Huntington Beach mayor takes an aide

Eron Ben-Yehuda

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- A “very good friend” with deep pockets has paid for a

personal assistant to help Mayor Dave Garofalo with his City Hall duties

-- the first time in recent history that a Huntington Beach mayor has

employed an aide.

Alyssa Stephen said her official position is in public relations for AQC,

an environmental engineering firm owned by the wealthy Ed Laird, who

serves as a planning commissioner and also happens to be Garofalo’s boss.

But she “helps Dave with projects from time to time,” she said.

A project last week found Stephen stuck at a deli handing out

questionnaires as the mayor, appointed last month, served food and

schmoozed with customers.

Laird said his employee spends 25% of her work week with the mayor. She

also “donates” some of her free time, he said. He wouldn’t disclose how

much he pays her.

Former mayor Ralph Bauer could have used an assistant, but the city

couldn’t afford to hire one, he said.

“No one in my memory has had one,” said City Councilman Dave Sullivan,

another former mayor. “Probably because they didn’t have an Ed Laird.”

Sullivan said his performance as head honcho in the city didn’t suffer,

though, because “[city] staff pulled together and got the job done.”

Garofalo -- who is publisher of a local publication that Laird owns --

constantly harps on the fact that he has “to work for a living.” But his

mayoral predecessor, Councilman Peter Green, juggled city

responsibilities with his full-time teaching position at Golden West

College -- all without a personal assistant.

Mayoral aides aren’t all that common in other Orange County cities,

either.

Other than the usual city staff, the mayors of Costa Mesa and Newport

Beach do not have personal assistants.

“I just have a lot of voice mail,” said Gary Monahan, the mayor of Costa

Mesa.

When asked about the indulgence, Garofalo answered with rhetorical

questions, referring to himself in the third person.

“Who is Dave Garofalo?” he asked. “What’s different about him and

everyone else you know? Is there a level of energy [he possesses] that’s

unusually high?”

That energy will push him to attend as many grand openings, church

functions and school meetings as he can fit into his busy schedule, he

said. And you can be sure he’ll drag Stephen in tow.

“I can’t physically do it alone,” he said.

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