Garofalo at a glance

Every week, more facts are uncovered about Huntington Beach Mayor Dave

Garofalo’s alleged conflicts of interest. In all cases, Garofalo has

denied any wrongdoing and said he’s consistently followed the advice of

the city attorney regarding any potential voting violations. Here is a

rundown of what has been learned so far.

THE VISITORS GUIDE

* Garofalo’s company, David P. Garofalo & Associates, first won the

no-bid contract to publish the city-funded Huntington Beach Conference &

Visitors Bureau annual guide in 1993. The bureau paid nothing up front to

Garofalo, but his business kept all the profits.

* Contrary to Garofalo’s previous assertion to state officials that

his role in the visitors guide involved only “non-sales issues” -- such

as “mechanical and technical aspects of publishing” -- he personally sold

ads in the 2000 visitors guide. At least one advertiser said he gave

Garofalo cash on the spot for a partial payment.

* Garofalo’s company received a $2,995 advertising check from

Commercial Investment Management Group for an ad in the visitors guide,

and he voted to push forward the Downtown developer’s $46-million project

four months later. A CIM executive said Garofalo personally solicited the

ad. Garofalo said the check was immediately deposited into the account of

a company he doesn’t own.

* Garofalo voted at least 87 times on issues involving his advertisers

in either the visitors guide or the Local News. All 87 times he voted in

their favor. City Atty. Gail Hutton has advised Garofalo that he should

abstain from voting when his advertisers come before the council, which

excludes the mayor from voting on many, if not all, major issues. At the

Aug. 7 and July 17 City Council meetings, he abstained from one vote. He

abstained from 10 of 30 votes at the July 5 meeting.

* Garofalo voted at least 35 times on issues involving advertisers in

the 1997 and 1998 visitors guides in the one-year period -- Dec. 15,

1997, to Dec. 15, 1998 -- after he said he sold his publishing business.

Five of those times came after he was warned by Hutton to abstain from

voting. Three came after he was advised in October 1998 by the Fair Political Practices Commission not to vote.

* Garofalo said at the June 19 City Council meeting that he would

divest himself from all of his publishing properties until he is cleared

by the Fair Political Practices Commission. He has yet to answer

questions on what that would entail and who would run his businesses.

* In an Aug. 1 memo, Hutton said the Conference & Visitors Bureau must

terminate its contract with David P. Garofalo & Associates for the

visitors guide because the arrangement could violate a state law that

prohibits city officials from benefiting from city business. Hutton

recommended the city cut off funding to the bureau if it does not end the

visitors guide contract.

* In August, the City Council voted unanimously to back the city

attorney’s order to the Conference & Visitors Bureau to terminate its

contract with David P. Garofalo & Associates. The decision, which did not

include Garofalo, who was absent from the proceedings, followed an hour

of intense discussion that included the allegation that the mayor has

profited from the contract through the receipt of advertising revenue.

* Under the visitors bureau’s bylaws, Garofalo, as the city’s mayor,

is a voting member of the nonprofit organization’s board of directors.

And while David Biggs, the city’s economic director and ex officio member

of the bureau’s board of directors, said Garofalo has attended the

meetings, it is unknown how the mayor has voted on issues.

* On Sept. 6, the visitor’s bureau voted 8 to 1 to cancel its

publishing contract with Coatings Resource Corp. The vote came a month

after the bureau’s board was advised by Hutton to end the contract with

Coatings Resource, whose president bought the contract for the bureau’s

annual guide from Garofalo in January 1998 but kept the mayor on as a

paid consultant. Garofalo attended the meeting but abstained from voting.

Now, the visitors bureau is looking to hire a new publisher in time to

produce its annual guide.

THE BUSINESS DIRECTORY

* David P. Garofalo & Associates has had the contract to publish the

Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce Business Directory since 1996, a

year after he started his first term as a Huntington Beach councilman.

