EDITORIAL

Being mayor is more than just ribbon cuttings and riding down Main

Street in the annual Fourth of July parade.

Huntington Beach Mayor Dave Garofalo can attest to that. Garofalo, in

recent months, has been the stuff of headlines -- his actions questioned,

his motives pondered, his business dealings inspected.

He feels attacked and blames a “hateful” media for the onslaught.

But -- hard feelings and emotions aside -- Garofalo could come to his

own rescue easy enough if he would provide some answers to some basic

questions.

The mayor is a publisher by trade and, among other things, sells ads

for the city’s annual visitors guide. Of note this year was a $2,995 ad

he sold to a developer. The ad was of interest because Garofalo later

voted in favor of a study necessary to move forward with the developer’s

pending Downtown building project.

The law on this is clear: A council member cannot vote on matters in

which they have a financial interest. If, the law goes, a city politician

has received as little as $250 in the past 12 months from a company or

business interest, he must abstain from voting on all issues involving

that company.

But this is where things get fuzzy.

Garofalo claims that he no longer owns the company -- The Local News

-- that publishes the visitors guide. But Garofalo does say he owns 100%

of David P. Garofalo & Associates, a namesake company that the developer

made out his $2,995 check to.

Garofalo, in a faxed reply to a series of Independent questions, said

he didn’t know who told the developer to make the check out to David P.

Garofalo & Associates, but that “any income made out to that corporation

goes to the proper accounts.”

We’re not sure what that means, and the matter is serious enough to

merit a thorough investigation by the city attorney. It is her obligation

-- especially in a city where citizens independently elected the city

attorney to stand free of City Hall politics -- to make sure our

citizen-politicians conduct city business with no conflicts of interest.

In the meantime, Garofalo would serve his constituents and himself

well by answering some fundamental questions:

Who owns what? There’s a touch of haze surrounding what David P.

Garofalo & Associates’ relationship is with the Local News, the newspaper

that Garofalo still publishes but sold to Air Quality Consultants Inc., a

Huntington Beach-based firm with ties to former Planning Commissioner Ed

Laird.

Ownership aside, since Garofalo is listed as the publisher for both

the Local News and David P. Garofalo & Associates -- and is certainly the

frontman for both companies -- he should also tell citizens how he is

compensated.

For instance, does the mayor stand financial benefit if he sells an ad

for the visitors guide? How do citizens know if he is steadfastly on this

side of conflict of interest laws?

And along those lines, how is it that the mayor makes part of his

living from the city’s visitors guide? The Conference and Visitor’s

Bureau is funded completely by the city -- and the mayor heads the city.

Is that in itself a possible gray area, the mayor making money off the

city he has been elected to represent?

Finally, how do we rationalize a Downtown developer writing a fairly

hefty check to a company the mayor owns?

If Garofalo wants these questions to go away, he needs to provide some

definitive answers, and he needs to provide some proof.

No, he doesn’t need to do this to make us happy. Nor does he need to

do this to validate this line of inquiry. He needs to do this for the

sake of his constituents, for the sake of the integrity of the office he

holds. He needs to do this because it would be the right and the

honorable thing to do.