Surf City’s tarnished image

Dave Brooks

Huntington Beach has always been known for its waves, its eight miles

of beach break and location in the heart of Southern California surf

culture.

But with yet another council member appearing before judges on

corruption charges, many are beginning to question what else

Huntington Beach is becoming known for.

On Dec. 13, former Mayor Pam Julian Houchen and seven other

defendants were charged with participating in a complex scheme to

sell illegally converted apartments as condominiums using forged

documents, phony companies and payoffs to an insider at the insurance

company. For her alleged involvement in the scandal, Houchen faces 18

counts of wire and mail fraud and a sentence of 90 years in prison.

It would be the second time in nearly as many years a Surf City

politician faced corruption allegations. In 2002, former mayor Dave

Garofalo pleaded guilty to one felony count and 15 misdemeanor

conflict of interest charges.

Both instances brought national attention to Huntington Beach,

with Houchen’s affair delivering a bruising blow to the psyche of a

city often embroiled in controversy.

“When I was campaigning for office, there was definitely this

sense that people were looking for someone to restore honesty and

integrity back to the office,” said councilman Don Hansen, who was

voted to office in November’s ballot. “No one wants Huntington Beach

to represent corruption in Orange County.”

Along with Surf City’s tarnished image comes the impression that

City Hall is riddled with corruption.

“We’ve had our share of problems but I don’t think it is endemic

or that we’re worse than anybody else,” said former City Councilman

Ralph Bauer. “What we have here are a few individuals making bad

decisions on their own. What occurred doesn’t represent the city as a

whole.”

Bauer added that the Houchen scandal has nothing to do with city

employees, although allegations did arise that Houchen tried to

pressure the Business Licensing Department to leave one of her

business associates alone.

“At the end of the day, the city staff is a pretty hardworking

group,” he said. “What’s important is that we make sure there is a

chain of command in place to work with the staff. When I was on the

council I worked with the city administrator and told him I didn’t

think it was appropriate for the council to be asking staff for

favors. The staff reports to the city administrator and the city

administrator in turn reports to the council.”

Part of that election process involves accepting campaign

donations, often in the form of soft money, which several losing

candidates this November said creates these problems.

“It really almost assures that person will have another conflict

of interest,” said labor organizer John Earl, who ran for the office

in 2002 and 2004. “How can you objectively vote for something when

you’re taking tens of thousands of dollars from the person you’re

supposed to be voting for.”

Others said it was a problem of greed.

Councilman Dave Sullivan said the last two incidents of serious

scandal in the city have been a result of individuals using their

office for financial gain.

“And that’s really unfortunate because it paints everybody else

with the same brush,” he said.

He also added that while issues like this spark much criticism of

government, that should not imply that city officials are

incompetent. “There are a lot of people in Huntington Beach that are

involved in watching their government and I think that’s fine,” he

said. “It makes the city a better place to live.”