New low for city politics

When former Huntington Beach Mayor Dave Garofalo resigned from office

and eventually pleaded guilty to 15 misdemeanors and one felony count

involving votes he cast and gifts he received while in office, we

hoped that others who followed him into public service would learn

from his mistakes. People who have pledged to serve the public should

never use their office or their power to serve themselves instead.

Sadly, Garofalo’s was not a lesson former Huntington Beach Mayor

Pam Houchen learned or even tried to heed.

Houchen last week pleaded guilty to eight counts of fraud and

public corruption in connection with her purchase and illegal

conversion of apartments into condominiums. She reportedly sold two

four-unit apartment buildings, netting a tidy $500,000 in the

process. She also unlawfully bought property in a redevelopment zone

while in office.

In total, Houchen and her four partners in crime illegally altered

15 apartment buildings into 45 condominiums, avoiding the permits and

fees required for such work. Their scam to then sell the condos

almost lined their pockets with $11 million.

As difficult as it is to believe, not four years after Garofalo’s

fall from politics, Huntington Beach has reached another low in

political corruption. Houchen’s crimes are far worse, far more

despicable than Garofalo’s, for a single, though not simple, reason:

the victims.

Without a doubt, Garofalo’s conflicts of interest hurt people,

though trying to measure who was injured and how they suffered is

close to impossible. Perhaps a Garofalo vote kept business from going

to the most qualified person. Perhaps one of the advertisers in his

publication profited at the expense of a competitor.

Perhaps Garofalo’s crimes had victims, but we can never know for

sure.

But without a doubt, Houchen’s crimes hurt people. The most

obvious victims are the dozens who bought what they believed to be

condominiums. While their monetary hurt has steadily been reduced as

this story has evolved, those without any insurance still face

$10,000 in fees. And there still are inspections to be done, and all

four homeowners in each building must agree to make any necessary

changes -- an iffy future indeed. And there have been the countless

nights of not knowing what would happen or how much it all would

cost.

Those people were the very ones Houchen swore to serve on the City

Council. She failed them mightily.

Houchen also failed the rest of Huntington Beach’s residents by

her actions. She has brought more shame to City Hall, more reason to

doubt the truthfulness and honesty of city leaders. (Her former

colleagues, who will have to deal with the fallout as they continue

to serve the city, can thank her for that.) She has added a low mark

to Huntington Beach’s sordid political history, one that seems

incapable of turning in a clean, decent and law-abiding direction.

There is one final group of victims, among the smallest of them

all: Houchen’s triplets. Perhaps her desire to give her three girls a

better life was at the heart of her decisions. Instead, they likely

will be without their mom for years.

Her crimes certainly could not have been worth that.