More Questions Arise Over Ex-Councilman’s Doings

The Long Beach city councilman who resigned last week after questions were raised about his property investment with the police union president inappropriately used his City Hall office to run his real estate business, the city attorney said Thursday.

City Atty. Bob Shannon said he is continuing to investigate Dan Baker, who resigned during a televised City Council meeting Feb. 7. Shannon said a private investigator he hired found at least three instances in which Baker used his City Hall address in private real estate transactions.

Shannon called Baker’s behavior “just plain wrong.” He said he did not know where the investigation would lead, but that at the very least he would “write a memo to the City Council reminding them that conducting private business in their [government] office is inappropriate -- and that includes campaigning.”

Shannon added that if he finds that Baker’s “use of his City Hall office was pervasive, then it might be turned over for prosecution.”

The Long Beach Press-Telegram first reported that Baker had formed a real estate partnership with Steve James, the head of the city’s police union, two weeks before voting to give police officers a pay raise. The two invested in a $7.5-million apartment building in Missouri, the newspaper said.

Baker, a former U.S. Customs officer who earned $28,000 annually as a part-time council member, said when he quit that he had been the victim of a media “witch hunt.” He refused to identify his fellow investors and defended his business partnerships as legal.

The city will hold a special election June 6 to choose a replacement to serve the remaining 2 1/2 years of his term. Until then, Mayor Beverly O’Neill’s office is overseeing Baker’s district operation.