RON DAVIS -- Through My Eyes

I don’t understand the approach Huntington Beach Mayor Dave Garofalo

has taken with regard to concerns raised about his purchase and resale of

a house from local developer PLC Land Co.

Does the public and the media not have a right to wonder how the mayor

of a city gets first dibs on a house people are standing in line to buy?

Do we not have a right to wonder about the transaction when the mayor

says he participated in a lottery like everyone else, and we learn that

in fact the mayor was given VIP treatment and the house was reserved

specifically for him?

Do we not have a right to question the financial aspects of the

transaction when the deed to Garofalo reflects a selling price some

$60,000 less than what he sold it to a friend for the next day?

Is it unreasonable to question how all of this occurs, and the mayor

continues to vote on PLC projects?

Only one of the issues surrounding the transaction is the apparent

disparity between what Garofalo paid for the house and what he sold the

house for.

The mayor has publicly claimed the difference represents upgrades to

the house requested by the ultimate purchaser and that he only made a

buck on the deal. In light of the peculiarities of the transaction, was

it unreasonable to ask that this public figure, who is supposed to answer

to the public, provide the escrow documents and upgrade contracts to

support his claim?

At his recent press conference, Garofalo refused to produce these

documents, which only created the suspicion that he had something to

hide. After all, if the documents would have demonstrated that the

$60,000 was truly for upgrades rather than a profit, why not show the

documents?

As it turns out, the Independent succeeded in getting some of these

documents from another source. And, indeed, they appear to support the

mayor’s claim that the difference between his purchase price and his

selling price is explained by upgrades costing a little more than

$58,000.

I am at a complete loss to understand why Garofalo wouldn’t willingly

offer this kind of exonerating evidence to the public. While I haven’t

done the heavy-duty accounting to be able to confirm that Garofalo indeed

made only a buck on the transaction, the documents persuade me to believe

that most of the money went to upgrades and escrow costs.

That being said, that doesn’t resolve the issue of how a public

official gets special treatment from a developer in the community with

pending projects before the City Council. Nor does it explain why the

mayor, as the beneficiary of this favorable treatment, continued to vote

on the developer’s projects and issues.

I’m delighted to see documents supporting the mayor’s contention that

the apparent profit on the house was illusory. But, I can’t for the life

of me understand why, when the issue first raised its ugly head, the

mayor didn’t simply produce these documents.

The only explanation I can offer is that the mayor doesn’t believe we,

the people, have a right to question the conduct of public officials and

that he has no obligation to respond to what I consider to be very

legitimate questions.

Hopefully the mayor will realize that his refusal to answer questions

has increased the level of suspicion needlessly, and will be more

forthcoming in the future.

* RON DAVIS is a private attorney who lives in Huntington Beach. He

can be reached by e-mail at o7 [email protected]