Garofalo at a glance

Every week, more facts are uncovered about Huntington Beach Mayor Dave

Garofalo’s alleged conflicts of interest. In all cases, Garofalo has

denied any wrongdoing and said he’s consistently followed the advice of

the city attorney regarding any potential voting violations. Here is a

rundown of what has been learned so far.

THE VISITORS GUIDE

* Garofalo’s company, David P. Garofalo & Associates, has had the

no-bid contract to publish the city-funded Huntington Beach Conference &

Visitors Bureau annual guide since 1993. The bureau pays nothing up front

to Garofalo, but his business keeps all the profits.

* Contrary to Garofalo’s previous assertion to state officials that

his role in the visitors guide involved only “non-sales issues” -- such

as “mechanical and technical aspects of publishing” -- he personally sold

ads in the 2000 visitors guide. At least one advertiser said he gave

Garofalo cash on the spot for a partial payment.

* Garofalo’s company received a $2,995 advertising check from

Commercial Investment Management Group for an ad in the visitors guide,

and he voted to push forward the Downtown developer’s $46-million project

four months later. A CIM executive said Garofalo personally solicited the

ad. Garofalo said the check was immediately deposited into the account of

a company he doesn’t own.

* 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. City Atty. Gail Hutton has advised Garofalo that he should

abstain from voting when his advertisers come before the council, which

excludes the mayor from voting on many, if not all, major issues. At

Monday’s City Council meeting, he abstained from one vote. At the July 17

meeting, he abstained from one vote, and he abstained from 10 of 30 votes

at the July 5 meeting.

* Garofalo voted at least 35 times on issues involving advertisers in

the 1997 and 1998 visitors guides in the one-year period -- Dec. 15,

1997, to Dec. 15, 1998 -- after he said he sold his publishing business.

Five of those times came after he was warned by Hutton to abstain from

voting. Three came after he was advised in October 1998 by the Fair Political Practices Commission not to vote.

* Garofalo said at the June 19 City Council meeting that he would

divest himself from all of his publishing properties until he is cleared

by the Fair Political Practices Commission. He has yet to answer

questions on what that would entail and who would run his businesses.

* In an Aug. 1 memo, City Atty. Gail Hutton said the Conference &

Visitors Bureau must terminate its contract with David P. Garofalo &

Associates for the visitors guide because the arrangement could violate a

state law that prohibits city officials from benefiting from city

business. “The city should place its relationship with the bureau on an

unassailable foundation,” the memo states. Hutton recommended that the

city cut off funding to the bureau if it does not end the visitors guide

contract.

* At the Monday’s meeting, the City Council voted unanimously to back

the city attorney’s order to the Conference & Visitors Bureau to

terminate its contract with David P. Garofalo & Associates. The decision,

which did not include Garofalo, who was absent from the proceedings,

followed an hour of intense discussion that included the allegation that

the mayor has profited from the contract through the receipt of

advertising revenue. “I think it’s abundantly clear on an ethical basis

that it’s unethical for a city official to profit from a city contract. I

think that anyone who has reached the age of reason would agree,”

Councilman Dave Sullivan said.

* Under the visitors bureau’s bylaws, Garofalo, as the city’s mayor,

is a voting member of the nonprofit organization’s board of directors.

And while David Biggs, the city’s economic director and ex officio member

of the bureau’s board of directors, said Garofalo has attended the

meetings, it is unknown how the mayor has voted on issues.

THE BUSINESS DIRECTORY

* David P. Garofalo & Associates has had the contract to publish the

Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce Business Directory since 1996, a

year after he started his first term as a Huntington Beach councilman.

The chamber receives a fee and copies of the directory, which includes a

community overview. In exchange, Garofalo’s business keeps all the

profits from advertising. Advertisers include Rainbow Disposal Co. Inc.,

which has an exclusive trash contract with the city; Time Warner

Communications, which has the city’s exclusive cable franchise; and New

Urban West, a developer that’s building 53 homes next to the Bolsa Chica

wetlands. There is debate as to whether Garofalo still holds the

contract.

