Lawyer Sees No Conflicts for Mayor : O’Connor, Husband Worth $2.5 Million-Plus

San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor and her husband have financial interests in investments and property holdings worth at least $2.5 million, an economic disclosure report revealed Wednesday.

O’Connor’s personal wealth probably is substantially higher than the $2.5-million figure, because the assets reported on her Statement of Economic Interest do not have precise values specified but are listed in wide-ranging price categories, such as “$10,001 to $100,000” and “over $100,000.”

Because an investment listed in the top price category of “over $100,000” could be worth either $100,001 or millions of dollars, only the minimum possible value of the mayor’s assets can be figured.

Regardless, the investments held by O’Connor and her husband, businessman Robert O. Peterson, founder of the Jack in the Box fast-food chain, clearly make her the wealthiest mayor in recent San Diego history.

O’Connor’s statement, filed with the city clerk’s office, lists diverse assets ranging from investments in mining companies, scientific research firms and local restaurants to stock in some of the nation’s largest corporations, as well as extensive property holdings throughout the San Diego area.

The mayor, for example, reported $100,000-plus investments in Gustaf Anders Restaurant in La Jolla, Shiki-En Nursery, a mining company known as Yuba Natural Resources and a handful of other firms.

O’Connor’s other holdings include more than $100,000 worth of bonds in Coca-Cola International (an investment with humorous overtones, given the mayor’s well-publicized fondness for Pepsi), and investments of less than $100,000 each in Ralston Purina Co., Pioneer Electric Corp. and Sharp Corp.

O’Connor and her husband also have financial interests in nearly 20 pieces of property throughout San Diego County, including their Point Loma house, rental properties in Del Mar, several vacant lots near Balboa Park, and various other private homes and commercial buildings worth more than $1.1 million.

In addition to the holdings reported, O’Connor and her husband also have assets outside San Diego that were not listed on the report because the law does not require them, according to attorney David Bain, who prepared O’Connor’s report.

“We listed anything that could even remotely be construed as doing business with the city,” Bain said. “But it’s safe to say that Maureen and Bob have interests outside San Diego that have nothing at all to do with San Diego.”

In both the 1983 and 1986 mayoral campaigns, O’Connor’s opponents often questioned whether the couple’s extensive financial holdings could hamper her effectiveness as mayor, either by creating potential conflicts of interest or by forcing her to disqualify herself from voting to avoid such conflicts on major issues that routinely come before the City Council.

Bain, however, argued Wednesday that O’Connor’s and Peterson’s investments will not present a major obstacle for O’Connor.

“I don’t see how anything that she and her husband hold could cause a significant conflict,” Bain said. “Her policy has always been not to vote on anything that even remotely could be seen as a conflict, and she’ll continue to follow that guideline. But I don’t think there are going to be many cases where she might disqualify herself, and if there are, they’ll be minor ones.”