Ortiz Seeking Leave From Registrar Post During D.A. Inquiry

Registrar of Voters Ray J. Ortiz on Friday requested a leave of absence from his job until the San Diego County district attorney completes a criminal investigation of his office.

Chief Administrative Officer Norman Hickey, who prompted the investigation five weeks ago when he asked the county auditor to look into allegations against Ortiz, said he will grant Ortiz an indefinite, unpaid leave and appoint an interim replacement to the $54,000-a-year post.

The investigation reportedly centers on contracts negotiated by the registrar, the use of rental cars and travel expenses.

Ortiz said he has done nothing wrong but would find it impossible to do his job under the cloud of the inquiry.

“It is my understanding that the purpose of this audit is to ensure there were no irregularities in the awarding of certain outside contracts by the registrar’s office,” Ortiz said at a news conference Friday afternoon in a warehouse behind the registrar’s Kearny Mesa offices.

“It is unfortunate that this county will now spend thousands of dollars to conduct an investigation that has no merit and will cast yet another shadow over this county’s government.”

Ortiz, accompanied by his attorney, said he is “personally satisfied that all activities of this office have been proper” and that he need make “no apologies for any of my actions while registrar.”

“But I will not allow my personal life to suffer from this investigation, and I believe as long as this investigation continues, which could take months, I am effectively stopped from performing my duties as registrar. Consequently, I will not take responsibility, under these conditions, for the upcoming elections.”

Steve Casey, spokesman for Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller, would not discuss details of the investigation but said the probe could be a lengthy one.

“We do not anticipate winding it up shortly,” Casey said. He said the district attorney’s office began its investigation at the request of Rod Calvao, county auditor and controller.

As registrar, Ortiz is responsible for registering voters and conducting elections for the county and the 18 cities. Since his appointment in 1979, Ortiz, 51, has advocated and put in place technology to automate the collection and filing of voter information and the counting of ballots.

Before taking the job, Ortiz worked four years for the California secretary of state’s election division and four years for the Los Angeles County registrar. Next week, he will be the host for a national conference of election center officials. He is president of the International Assn. of Major Election Administrators.

Ortiz will start his leave Wednesday, seven years to the day after he was appointed. Ortiz said he has “outside business” he can rely on to support himself while he is on leave, but he would not describe the work other than to say it might involve “consulting.”

Ortiz was paid $300 a day for three days to monitor an election in Chicago from April 28-30, said Tom Leach, spokesman for the Chicago Board of Elections. Ortiz, who is bilingual, served as an inspector and interpreter in a court-ordered special election in a heavily Latino Chicago ward, Leach said.

Also Friday, it was reported that the Chicago trip was part of the investigation, but Ortiz said he did not know that it was and he had no idea why it might be. He said the trip was taken on his own time, as was another trip to Chicago in March. Ortiz said the county did not pay for his expenses, but he would not say who paid his air fare.

Ortiz also declined to identify the contracts suspected of involving the “irregularities” he said the district attorney is investigating.

The office has negotiated contracts with several firms over the last six years, according to Keith Boyer, assistant registrar of voters.

Boyer said the office in 1985 bought a large computer system from Data General Corp. and computer programs from Data Information Management Systems, a Ventura company. He said the office purchased separately a vote-counting system from Votec Inc., a Berkeley firm, and several other services from Election Data Corp. of Escondido.

Boyer said he could not provide details of these contracts because the records were seized Thursday by district attorney’s investigators. Boyer said he didn’t know why the district attorney was interested in those contracts.

Boyer said the registrar’s office uses rental cars to supplement its allotment of two county cars. He said the rentals are needed around the time of elections and are used by workers who inspect polling sites and look for new polling places. He said records are kept of the daily mileage on the cars and the cars are parked each night in the county parking lot at the Kearny Mesa office.

Maggie Edwards, a spokeswoman for the office, said workers there were “confused” and “concerned” by news of Ortiz’s predicament.

“He has done more for this department than any other registrar,” Edwards said. “The integrity of this person has been beyond reproach.”

Times staff writers Eric Bailey and Kathie Bozanich contributed to this story.