Attacks on Greenlight show its success

It is a sure sign you are winning the debate when your opponents give

up on factual arguments and start personal attacks.

In the Daily Pilot of March 19, Mayor Steve Bromberg personally

attacked the Greenlight residents’ group (“Greenlight hopes to put

reform on ballot”). On March 21, Dave Ellis, hired consultant for

five of the present city councilmen, personally attacked again

(“Ellis charges Greenlight leader OK’d city grant”).

What provoked these attacks was a recent announcement that, in

light of the city’s failure to pursue any type of meaningful conflict

of interest or campaign reform, Greenlight and concerned residents

would now place an ethics in government initiative on the ballot.

What the personal attacks prove is that there seems to be some fear

on the council’s part of any meaningful reform that will be proposed

and that they have clearly no factual arguments to combat them.

To set the record straight, as a volunteer of the Airport Working

Group, I was a member of their board that had hired Ellis as a

consultant. Ellis, in essence, acted as a lobbyist for the group to

the Newport Beach City Council for the grant from which he, of

course, was to be paid. Basic funds for Ellis were voted by four of

the present councilmen. By Ellis’ own admission, he made more than

$300,000 in profits as a result of this contract.

The differentiating factor between myself as a volunteer citizens’

board member and Ellis’ City Council clients is that the council had

formed a dual relationship with Ellis both as grantors of funding

through he, a lobbyist for the Airport Working Group, and then the

use of him as their campaign hit man.

Because the money that Ellis lobbied for on behalf of the Airport

Working Group were granted in closed session and because he

represented members of the council both before and after this vote,

there is an apparent appearance of impropriety and conflict of

interest.

Members of the City Council and government officials in general

have an absolute and fiduciary obligation to their constituents to

avoid even the appearance of conflict of interest. Not just avoid a

conflict of interest, but also even the appearance of any impropriety

is required.

Greenlight and concerned residents seek a strong ethics in

government ordinance, including safeguards against conflicts of

interest, similar to those in many other cities that would require

full disclosure of this possible misuse of taxpayers’ dollars by

individuals who have a fiduciary responsibility to manage and

maintain same. If our proposed reforms were in effect during the last

two years, at least two councilmen would have had to recuse

themselves from voting on the Ellis grant, and two of his new

councilmen clients would have had to publicly disclose their

relationship with him.

However, these needed reforms go beyond that. The campaign reform

part of the ethics in government initiative would discourage negative

campaigning and personal attacks like those made by Bromberg and

Ellis. We want candidates to stick to issues and back their

statements with data as opposed to emotion and innuendo. We think

that the candidates should report their campaign financial interests

forthrightly and not deceptively hide them, as was the case in the

last election.

In conclusion, we are dismayed, but not cowed by the personal

attacks made by Bromberg and Ellis. These negative attacks are only

further proof of the need for ethics in government, including

conflict of interest and campaign reforms. The election is behind us,

and we have seen evidence of wrongdoing, and it is time now to move

forward. To those that oppose this ethics in government program we

ask what are you afraid of? The truth? Honesty or veracity? For those

that join us, we welcome you into building a better city government

for the city of Newport Beach. We will now proceed to work on an

initiative to help restore the ethics and the integrity to the

Newport Beach city government.

PHIL ARST

Newport Beach

* PHIL ARST is spokesperson for the Greenlight Resident’s

Committee.