Mitrovich Labeled Mayor’s ‘Bag Man’ : Hedgecock’s Lawyer Irate Over Claim by the Prosecutor, Charges It’s Unfair

The prosecutor in San Diego Mayor Roger Hedgecock’s felony retrial charged Monday that the former publicist for J. David & Co. was “a bag man” in an alleged conspiracy to funnel illegal contributions to Hedgecock’s successful 1983 race.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Charles Wickersham’s allegations about former J. David public affairs director George Mitrovich--a departure from prosecution tactics in the mayor’s first trial--prompted an angry response from Hedgecock’s attorney, Oscar Goodman, who labeled Wickersham’s comments “a cheap shot” that not only unfairly “besmirched” Mitrovich’s reputation but also could “put (the defense) at a tremendous disadvantage.”

Wickersham emphasized that he is not seeking to have Mitrovich “formally declared” as an unindicted co-conspirator in the case; he simply wants to pursue a “theory of evidence” that, if allowed by Superior Court Judge William L. Todd Jr., could permit the prosecutor to delve more deeply into Mitrovich’s purported role in the alleged conspiracy.

Goodman, however, described Wickersham’s request as an improper “attempt to amend the case” after the trial has already started, adding that doing so would force the defense to change its strategy for the case. In short, Goodman accused Wickersham of trying to change the rules after the game began.

Mitrovich himself later said he was “stunned” by Wickersham’s comments, calling them “11th-hour charges (that are) without foundation . . . and outrageously unfair.”

“How tragic that for tactical advantage a prosecutor should smear someone’s name who is not the subject of the prosecution,” said Mitrovich, a political activist who founded and heads the San Diego City Club.

Calling the legal question of whether Mitrovich should be treated as an alleged co-conspirator “a significant matter,” Todd delayed a ruling on the issue until today. The judge’s decision conceivably could expand or limit Wickersham’s inquiries about activities that the prosecution claims were part of a scheme in which Hedgecock allegedly conspired with former J. David principals J. David (Jerry) Dominelli and Nancy Hoover to funnel tens of thousands of dollars in illegal donations to Hedgecock’s 1983 campaign through a political consulting firm owned by Tom Shepard, a close friend of the mayor.

Wickersham’s suggestion that Mitrovich participated in the alleged conspiracy to use Tom Shepard & Associates as a mechanism to circumvent the city’s $250-per-person campaign contribution limit, came during the second day of testimony in Hedgecock’s retrial on felony conspiracy and perjury charges. The mayor’s first trial ended in February in a mistrial with the jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of conviction.

With jurors excused from the courtroom, Wickersham told Todd Monday that evidence in the case “will establish in a strong way that George Mitrovich was a member of the conspiracy.”

Mitrovich was involved in many of the crucial activities that the prosecution characterizes as circumstantial evidence of the alleged conspiracy, Wickersham said. For example, Alfred O’Brien, the former president of J. David Mercantile, testified last week that Mitrovich told Hedgecock in late 1981 that he “ought to smoke the peace pipe” with Hoover--who had embittered Hedgecock by leaving her husband to live with Dominelli--if he hoped to become mayor. The subsequent reconciliation between Hoover and Hedgecock, prosecutors charge, was one of the cornerstones of the alleged conspiracy.

In addition, Wickersham noted that Mitrovich:

- Helped fill five tables at a Hedgecock fund-raiser in February, 1983.

- Organized a lavish May, 1983, party celebrating Hedgecock’s election as mayor. The party was sponsored by the City Club but paid for by J. David.

- Wrote a letter to Dominelli and Hoover warning that J. David’s underwriting of Shepard’s firm and Newsline, an alternative local weekly newspaper that was strongly critical of Hedgecock’s 1983 opponent, former San Diego City Councilwoman Maureen F. O’Connor, could seriously damage the firm’s reputation.

- Drafted a letter, later signed by Hedgecock, that recommended that the J. David firm be admitted to the London International Financial Futures Exchange. The letter, which said that the La Jolla investment firm “has established a remarkable reputation here in San Diego for both its financial success and also for its extraordinary commitment to the betterment of our community,” is cited by prosecutors as evidence of Hedgecock’s gratitude for Hoover’s and Dominelli’s alleged illegal campaign aid.

“Mitrovich . . . was a facilitator, a bag man between Nancy Hoover and Jerry Dominelli and Roger Hedgecock,” Wickersham said. “His state of mind is an issue. It is highly relevant.”

Wickersham refused to discuss the reason why he sought to have Mitrovich treated as a conspirator in the case. However, the prosecutor conceded that a favorable ruling by Todd would permit him to more fully explore Mitrovich’s “state of mind”--an area of inquiry that otherwise probably could be blocked by Goodman on grounds of irrelevance.

In asking Todd to deny Wickersham’s request, Goodman said that allowing the prosecutor “to amend the pleadings . . . at this late moment” would produce an unfair burden on the defense by forcing Goodman to expand his case beyond the scope of the original indictment against Hedgecock.

“This would put us at great disadvantage,” Goodman told Todd. “Who knows who they will try to amend the indictment to include tomorrow? It is a crucial issue.”

Following Monday’s court session, Goodman criticized Wickersham for what he described as an “un-American” attempt to “label somebody without giving that person an opportunity to clear (his) name.”

“It’s a shame that in this country . . . a person’s reputation can be injured based on the mere assertion by somebody in a courtroom that they’re a conspirator,” Goodman said.

In other testimony Monday, two former employees of Shepard’s political consulting firm said that planning for Hedgecock’s 1983 campaign appeared to be well under way early in 1982.

Tamara O’Brien, the daughter of the former head of J. David Mercantile, testified that Shepard told her that her major duties at the consulting firm, where she worked from January through May of 1982, would be to help to “put the wheels in motion so we could just slide right into a campaign” for Hedgecock. O’Brien added that she spent most of her time at the firm soliciting volunteers to help update a computerized mailing list of Hedgecock’s supporters--a task that her successor, Daryl-Lynn Lalli, continued when she was hired in June, 1982--and helping to form a campaign precinct organization.

O’Brien added that Shepard occasionally expressed frustration in early 1982 that Hedgecock was so demanding of him at a time when a future mayoral campaign faced an uncertain timetable. The special May, 1983, mayoral race won by Hedgecock did not become a certainty until former Mayor Pete Wilson won the November, 1982, U.S. Senate election.

“(Shepard) said that if Roger was this bad now, he could imagine what it was going to be like when a real campaign started,” O’Brien testified.

During cross-examination, O’Brien told Goodman that the updating of the supporters’ list was done by volunteers. The question of who did the work is a crucial one, because prosecutors contend that what O’Brien called the “cleaning up” of the list represented an unreimbursed staff expense of Shepard’s firm that benefited but was not paid for by Hedgecock’s campaign committee.

Prosecutors also have characterized Shepard’s firm as little more than an arm of Hedgecock’s mayoral campaign. In his attempt to rebut that charge, Goodman elicited testimony from O’Brien, Lalli and Daniel Frahm, a Washington political consultant who formerly worked for Tom Shepard & Associates, that Shepard’s firm had a number of other clients in 1982 and early 1983, including unsuccessful state legislative candidates Dick Roe and Dan Kripke, former San Diego City Council candidate Bob Filner and a group of several North County chambers of commerce.