More Credit Card Revelations Mean New Woes for Martinez : ‘Oil Deal’ Lunch Tab Questioned

Councilman Uvaldo Martinez used his city credit card in October, 1984, to pay for a $30.13 luncheon he arranged so that an old friend could propose a private business deal to a San Diego Gas & Electric Co. official.

Martinez said Tuesday that his friend, Joe Fosse, purported to represent an “oil sheik from Indonesia” and wanted to explore the possibility of selling gas or oil to SDG&E; at a discounted rate. In city records, however, Martinez wrote that the purpose of the lunch was to “discuss a city welcome to an oil dignitary.”

Martinez never met the so-called dignitary and did not know his name on Tuesday. In addition, an SDG&E; spokesman said that the firm had never heard of Western American Reserves, the name of Fosse’s oil company listed on city expense forms.

The SDG&E; official who attended the luncheon said Tuesday that he could not recall any city business being discussed. Martinez insisted that the use of the city credit card to pay for the lunch was legitimate because a favorable oil deal for SDG&E; would benefit the citizens of San Diego.

Meanwhile, Martinez’s top aide said Tuesday that he wrote a check in April to cover a $402 champagne dinner that his boss had paid for with his city credit card. The aide, Rudy Murillo, said he had Paul Dobson, owner of Dobson’s Bar & Restaurant, tear up the credit card receipt because he did not consider the dinner to be city business and did not want Martinez to get in trouble. Murillo was later reimbursed by a campaign committee.

Martinez had used the charge card to treat a group of 10 staff members and friends to the April 24 dinner. Little city business was discussed during the meal, according to Murillo, who said conversation focused on the Growth Management Initiative on the Nov. 5 ballot and issues affecting the Westgate Hotel, such as too many newspaper racks in front of the building.

Murillo said he thought he had told Martinez of his decision to change the method of payment of the tab. But Martinez said that Murillo acted independently and that he had just recently learned of the incident.

“In his judgment we had a situation that could lend some problems for me,” Martinez said. “I’m glad he showed initiative and went down and took care of the transaction.”

When asked why he charged the dinner in the first place, Martinez said: “Apparently, very little went though my mind. I suspect very strongly I just put the wrong card out on the plate.”

The private oil company luncheon and the $402 dinner at Dobson’s are the latest in a series of embarrassing episodes involving Martinez’s use of his city credit card. Last week it was disclosed that Martinez and Murillo had charged $9,500 in meals, travel and lodging expenses between July 1, 1984, and June 30, 1985--more than the combined amount charged by the other eight other council members and their aides on their city credit cards.

In addition, at least 13 people who Martinez claimed he treated to meals at city expense have said they did not eat with the councilman on the dates recorded on his credit card report. Several have said they never ate with Martinez. And one woman told The Times that she and her husband bumped into Martinez and his wife in the lobby of a local restaurant and never discussed city business. She said she was surprised to learn that the dinner had been charged to the city.

The revelations have prompted the San Diego County district attorney’s office to begin reviewing documents this week to determine whether the discrepancies warrant a formal criminal investigation.

Martinez said Tuesday that his office is working feverishly to prepare a complete response to all the charges. He said he hoped the statement would be available today or Thursday.

“I know things are looking very bad in the printed media,” Martinez said. “A lot of it has to do with the fact we don’t have our story out yet.”

Martinez has blamed the discrepancies on sloppiness and accounting errors. The councilman has portrayed himself as “a thoroughly disorganized councilman.”

Murillo said that Martinez usually consults his staff in advance to determine if legitimate city business will be conducted during a meal and if it is OK for him to use the city credit card.

For example, Murillo said, Martinez went to lunch with sailing enthusiasts after attending a Sail America press conference May 21 at the Town & Country Hotel. During the lunch Martinez asked Murillo if the meal would be considered city business. Murillo said: “I said no and he paid for the check out of his pocket.”

Martinez said that sometimes he asks the advice of his appointment secretary, Natalie Crosthwaite. “She will tell me, ‘Let them pay,’ ” Martinez said.

But Martinez received no such advice on the night of April 24 when he was entertaining a group of 10 at Dobson’s. His guests included Murillo; Colin Flaherty, another aide now working for Citizens for Community Planning, the anti-growth initiative campaign; Charlotte Sharpe, confidential secretary to the City Council; Salima Din, concierge at the Westgate hotel; her sister, Margis, and several friends brought by the Dins.

Murillo had originally made a dinner reservation for five to discuss the growth initiative, but the party quickly swelled to 10 when Salima Din and her friends dropped by, Murillo said. Before he left late that night, Murillo said, he told Robert Miller III, treasurer for the anti-growth campaign, to pay for the meal.

“I was at the end of table and I leaned over to Miller and said, ‘Bob, the theme of this dinner if anything is the growth management initiative. Make sure you pick up (the tab) and Uvaldo doesn’t,’ ” Murillo said.

When he learned the next morning from Miller than Martinez had paid for the meal with his city credit card, Murillo went straight to Dobson’s to check with Paul Dobson.

“Paul produced the actual charge as it was on the city credit card,” Murillo recalled. “I said we made a mistake here and when I wrote him a personal check for the same amount, he tore it (the credit card receipt) up.”

Murillo, who was reimbursed by the anti-growth initiative campaign, recalled that the entire dinner receipt was intact, including the customer copy. “Uvaldo did not even have the tissue copy of the charge,” Murillo said. “He must have left it there.”

Martinez insisted that the lunch he set up last Oct. 8 for friend Joe Fosse to discuss private business matters with Alfonso Araiza, an SDG&E; government affairs representative, was a legitimate use of his city credit card.

“Let me tell you it was city-related,” Martinez said. “That appointment was set up through this office . . . with the idea of introducing Fosse to SDG&E.; Fosse described it as being of mutual benefit to San Diego and SDG&E.; I don’t find it unusual at all that a citizen of San Diego would want to use a councilman . . . to come to his office and set up those kinds of meetings.”

Araiza said he got the impression that Fosse was new to the oil industry and was looking for an introduction to SDG&E; through Martinez that would initiate discussions that would lead to the power company purchasing gas or oil. The discussions went nowhere, according to an SDG&E; spokesman.

Fosse, who graduated from St. Augustine High School several years before Martinez did, could not be reached for comment. The firm Fosse is said to represent, Western American Reserves, is not listed in the General Oil & Gas, USA Oil Industry or Whole World Oil directories.

Martinez said that Fosse had come to him with a request to discuss a business transaction with SDG&E; on behalf of an individual from Indonesia said to have oil interests. Fosse also wanted Martinez to formally introduce the “oil sheik” to the City Council, Martinez said.

Martinez said he never met with the “Grand Somebody” because he couldn’t fit the dignitary into his schedule. But he attended the luncheon as planned because he thought a possible oil deal with SDG&E; would benefit the city, SDG&E; and its customers.

“You just never know,” Martinez said. “Something can come out of these things that could be very significant.”