Editor’s Notebook -- Tony Dodero

Flash back to 1991 or so. I was sitting in the offices of the

Independent with then-publisher and future Councilman Dave Garofalo,

scratching my head in wonderment.

I had just been hoodwinked by one of the best card tricks I had ever

seen.

It went something like this:

I picked a card out of a deck he was holding and put it close to my

vest. He then said he was going to call the swami or someone who was

going to tell me what card I had chosen.

Garofalo picked up the phone, dialed a number, mumbled something to

the person on the other line and handed me the receiver.

I said hello and listened as a the voice of a woman told me exactly

what card I was holding in my hand.

Garofalo was laughing like heck at the puzzled look on my face and I

was, and still am, trying to figure out how he did that.

Like I said, best card trick I’ve ever seen.

And so it goes with Garofalo. A master of sleight of hand.

Unfortunately for him, that same deception, saying he was no longer

running his business when he really was, somehow forgetting to mention

gifts from high-rolling advertisers in his Local News, showing up at the

top of a much-coveted waiting list for a sought-after housing

development, got him into enough trouble that even Houdini would have had

trouble slipping out.

No one would ever deny that Dave Garofalo is an affable sort of guy.

He’s funny, good humored most of the time and is fiercely loyal to his

family and friends.

I’ve always admired how he cared for his son, who has suffered health

problems all of his life.

But just like that card trick, things with Garofalo just aren’t really

like he makes them seem.

Like the time he ran a column on the front page of his Local News

newspaper proclaiming, “All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in

Kindergarten.”

Recognize that essay? Well, apparently someone else did too.

You see, Garofalo later had to admit in print that his column was

indeed the same work as the popular book of the same name by author

Robert Fulghum. Garofalo’s defense was someone had sent him the verbatim

content in a typed manuscript and he had no idea that it was Fulghum’s

work.

Fulghum’s publishers made sure he set the record straight.

Then there was the time he first ran for City Council and listed his

occupation as “independent” publisher, even though he was no longer

employed at the Independent.

Never mind that our paper has a long-standing name recognition in

town, his use of the independent label was merely generic, I suppose.

Even at the end of political career, he preferred unreality to

reality.

He announced his resignation from the council for “personal” reasons

and in a published account mentioned nothing of the charges he faced,

letting us all presume they were unrelated.

In fact, his resignation had everything to do with the charges he

pleaded guilty to last week.

It was all part of his punishment meted out by the district attorney,

who by the way claims Garofalo has been collecting money from his

supposedly sold business as recently as two months ago.

Garofalo, on the other hand, told reporters last week, it has been a

year since he collected a check.

Whom do we believe?

And the charges? Oh yeah, one was a felony “wobbler” based on what he

calls an “archaic” 1934 law. Imagine what Garofalo must think then of the

Constitution and Bill of Rights, adopted some 200 years ago.

As for the “wobbler,” if the charge was indeed so weak, it begs the

question of why on earth would Garofalo plead guilty to a felony charge

instead of fighting it in court?

Having said all that, there’s no denying Garofalo has shrewd business

skills that much like his magical tricks, I can only sit back and admire.

Herein lies the rub. Garofalo saw no problem in transferring those

shrewd and sometimes unseemly business dealings into local government.

The two just don’t mix.

Politicians need to be on the up and up. Government really shouldn’t

be operated with the same wink and nod that some captains of industry

practice. They need to avoid financial gain or favors based on the office

they hold.

It’s not so much that Garofalo is a bad guy; he’s not. He was just

badly miscast, unable to separate the business yin from the government

yang.

Maybe the best thing that can happen is that voters of Huntington

Beach -- who cast him in that councilman role twice -- will do a better

job of picking just who their future leaders will be.

And Garofalo will return to a career that appreciates his illusory

skills.

That’s really how the cards should be dealt.

* TONY DODERO is the editor. He can be reached either via e-mail at

tony.dodero@latimes.com or by phone at 949-574-4258.