Convention Center Board Puts Manager on Leave as Panel Probes Party Funding

Tom Liegler, the San Diego Convention Center’s general manager, has been placed on administrative leave this week, pending the outcome of an internal investigation into his use of the center for four parties.

The center’s executive board, which ordered Liegler’s leave, is expected to turn over its findings sometime this week to the full board during a special meeting.

Then it will be determined what, if any, action should be taken against Liegler, 63, the center’s executive director since 1985, and whether Liegler should be paid for the time he is on leave.

Liegler had been asked to take vacation last week by the board when allegations surfaced that he arranged four parties at Convention Center expense this year and last year that included family members and friends.

At one event paid by the center, he invited 30 members of a social group of businessmen and executives he belongs to and argued that it was a proper marketing tool because any one of those in attendance might choose to rent the convention hall one day. It cost $852.

On another occasion, he gathered auditorium managers--many of them his friends from Anaheim where he ran that city’s convention center--together for a convention-paid dinner. Liegler said the event was held to gather feedback from professionals about the center, which had been open only four months at the time. Dinner and cocktails cost $9,707 for 200 people.

After news of the parties surfaced, Liegler reimbursed the center $745 for a third event, which started out as a party for a dozen physicians, including Liegler’s neurologist cousin from Orange County. After everyone else but his cousin canceled, Liegler insisted on having the party anyway and filled the guest list with family members.

Less than two weeks ago, Liegler held a $1,411 party for 32 members of his golfing club but had not paid for the event before news stories surfaced about the parties.

Convention Center spokeswoman Donna Alm said Monday that the board members will examine the center’s policies, practices and procedures regarding the center’s use and begin to develop written regulations.

“We have all been so busy operating the center that we haven’t gotten to that yet,” she said. “The policies and procedures have never been formalized.”

The $165-million center opened in November, 1989. The Port of San Diego owns the building, but the city of San Diego is the tenant and the San Diego Convention Center Corp. is the public, nonprofit group that operates the center on behalf of the city.

Nearly half its revenues come from a transient-occupancy tax collected from the San Diego Marritt Hotel & Marina and will also come from the soon-to-be built Hyatt Hotel near the center. The remaining revenues come from the center’s rent and other services.