Stories Differ in Sex Case at S.D. City Hall

SAN DIEGO —  Fearing for her job, San Diego planner Susan M. Bray consented to a sexual relationship with Planning Director Robert Spaulding, according to documents filed with the state, resulting in a two-year affair that has erupted into a $100,000 sex-and-hush-money scandal at City Hall.

Bray, 45, claimed she was verbally harassed and agreed to a sexual relationship that began in 1988 and that she ended last November, according to a complaint filed Dec. 21 with the State Fair Employment and Housing Department.

In her complaint, Bray cited high staff turnover in the Planning Department since Spaulding took over in 1988. The complaint, details of which were revealed Monday by City Hall sources, was investigated by the city.

However, in a heated closed-door session of the City Council on Monday, Spaulding painted a different picture, saying he and Bray were involved in a consensual relationship that ended last August.

At the conclusion of the 2 1/2-hour meeting, council members unanimously agreed to accept Spaulding’s resignation and to hold a public fact-finding meeting next Monday in the City Council chambers to further investigate the incident that has rocked the city since details of the episode surfaced over the weekend.

Shortly before he left office in March, City Manager John Lockwood approved a $100,000 “stress” disability payment, writing the first check for $19,995--just shy of the $20,000 threshold that would require council approval. The remaining payments of nearly $80,000 were to be paid out over three years.

He said he did so in an effort to keep the affair secret and to protect Spaulding’s family. Spaulding is married and has four children, the youngest of whom is 12. Bray is single.

City Atty. John Witt says he gave his approval to the legal wording of the agreement, but did not familiarize himself with the case.

Because of Witt’s involvement, some council members believe that an independent counsel will be required to ferret out the details of the incident, which city officials say may widen to include other high-ranking city bureaucrats.

“Based on what we heard today (in closed session) and based on a certain amount of obstinacy by the city attorney’s office, it seems (that) to get to the bottom of this, we will have to bring in independent counsel,” Councilman Ron Roberts said.

In January, 1990, almost a year before she filed the complaint with the state and during her affair with Spaulding, Bray took a one-year disability leave. She received 70% of her annual salary.

“She began to slip in performance and seemed to be distracted. She vanished for a while,” said a Gaslamp Quarter businessman who worked with Bray and asked not be identified. “Her reports didn’t make sense, her mind didn’t seem to be on the job. She complained a lot about being tired.”

The reason behind her disability leave remains unclear, officials said.

Spaulding, 44, offered to resign his $103,000-a-year post Friday after word spread that he had been romantically involved with Bray, an experienced planner who had handled the Gaslamp Quarter development.

Spaulding told the council Monday that he knew Bray was on a disability leave and had received less than satisfactory job performance evaluations from her immediate supervisors, according to City Hall sources.

He also told the council that he knew Bray was under psychological care during 1990.

When the complaint was filed and Spaulding realized his plight, he discussed it with Lockwood, Witt and Larry Gardner, the city’s equal employment investigative officer, according to a City Hall source.

It was the judgment of top city officials who reviewed the claim that the city stood to lose up to $1 million on the merits of the case. The affair appeared to constitute sexual harassment because Spaulding was Bray’s superior in the department, city officials said.

Mayor Maureen O’Connor said Spaulding, who was removed from the city payroll Monday, will not receive any special severance package in exchange for his resignation. As O’Connor spoke to a group of reporters outside the council chambers, Spaulding departed through a back door of the 12th-floor conference room, where the closed session had been held.

Spaulding was unavailable for comment, as was Bray.

The council will investigate whether it can retrieve the payment to Bray and scuttle the rest of the settlement, O’Connor said. The mayor also expressed her outrage that city officials had been kept in the dark and that Lockwood, Witt and other officials had attempted to hush up the incident.

“They keep saying that they were trying to protect (Spaulding’s) family and keep it confidential. Well, there are a lot of claims against the city that exceed a million dollars. They’re handled in executive session with the mayor and City Council,” O’Connor said. “So, as far as we’re concerned, we have not heard a legitimate reason to justify what they did.”

Witt said Monday that he would not release any details of the case unless ordered to do so by the council or a judge, because of a confidentiality agreement contained in the settlement with Bray.

But Lockwood, in a telephone interview, reiterated his position that he wanted to protect Spaulding’s family. And he added that, if Spaulding had been single, he would have insisted that council members be informed.

“If this would have been some bachelor department head and the fact situation was the same, I would say, ‘Hey, either you tell the council or I will,’ ” Lockwood said.

At Spaulding’s offices, the reaction to his abrupt departure was mixed. His resignation capped what had been a controversial reign. From October, 1988, to October, 1989, 42 members of the 255-person department left.

Reached Monday, one former employee said a celebratory party was planned for Saturday. A current employee, Carolyn Harshman, said most employees in the department were stunned by the events.

Times staff writers Barry M. Horstman and Ralph Frammolino contributed to this report.