, Garofalo quipped:

“Thank you, Mrs. Cook -- or is it Jane Fonda?”

Another resident, Steve Gullage, decried Garofalo’s actions, calling

the mayor “excess baggage” that denies the residents of Huntington Beach

their right to be properly governed.

“I know the mayor has worked very hard to attain the office he now

holds, and I admire him for that,” Gullage said. “But he also has worked

very hard to get himself in the predicament he finds himself engulfed in

today, and that is unforgivable.

“In all fairness to the trusting people of this great city, I implore

the mayor to step down and resign his seat on the City Council.”