The chamber receives a fee and copies of the directory, which includes a

community overview. In exchange, Garofalo’s business keeps all the

profits from advertising. Advertisers include Rainbow Disposal Co. Inc.,

which has an exclusive trash contract with the city; Time Warner

Communications, which has the city’s exclusive cable franchise; and New

Urban West, a developer that’s building 53 homes next to the Bolsa Chica

wetlands. There is debate as to whether Garofalo still holds the

contract.

* In 1998, Hutton advised Biggs against paying a $4,500 invoice for

Chamber of Commerce community overviews because the money might flow back

to Garofalo. The overviews were invoiced by Coatings Resource, the

company Garofalo had a consulting contract with.

THE LOCAL NEWS

* Garofalo has said he sold the Local News and its publishing

interests in January 1998 to Ed Laird, owner of Coatings Resource. At one

point, Garofalo said the sale date was Dec. 15, 1997. Laird, a former

Huntington Beach planning commissioner, said he transferred the paper to

son Jeff Laird’s company -- Air Quality Consultants -- with Garofalo

continuing on as publisher. County records show Air Quality Consultants

started operating the paper in January 1999. However, they also show that

Garofalo filed as the paper’s owner in April.

HOMES AND DEVELOPERS

* Garofalo secured a home in the city’s new St. Augustine tract after

voting many times to approve various stages of the project. Garofalo said

he bought the home, using cash from a friend, for $565,000 and sold it to

that same friend for $625,000 the next day. Garofalo said he made $1 on

the deal after upgrades. The friend, oil magnate George Pearson, gave the

Independent escrow documents that appear to show the roughly $60,000

difference in price was for flooring upgrades.

* Residents of the St. Augustine tract, developed by PLC Land Co.,

have said Garofalo was not on the general waiting list that hundreds of

other prospective home buyers were on. Instead, the mayor was on a VIP

list that enabled him to buy the most coveted lot before anyone else on

the list had a chance. At a press conference July 27, Garofalo denied he

was on a special list.

* Garofalo wrote out a $5,000 deposit check for the Poppy Hill Circle

house on Jan. 18, 1998, almost a week before members of the public were

allowed to buy. The mayor said he wrote the check “in anticipation” of

choosing a house.

THE INVESTIGATIONS

* On July 26, Hutton said she turned her investigation over to the

district attorney and the Fair Political Practices Commission. She has

completed her investigation into whether Garofalo violated a state law

prohibiting public officials from benefiting from public contracts. [See

THE VISITORS GUIDE entries.]

* Resident Debbie Cook, an environmental attorney, has sent a packet

and four letters to the commission, asking the state watchdog agency to

look into Garofalo’s dealings with advertisers in his publishing

properties. The latest letter, sent July 13, points out the discrepancies

in various statements about who owns the Local News. It also asks the

commission to review Laird’s involvement.

* The Orange County district attorney’s office has embarked on a

review of Garofalo’s voting record concerning advertisers in his various

publications. The district attorney’s office is looking at public

documents that show Garofalo voted favorably on projects involving

advertisers, which could be a violation of state law, said Tori Richards,

the agency’s spokeswoman.

* The Orange County Grand Jury is also investigating Garofalo’s

alleged conflicts. The inquiry into the mayor is in part prompted by

letters from locals Susan Newman and Cook, longtime Garofalo critics.

Newman sent a letter to the panel July 12, requesting an investigation of

Garofalo and the former grand jury, headed by Garofalo friend Phil

Inglee. Newman had asked the grand jury in October to review possible

conflicts of interest involving the mayor, but the panel refused. On July

14, Cook also sent a letter to the panel asking for an investigation.

Both women received a memo from jury foreman Joseph Gatlin, stating that

their concerns will be “carefully reviewed and considered.”

* It’s been nearly two months since the Orange County district

attorney’s office began its investigation into alleged conflicts of

interest involving Mayor Dave Garofalo. But Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael

Lubinski isn’t saying when it will conclude. Several investigators have

been assigned to the case.