Garofalo resignation imminent, mayor says

Danette Goulet

Councilman Dave Garofalo is close to stepping down from his elected

position and may resign by Friday as the result of the district

attorney’s nearly two-year investigation, Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie

Cook confirmed Wednesday.

“As far as I know, Monday was his last meeting,” Cook said. “I think

he’s going to make an announcement on Friday.”

Two other council members said they had heard the same news of a

possible Friday resignation by Garofalo, but did not want to be named.

Neither Garofalo nor his attorney, Allan Stokke, could be reached for

comment.

Garofalo is facing possible felony charges and if convicted of those

charges would be barred from holding any public office.

Garofalo did make a comment at Monday night’s council meeting that

many feel was an indication of his impending resignation.

“He did make reference to ‘this could be my last official vote’ on

Monday,” Cook said, adding that he was oddly jovial.

In a related matter, before taping an “Our City, Our Issues” talk show

for HBTV-3 this week, Garofalo told Rich Barnard, the deputy city

administrator and station manager, that he had also withdrawn his bid for

a seat on the state Board of Equalization, which he had filed for in

November, Barnard said.

What Garofalo later said during the taping is unclear. Requests to

view the tape are being reviewed by City Atty. Gail Hutton and no

decision had been made by press time.

Garofalo has been scrutinized in investigations by the district

attorney’s office, as well as the Orange County Grand Jury and Fair

Political Practices Commission for nearly two years now over possible

conflicts of interest stemming from his business, David P. Garofalo &

Associates.

The district attorney has been investigating allegations that Garofalo

repeatedly voted on issues that affected the flow of advertising revenue

to his publishing business.

In July, the district attorney’s office filed court papers that

included an affidavit by investigators in which investigators report the

councilman failed to cite the source of more than $25,000 in business

income.

Investigators also report in the the court papers that Garofalo voted

200 times between 1997 and 2000 on issues that affected businesses that

advertise in the Local News, the annual Huntington Beach Visitors Guide

as well as the city’s Chamber of Commerce Business Directory -- all

publications that were owned by the councilman.

Investigators’ reports were based on interviews and information

gathered when search warrants in April allowed them to seize computer

equipment and files from Garofalo’s Main Street home, as well as a

SeaCliff Office Park publishing office and from Coatings Resource Co.,

owned by longtime friend Ed Laird.

Laird purchased the publishing rights to the city’s visitors guide

from Garofalo in 1998.

Investigators’ reports quote Garofalo declaring, during the June 19,

2000 council meeting, that he had “completely divested myself of any

responsibilities of any of the publishing businesses I built over the

past decade.”

“That includes any administrative issues including but not limited to

publishing, editing, designing, graphics, etcetera,” he said, according

to the papers.

His words, however, are at odds with statements made by Pat Rogers,

marketing director for the Huntington Beach Mall, investigators said.

Rogers told an investigator that on Nov. 27, 2000, more than five

months later, she received a phone call from Garofalo asking her to pay

the balance of $500 that the mall owed him for advertising in the

Visitor’s Guide.

Garofalo reportedly left a voicemail message for Rogers informing her

that he expected the Fair Political Practices Commission to clear him of

“everything” in the next two months.

Garofalo has consistently denied any wrongdoing throughout the

investigation since it began in June 2000, telling supporters he would be

vindicated.