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Barbara Diamond
Wayne Baglin began the year with the mayor’s gavel in his hand and
ended it with a judge’s gavel concluding the councilman’s arraignment
on charges of felony conflict of interest.
Baglin pleaded innocent Dec. 6 to charges that he had violated
state government code 1090, which prohibits elected officials from
financially benefiting from contracts with the city.
Orange County Deputy District Atty. Jeffrey Winter said that
Baglin had stepped outside the law when he accepted a $36,000
commission from clients who sold two parcels of property on Third
Street to the city.
Baglin declines to comment, on the advice of his attorney, Michael
Molfetta.
Town folks are not so reticent. But even those who think Baglin
was wrong to take the commission don’t rejoice in the outcome.
“I am sad about this, but I feel it is important that elected
officials obey the law” said Jean Raun, one of the first to call for
an investigation of the propriety of Baglin’s acceptance of the
commission.
Molfetta, of Newport Beach, characterized the accusations against
Baglin as politically motivated.
Baglin’s feisty independence has occasionally put him at odds with
some residents and council members whether he was in or out of
office. He has also been harsh with staff.
He has his share of admirers, too.
“I have known him for 20 years and consider him to be a man of the
highest integrity and honesty,” contractor Al Oligino wrote in a
supportive letter to the editor (Coastline Pilot, Nov. 1).
Cal State Long Beach art professor Gene Cooper echoed Oligino in
another published letter.
“Anyone who has watched Baglin’s leadership during his long
note-worthy career in various areas of public service knows that his
opinions have been carefully shaped by ethical considerations ...
almost to a fault,” Cooper wrote. (Coastline Pilot, Nov. 8)
Baglin’s supporters point out that the councilman never voted on
the $1.8 million purchase of lots at 374 and 386 Third St. from
Dorothy and Edward Hatfield, longtime clients of Baglin Real Estate.
Voting is not the focus of government code 1090. It deals with
financial gain.
“His recusing himself is irrelevant,” resident John Selecky said.
Baglin was indicted one year and two days after the City Council
elected him to his second term as mayor of Laguna Beach and almost
exactly two years after he was seated in December 2000 for a third
term on the council, none consecutive.
He stated in his 2000 campaign literature that residents would get
representation and access to the council if he was elected.
“I back that statement with my reputation for in-depth study of
the issues, independence from special interest groups and
unquestioned integrity,” the literature read. “I have a passion for
good, open government.”
Baglin also has a passionate desire to reduce pollution on the
California beaches and in the ocean waters that lap those beaches.
When elected, Baglin was chair of the State Regional Water Quality
Board, San Diego Region, which fined the city $60,000 that year for
sewage spills. Baglin, who had been a member of the board since 1997,
was not re-appointed when his term ended.
Baglin was also serving in 2000 on the State Water Resources
Control Board, the Enforcement Order Review Panel; the Southern
California Wetlands Recovery Project Board of Governors; the Aliso
Water Management Agency Board of Directors, of which he had been a
member since 1995; the Laguna Canyon Foundation Board of Directors;
and as the city’s Open Space Committee chair.
He participated in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Aliso Creek
Watershed Study and in the county’s Dana Point Harbor Water Quality
Task Force.
As mayor pro tem, to which position he was elected the night he
was re-seated on the council in 2000, Baglin proposed the formation
of the city’s Water Quality Advisory Board in July of 2001.
Appointments were made in September, and Baglin was named chair.
He was a proponent of the Laguna Canyon flood control project
until his stunning reversal this past fall.
Baglin was -- and is -- a member of the Laguna Board of Realtors.
He was on the board of directors when elected, a past president and
the 1998 Realtor of the Year. He is the owner of of Baglin Real
Estate.
He had previously served on the council from 1978 to 1981 and from
1994 to 1998. His first term was interrupted when he moved to Saudi
Arabia as an employee of Arabian American Oil.
Toni Iseman narrowly edged Baglin out of office in the 1998
election. While others attributed Baglin’s loss to Dave Connell’s
candidacy, which they said siphoned votes from Baglin, he blamed
himself for not campaigning hard enough.
Baglin ran again in 2000, one of nine candidates competing for the
two open council seats. He came in second behind Cheryl Kinsman and
paid $25,114 for the privilege of serving his community. His
expenditures were the third highest of the campaign, behind Kinsman
and Elizabeth Pearson.
A resident of Laguna Beach since 1969, Baglin’s recreational
interests include body surfing, scuba diving, skiing, reading,
gardening, cooking and being with friends and family. He is married
and has two adult children.
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