D.A. seeks data on mayor’s votes dating to 1994

Theresa Moreau

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- The Orange County district attorney’s office has

begun compiling the information it needs to investigate Mayor Dave

Garofalo’s potential conflicts of interest, asking the city for

information on advertisers in publications he has been involved with.

Garofalo’s alleged conflicts mainly stem from advertisers in the

Huntington Beach Conference & Visitors Bureau Visitor’s Guide, the

Chamber of Commerce Business Directory and the Local News, a

twice-monthly newspaper he founded.

City records show Garofalo voted at least 87 times on issues involving

his advertisers in either the visitors guide or the Local News. All 87

times he voted in their favor.

Garofalo has been advised by City Atty. Gail Hutton not to vote on any

more issues involving advertisers until he is cleared by the state Fair

Political Practices Commission. To date, Garofalo has been forced to

abstain from voting on council business 11 times.

On Monday, Tim Craig, an investigator from the district attorney’s

office, requested by fax that the city clerk’s office begin a data search

on 53 advertisers.

The list included Koll Real Estate Group, now Hearthside Homes; PLC

Land Co.; Seacliff Village; Waterfront Hilton Beach Resort; Boeing; and

McDonnell Douglas.

On July 27, the district attorney’s office hand delivered to the city

clerk’s office a request from Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Lubinski, who

has been assigned to conduct the Garofalo investigation, for the

following public records:

* City Council minutes for the time period from December 1994, when

Garofalo was first elected, to the present;

* any and all video and audio recordings of council meetings for

Garofalo’s tenure;

* all statements of economic interest, Form 721, filed by Garofalo.

Tori Richards, spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office, said

the Garofalo case is being investigated by the felony projects unit,

which handles potential political corruption cases.

Handling a political conflict-of-interest case is new territory for

Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas, who’s been on the job for about 18 months.

“He’s done several prosecutions involving politicians, but as far as a

conflict-of-interest-type case involving a council member, this is the

first,” Richards said.

Garofalo is also being investigated by the Fair Political Practices

Commission and the Orange County Grand Jury.

Hutton has divested the city attorney’s office from its investigation

of Garofalo, which was launched in June after the Independent reported

that the mayor had received a $2,995 check made out to David P. Garofalo

& Associates from an advertiser in the city’s visitors guide.

Commercial Investment Management Group bought a half-page ad in the

2000 visitors guide, and Garofalo voted along with the rest of the

council to push forward with CIM’s controversial Downtown redevelopment

project four months later.

Last week, Hutton said her office would no longer be investigating

Garofalo, instead passing the information along to the district

attorney’s office and the Fair Political Practices Commission, saying

those agencies have more resources to deal with such matters and that any

efforts on her part at this point would be repetitive.