Struiksma Expenses Probe Widens to Transit Board

At the request of the district attorney’s office, the Metropolitan Transit Development Board has turned over records of out-of-town travel expenses for San Diego acting Mayor Ed Struiksma, who serves as a member of the board.

For Struiksma, who is already the subject of a criminal investigation regarding expenses he incurred while traveling to the East Coast on city business in 1984, this latest development suggests an expansion of the district attorney’s investigation.

Steve Casey, spokesman for the San Diego County district attorney’s office, said it is inappropriate for him to discuss details of the Struiksma investigation. But Casey did say that “when you get into a criminal investigation, you learn things as you go along . . . that can lead to a broadening of what you’re looking at.”

Jack Limber, staff attorney for the transit board, said the district attorney’s office recently asked for details about travel reimbursements totaling about $2,500 made to Struiksma for seven trips he took as a transit board member to London, Washington, Portland, Sacramento and Denver. The trips occurred between March, 1983, and September, 1985.

Of the $2,500 reimbursed to Struiksma, $595 was paid out without receipts documenting the expenses, according to Limber. The transit board’s policy on travel reimbursements of more than $10 “requests” either receipts or, if receipts are not available, a written explanation of the expense.

As a practical matter, Limber said, the transit board looks at the “reasonableness of the expense.”

“We don’t get into why didn’t you ride the cab as opposed to the limo,” Limber said. “You have to assume there is some judgment involved in public staff and board members in how they expend public funds.”

Among the reimbursements paid to Struiksma without a receipt was a $179 dinner in Washington on Oct. 1, 1984. At the time, Struiksma was attending an American Public Transit Assn. annual conference, along with San Diego City Councilman William Jones and city planner Chuck Woolever.

“We had no documentation on it,” Limber said. “We wouldn’t accept absolutely nothing. We requested Mr. Struiksma to present some documentation.”

What Struiksma submitted was a one-paragraph explanation that read: “On Oct. 1, 1984, during the APT-Expo 1984, I hosted dinner for City Councilman William Jones and committee consultant Chuck Woolever.” Struiksma was paid, even though he could not remember the name of the restaurant.

Judith Wolf, spokeswoman for Struiksma, said the councilman is withholding comment on the investigation into his expenses until the probe is complete.

Jones, in a telephone interview Wednesday, said he was “shocked” when contacted by a district attorney’s investigator about the $179 meal. “I didn’t attend a $179 meal,” he said. “ . . . I’m shocked at the amount.

“I know I had dinner with Ed but I don’t know if it was on that day, the day before or the day after. There’s no documentation for it. That’s why I’m not sure of the details of the dinner. I wouldn’t expect it to cost that much.”

Jones said the dinner with Struiksma and Woolever took place at the Prime Rib Restaurant. “Even if you order the extra (thick) cut, it’s incredible to me a dinner we had would have cost that much,” he said. “That’s two months of groceries for me.”

The transit board’s records show that, for the same day Struiksma claimed the $179 dinner, Jones was reimbursed for a $29 dinner at the Hilton and Towers, where Jones stayed during the conference.

Asked to explain the discrepancy, Jones said: “My expense is fully documented on the hotel bill; Ed’s isn’t. I have a lot of questions too.”

Jones said he has contacted the hotel in an attempt to get a more detailed explanation for his dinner expense. “I don’t remember if it was for a late lunch, beverages, or snacks, or dinner or what,” he said. The hotel bill shows that the $29 dinner took place in Ashby’s Club, a combination restaurant and lounge that offers live entertainment, according to a hotel official.

Limber said the district attorney’s office also requested details of Jones’ expenses for the Washington trip. “I’ve been assured by the district attorney’s office, as recently as today, that I’m not the subject of the investigation,” Jones said. “They told me they’ve pulled the expenses of a lot of people.”

Jones met with a district attorney’s investigator for the first time on Tuesday. As a courtesy, he said, he told Struiksma about the scheduled appointment after Monday’s City Council session.

After the interview with the investigator, Jones spoke with Struiksma. “He asked me how did it go,” Jones said. “I told him I found out some things I didn’t know about that dinner. I told him I had some real questions about that. I cut it off because I felt uncomfortable talking to him about this investigation.”

Woolever, an assistant to the planning director who also attended dinner with Struiksma, said he recalled eating dinner with Struiksma and Jones but could not remember who paid for the meal. “I know I didn’t pay for the meal,” Woolever said. “I assumed Mr. Struiksma or Mr. Jones paid for it.”

Woolever said he was unaware of the cost of the meal until he was contacted by the district attorney’s office. “It seemed a little high . . . but what a lot of people don’t realize is that when you go to Washington for a conference or convention the prices are outrageous,” he said.

Woolever, who could not remember the name of the restaurant, said he recalled the dinner as being rather ordinary. “As far as I’m concerned we were talking about official business,” he said. At the time, Struiksma was chairman of the City Council’s Transportation and Land Use Committee and Woolever served as its consultant.

Other reimbursements made to Struiksma without receipts include $162 in expenses during the same October, 1984, trip to Washington; $50 for an October, 1983, trip to Denver; $50 for a June, 1984, trip to Sacramento; $106 for a March, 1983, trip to Washington, and $48 for a trip to Portland in April, 1984.

And among the travel-expense documents turned over to the district attorney’s office--including both those with and without receipts--is a five-day trip Struiksma made to London in September. Struiksma received about $430 for expenses during a trip made for the transit board’s insurance placement with Lloyd’s of London, according to Limber.

The investigation into Struiksma’s travel expenses began last month when the councilman said he made up more than $600 in receipts during an October, 1984, trip on city business to New York and Boston--which occurred about two weeks after Struiksma attended the Washington transit conference at which the $179 disputed dinner took place.

Struiksma said he had lost the $600 in receipts and was following the request of the city auditor’s office to “reconstruct” some of the trip’s expenses. City Auditor Ed Ryan said his office never told Struiksma any such thing.

During that trip, Struiksma submitted a bill for a $65 dinner in New York City at which Jan Anton, a city redevelopment official, was present. But Anton, a director of the Centre City Development Corp., said he paid for Struiksma’s dinner.

Three weeks ago, the district attorney’s office announced that the Struiksma investigation had taken a new turn and had evolved into a criminal investigation. Within hours of that announcement, Struiksma, who was considered among the front-runners in the San Diego mayor’s race, dropped out of the campaign.