City attorney plot takes some twists and turns

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

Leave it to the lawyers to get ugly.

With about 45 people running for office in the city of Huntington

Beach, it is the race for city attorney that continues to draw

attention. It’s like a soap opera.

This week on “Days of our Lawyers” resident Dawn Stanton sent a

letter to the City Council, copying City Atty. Gail Hutton, the city

clerk, the district attorney and media, saying she feels city

attorney candidate Ron Davis had collected finances for his campaign

illegally.

She asked that Davis be thoroughly investigated.

She correctly states that his campaign disclosure lists a $25,000

loan from his mother, Laura Warman. And she is also correct that had

Davis taken this money -- it would have violated Huntington Beach

campaign reform law.

We called Davis about the item last week. It seems he listed the

check from his mother, but did not cash it. He told us he was

amending his statement and returning the check to mom.

Apparently City Atty. Gail Hutton did not make that same phone

call.

Because upon receipt of Stanton’s letter, Hutton wrote one of her

own -- to Orange County District Atty. Tony Rackauckas, asking that

he investigate the matter as she was too close to the situation with

one of her own deputy city attorneys in the race.

Well this plot development will be the most shocking for our

faithful viewers who remember how long it took Hutton to bring

information regarding former Mayor Dave Garofalo to the district

attorney. Let me refresh your memory. After advising Garofalo in 1998

not to vote on potential conflicts, it wasn’t until two years later

that she finally turned her investigation of the councilman over to

the district attorney’s office.

Yet when it comes to her longtime critic and protegee’s opponent

she gets the information to Rackauckas in less than 24 hours both by

fax and personal delivery, according to her letter.

Gee, do you think this is personal at all?

Do you think it has to do with Davis winning a case earlier in

this campaign against her deputy city attorney? A case that found her

deputy city attorney had been deceptive in her use of campaign signs.

She may have perfectly legitimate reasons for sending this on.

Perhaps he violated other codes.

Had she returned calls that I placed to her to find out, maybe I

could share her reasoning.

* DANETTE GOULET is the city editor. She can be reached at (714)

965-7170 or by e-mail at danette.goulet@latimes.com.