City attorney won’t probe Garofalo, CIM matter

Kenneth Ma

HUNTINGTON BEACH--The city attorney’s office said it will not

investigate Mayor Dave Garofalo for voting on a Downtown project after

accepting a $2,995 advertising check from the developer.

CIM Group’s check was made out to David P. Garofalo & Associates, a

company that the mayor said he owns, for an ad in the Huntington Beach

Conference and Visitor’s Bureau’s visitors guide.

Garofalo has denied any wrongdoing, saying the money ultimately made

its way to “the proper accounts.” Garofalo has said a conflict of

interest doesn’t exist because he no longer owns the Local News, the

publisher of the visitors guide. The Local News, which Garofalo used to

own, is a subsidiary of Air Quality Consultants.

He had yet to respond to further questions faxed to him by the

Independent at press time.

Assistant City Attorney Scott Field said it is the job of the Fair

Political Practices Commission to investigate conflict of interest cases.

“They are a specific-purpose agency,” Field said. “If there is to be an

investigation, they are the ones to conduct it.”

Field said the city attorney’s office would not forward the matter to

the state commission. City Attorney Gail Hutton is on vacation until

June 16.

In May, Garofalo joined his colleagues on the council in voting to

move forward on a proposed $46-million dollar hotel, restaurant and

retail project. Four months earlier, the project’s developer, CIM Group,

wrote a check to David P. Garofalo & Associates for a half-page color ad

in the visitors guide.

Under the Political Reform Act of 1974, public officials may have a

conflict of interest if they receive money from companies involved in

issues that come before them. As little as $250 received by a council

member within the last 12 months can trigger a conflict.

A five-member appointed commission decides whether there has been a

violation of the conflict of interest law. A fine of up to $2,000 can be

assessed for each violation.

Other advertisers in the visitors guide -- Rocky Mountain Chocolate

Factory, Golden West College, Sugar Shack restaurant and Huntington Beach

Realty -- said they wrote their checks to Air Quality Consultants or the

Local News.

Garofalo -- or a company he’s worked for -- has received since 1993

the right to publish the visitors guide. The Huntington Beach Conference

and Visitor’s Bureau is funded entirely by the city. However, the bureau

does not pay Garofalo for his publishing work, bureau president Diane

Baker has said. Instead, the publisher of the guide is allowed to keep

any advertising profits.

Councilman Dave Sullivan said Garofalo should disclose his business

affairs to clear up any concern over his conduct.

“Some questions have been raised that seem to me would require

answers,” Sullivan said.

Councilman Tom Harman said he would rather see the mayor make a full

disclosure than have the City Attorney’s office investigate the matter.

“These are allegations, and I’m not going to jump to conclusions,”

Harman said. “I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt. But from

what I have read in the papers, it seems that Dave Garofalo is

stonewalling the press as well as the public, and I think it looks bad

for the council.” Councilwoman Shirley Dettloff said it would be more

appropriate for the Fair Political Practices Commission to investigate

complaints against Garofalo.

“At this time, it is not the job of the city to do so,” Dettloff said.

“This not a local issue, and this is an issue that will be answered by an

appropriate body. I don’t think it needs local action.”

Dettloff said Garofalo’s financial disclosure in March, required of

all City Council members, adequately addresses the recent concerns over a

possible conflict of interest.

“Mayor Garofalo is serving his community, and no one has ever found

that he has conducted himself in anyway that can be construed as

wrongdoing,” she said.

The CIM matter is the latest in a series of Garofalo’s business

dealings that has prompted questions of conflict of interest. Earlier

this month, Huntington Beach attorney Debbie Cook -- one of Garofalo’s

harshest critics -- filed a complaint with the Fair Political Practices

Commission, asking the agency to examine his dealings with other

advertisers in the guide and in the Local News, a paper he once owned.

The complaint contends the mayor received advertising revenue from the

Waterfront Hilton and Hearthside Homes, formerly Koll Real Estate Group,

and then later voted on their projects.

Garofalo has denied any wrongdoing in that case as well.

Katie Trueworthy, a spokeswoman for the state agency, said the

commission cannot confirm or deny receiving Cook’s complaint as a matter

of policy.