San Diego County D.A. Probes Acting Mayor’s Trip Expense Account

The district attorney’s office is reviewing the question of whether Ed Struiksma, acting mayor of San Diego, improperly billed the city for a business trip in 1984, including dinner expenses for which he was reimbursed but which may have been paid for by someone else.

At the request of city Auditor Ed Ryan, the San Diego County district attorney’s office has begun what spokeswoman Linda Miller termed “a preliminary review” of some of the bills run up by Struiksma when he traveled to New York City.

Struiksma, a city councilman, is a top contender in a special Feb. 25 election to fill the mayoral vacancy created when Roger Hedgecock was expelled from office because of his conviction on felony conspiracy and perjury charges.

Made Up Figures

Struiksma acknowledged Thursday that he and his staff made up figures on the expense reports, but he said they did so under the direction of the city auditor’s department.

Appearing on a radio talk show, Struiksma explained that he lost the receipts for the October, 1984, trip and was told by the auditor’s office to try to “reconstruct” them.

“Between our office and the auditor’s office, they knew those numbers were not correct,” Struiksma said. “When we finally submitted that (expense) form, we indicated to them that these numbers down there did not have any basis in fact.”

Ryan Disagrees

Ryan, however, took issue with that account, saying in an interview that none of his staff suggested the reconstruction of figures. “I can’t imagine, in all honesty, that anyone would ever give such advice from an auditor’s office,” he said.

City officials referred the matter to the district attorney’s office earlier this week after a report in the San Diego Transcript that Struiksma was reimbursed $65 by the city for a dinner paid for by Jan Anton, a director of the Centre City Development Corp., the downtown redevelopment agency.

As deputy mayor, Struiksma is acting as mayor in the absence of an elected mayor.

Struiksma is the second council member in recent months to be accused of misreporting business expenses. Councilman Uvaldo Martinez is being investigated by the San Diego County Grand Jury because many of the people he listed as entertaining at city expense say they were not with him on the dates indicated, or did not discuss city business with him, as he has claimed.