Councilman asks mayor for full disclosure

Eron Ben-Yehuda

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- Councilman Tom Harman called for a “full and complete

disclosure” of Mayor Dave Garofalo’s business dealings following the news

that Garofalo voted on a controversial Downtown project after the

developer paid nearly $3,000 in advertising money to a company the mayor

owns.

“I am concerned that council people are taking a vote and, at the same

time, benefiting economically,” Harman said.

The potential conflict of interest stems from Garofalo’s publicly

perceived role as the man in charge of the city’s annual visitors guide.

John Given, vice president of CIM Group, said his development company

wrote a $2,995 check to David P. Garofalo & Associates -- a company the

mayor maintains full ownership of -- for advertising in the visitors

guide four months before the mayor’s vote.

Other advertisers -- Golden West College, the Sugar Shack restaurant,

Huntington Beach Realty and Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory -- said they

sent their checks to the visitors guide publisher, Air Quality

Consultants, or its subsidiary, the Local News. Garofalo once owned the

Local News but has said he sold it to Air Quality Consultants in 1997.

However, county records filed in December show no change in ownership

until January 1999.

In a written statement, Garofalo said CIM did not receive payment

instructions from him, adding that “any income made out to that

corporation [David P. Garofalo & Associates] goes to the proper

accounts.”

He could not say whether other advertisers in the guide wrote checks to

David P. Garofalo & Associates and did not offer an explanation for why

CIM would be instructed to pay the firm. Nor would he clarify how he

profits from selling advertising in the guide. He did, however, deny any

wrongdoing.

The exact business relationship between Garofalo, the Local News, David

P. Garofalo & Associates and Air Quality Consultants is unclear. Garofalo

remains the public face for both the Local News and the visitors guide.

Harman said trudging through quicksand is easier than trying to figure

out the maze of companies Garofalo is involved in and how he profits from

them. As an elected official, Garofalo should remove any doubts, he said.

Shirley Grindle, a member of Common Cause, a nationwide governmental

watchdog group, agreed.

“The appearance of it is bad enough,” Grindle said. “He should have

disqualified himself [from the vote].”

Garofalo joined the rest of the City Council on May 1 in approving a study that will measure the impact CIM’s project will have on the

surrounding area. Without the study, the project planned for an area near

Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway could not be built, officials have

said.

A potential conflict of interest exists when a council member receives

$250 or more within 12 months of a vote that helps the company that gave

the money, according to state law.

Local council watcher Chuck Scheid said he doubted Garofalo could be

influenced.

“I have a high enough opinion of him that I’m not concerned,” Scheid

said. “I’d hate to think that a $2,900 check would buy anything. It’s not

logical to me.”

Reactions from council members were mixed.

Councilwoman Shirley Dettloff doubted the money affected the mayor’s

vote.

“I don’t think that reflects, quite frankly, on his judgment in making

the right decision,” she said.

Councilman Ralph Bauer said he probably would not have accepted the

check.

“Garofalo has to understand that he is held to a different standard than

when he was not [in office],” he said.

CIM’s advertisement appears in this year’s annual city visitors guide,

which Garofalo has helped publish since 1993.

The guide is distributed by the Huntington Beach Conference and Visitor’s

Bureau. Because the bureau receives all of its funding from the city, any

city employee or official is prohibited from having any financial

interest in the work the nonprofit corporation performs.

President Diane Baker said the bureau does not pay Garofalo for his

publishing work but that the publisher of the guide is allowed to keep

any advertising profits.