* In 1998, Hutton advised David Biggs, the city’s economic development

director, against paying a $4,500 invoice for Chamber of Commerce

community overviews because the money might flow back to Garofalo. The

overviews were invoiced by Coatings Resource Corp., a company Garofalo

had a consulting contract with.

THE LOCAL NEWS

* Garofalo has said he sold the Local News and its publishing

interests in January 1998 to Ed Laird, owner of Coatings Resource. At one

point, Garofalo said the sale date was Dec. 15, 1997. Laird, a former

Huntington Beach planning commissioner, said he transferred the paper to

son Jeff Laird’s company -- Air Quality Consultants -- with Garofalo

continuing on as publisher. County records show that Air Quality

Consultants started operating the paper in January 1999. However, they

also show that Garofalo filed as the paper’s owner in April.

HOMES AND DEVELOPERS

* Garofalo secured a home in the city’s new St. Augustine tract after

voting many times to approve various stages of the project. Garofalo said

he bought the home, using cash from a friend, for $565,000 and sold it to

that same friend for $625,000 the next day. Garofalo said he made $1 on

the deal after upgrades. The friend, oil magnate George Pearson, gave the

Independent escrow documents that appear to show the roughly $60,000

difference in price was for flooring upgrades.

* Residents of the St. Augustine tract, developed by PLC Land Co.,

have come forward to reveal that Garofalo was not on the general waiting

list that hundreds of other prospective home buyers were on. Instead, the

mayor was on a VIP list that enabled him to buy the most coveted lot

before anyone else on the list had a chance. At a press conference July

27, Garofalo denied he was on a special list.

* Garofalo wrote out a $5,000 deposit check for the Poppy Hill Circle

house on Jan. 18, 1998, almost a week before members of the public were

allowed to buy. The mayor said he wrote the check “in anticipation” of

choosing a house.

THE INVESTIGATIONS

* On July 26, Hutton said she turned her investigation over to the

district attorney and the Fair Political Practices Commission. She has

completed her investigation into whether Garofalo violated a state law

prohibiting public officials from benefiting from public contracts. [See

THE VISITORS GUIDE entries.]

* Resident Debbie Cook, an environmental attorney, has sent a packet

and four letters to the commission, asking the state watchdog agency to

look into Garofalo’s dealings with advertisers in his publishing

properties. The latest letter, sent July 13, points out the discrepancies

in various statements about who owns the Local News. It also asks the

commission to look at Laird.

* The Orange County district attorney’s office has embarked on a

review of Garofalo’s voting record concerning advertisers in his various

publications. The district attorney’s office is looking at public

documents that show Garofalo voted favorably on projects involving

advertisers, which could be a violation of state law, said Tori Richards,

the agency’s spokeswoman. “It appears there are minutes to show which way

Mr. Garofalo voted.... So there is a way to track this if indeed this is

what happened,” Richards said.

* The Orange County Grand Jury is also investigating Garofalo’s

alleged conflicts. The inquiry into the mayor is in part prompted by

letters from locals Susan Newman and Cook, longtime Garofalo critics.

Newman sent a letter to the panel July 12, requesting an investigation of

Garofalo and the former grand jury, headed by Garofalo friend Phil

Inglee. Newman had asked the grand jury in October to review possible

conflicts of interest involving the mayor, but the panel refused. On July

14, Cook also sent a letter to the panel asking for an investigation.

Both women received a memo last week from jury foreman Joseph Gatlin,

stating that their concerns will be “carefully reviewed and considered.”

* It’s been six weeks since the Orange County district attorney’s

office began its investigation into alleged conflicts of interest

involving Mayor Dave Garofalo. But Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Lubinski

isn’t saying when it will conclude. Several investigators have been

assigned to the case.