Martinez’s Calendar Doesn’t Support Claims on City Credit Card Use

San Diego City Councilman Uvaldo Martinez’s 1984 and 1985 office calendars corroborate only a handful of dates and guests for the mealtime meetings that he charged to his city-issued credit card.

Copies of the calendars, released Thursday by Martinez at the request of The Times, apparently contradict or fail to support most of the written explanations for the meals that the councilman submitted to the city auditor as justification for the expenses.

Martinez declined late Thursday to comment specifically on why his calendars and explanations on credit card reports do not match, but he said the calendars should not be considered as the definitive guide of what he did each day.

“Generally speaking, some appointments get confirmed and some do not,” Martinez said. “I think the way you should look at my calendar is I showed up to work on those days.”

Martinez and his top aide, Rudy Murillo, are under criminal investigation by the San Diego County district attorney’s office for possible fraud in connection with their use of city-issued credit cards. Records show that the men charged more than $9,500 worth of meals and travel and lodging expenses on their accounts since July 1, 1984--expenses that outstripped the credit card totals for all other council offices combined.

More than 20 people have told The Times that they did not eat with Martinez as his office specified in records provided to justify the meals, some of which cost $200 to $300. A few have said they were guests of Martinez on the dates, but they did not discuss city business as he claimed.

Since the controversy arose two weeks ago, Martinez and his aides have huddled over the calendars, which they said would help clear up the discrepancies. At one point, they suggested that the confusion over several of the credit card dates was caused when Martinez’s council secretary filled in names from the calendar when in fact he went to lunch with other people.

But a review of the calendars, some pages of which became illegible during the copying process, show that scheduled appointments for Martinez matched only 13 times out of the 67 meals he charged on his city credit cards. The councilman has turned over the calendars to the district attorney.

Otherwise, the calendars conflict or give no support for the meals he charged and claimed that they involved city business. In some instances, they show he went golfing with people he later claimed he discussed city business with over meals.

Some instances of conflict between the calendar and credit card records include:

- A $110.40 meal Martinez charged on Sept. 6, 1984, at Dobson’s Bar and Restaurant, and listed as his guests developer Mike Madigan and Chamber of Commerce President Lee Grissom, both of whom have said they did not dine with Martinez that day. On the councilman’s calendar, Martinez has scheduled a lunch with Rosemarie Saenz, who is a partner with Martinez in a private business venture to obtain the license of local radio station KIFM.

Saenz, who works as an administrative analyst at the San Diego Housing Commission, said she could not remember the topic of the meeting.

- A $130.74 meal at the Brigantine Restaurant Martinez charged Nov. 1, 1984, ostensibly to host U.S. Rep. Bill Lowery (R-San Diego) and his aide, both of whom said they never ate with Martinez. His calendar indicates he was to have dinner that evening with a secretary at UC San Diego.

The secretary, Maria Barajas, would have no reason to meet with Martinez as a representative of the school, said her boss, John Colonghi, assistant director for development at the UC San Diego Medical School and Cancer Center. Attempts to reach Barajas were unsuccessful late Thursday, and Martinez declined to discuss the circumstances of the scheduled dinner with the secretary except to say that she “was interested in a job at my office.”

- A Feb. 12 lunch Martinez had with developer Forrest Brehm and political consultant Dave Ross, according to the calendar--a meeting Brehm confirmed Thursday. On his credit card tabs, Martinez had claimed two meals that day totaling $266.50. Neither of those meals, which were with other guests, is listed on the calendar.

Brehm said he could not recall the topic of the discussion or who paid for the lunch, which his records indicate was at the Fontainebleau Restaurant of the Westgate Hotel. He said he probably had initiated the meeting.

“I’m very concerned about growth and all the council persons’ views on growth and what’s going on in our industry,” said Brehm, president of Brehm Communities, a residential real estate development company. “I’ve bought lunch for City Council people, and they’ve bought lunch for me.”

Ross could not be reached for comment.

- The following day, Feb. 13, Martinez’s calendar lists him having lunch with two officials of Genstar Southwest Development at Visions Restaurant in La Jolla. Three-and-a-half months earlier, Martinez had been the only councilman to support Genstar’s request for a zoning change allowing construction of high-density apartments in a Bernardo Heights neighborhood.

On a credit card tab for Feb. 13, the councilman claimed an $87.65 meal with two of his political supporters, Rudy Martinez and Gil Contreras, at Phuongnam Restaurant. That meeting is not listed on the calendar.

The Genstar officials, company president Bob McLeod and Bruce Warren, could not be reached for comment.

- On two occasions, Martinez’s calendar shows him golfing with people for whom he also used his city credit card to buy meals, claiming they had discussed city business.

Martinez’s credit card expense report claims a $28.80 meal on March 22 with Tony Perez of Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner and Smith to discuss “commercial revitalization.” Martinez’s calendar lists a golfing date at 11:30 a.m. that day with Perez and two others--Rudy Martinez and a second person whose name is illegible in the photocopies.

Perez could not be reached for comment.

On April 26, Martinez claimed a $97.97 meal with two businessmen and an official of his alma mater, St. Augustine High School, at Lubach’s Restaurant. His calendar lists an 8 a.m. golf game in Coronado that day.

Mike Murphy, manager of the Mission Bay office of Security Pacific National Bank, said he and Gil Evans of Heritage Leasing Corp. played golf and had lunch with Martinez that day. The fourth man, St. Augustine High business manager Steve Chipp, called to say he could not attend lunch, Murphy said Thursday.

According to Murphy, the men discussed home financing in the Golden Hill neighborhood, a recent police shooting in the area, and other topics of concern to the city during the morning and afternoon. Each paid his own green fee at the Coronado Golf Course, Murphy said.

On his credit card tab for lunch that day, Martinez said the purpose of the meal was to discuss “redevelopment of school site.”