Carlsbad’s City Attorney Denies Access to Records

Carlsbad City Atty. Vincent Biondo has refused a North County newspaper’s request that he release records of telephone calls made on his private office line.

The Oceanside-based Blade-Tribune sought to obtain the telephone records as part of its research for an article on Biondo.

In an unusual move, Biondo on Monday called a press conference to announce that the newspaper planned to publish “a hit piece” alleging that he conducts private business on city time in his office at Carlsbad City Hall.

Although reporters from five newspapers were invited to the meeting, the Blade-Tribune was not among them.

When a Blade-Tribune reporter happened by Biondo’s office and asked to join the gathering, the city attorney insisted that the journalist leave, saying: “Your newspaper already knows everything I’m going to say.”

Bill Missett, managing editor of the Blade-Tribune, said he was troubled both by the city attorney’s refusal to release the telephone records and his insistence that the newspaper’s reporter leave the press conference.

“We are naturally distressed any time a public official holds a meeting behind locked doors and excludes a reporter, whether it is our own or someone else’s,” Missett said.

Mayor Claude (Bud) Lewis said he also was troubled that Biondo had excluded the Blade-Tribune reporter from the press conference. But Lewis said he feels records of Biondo’s phone calls are confidential since the city attorney has reimbursed the city for private calls.

“As long as he pays for those calls, it’s a private situation as I see it,” Lewis said. “Everyone makes private calls at work from time to time. I think that’s the normal, ongoing situation.”

Under California public records laws, city and county government phone records generally have been regarded as public records.

During the press conference, Biondo said he has invested in apartment buildings and stocks, occasionally handling the business dealings using a phone in his City Hall office during working hours.

Biondo said he owns five apartment buildings, including one 40-unit complex that he bought in 1983 with Councilwoman Ann Kulchin and her husband, David. Last year, Biondo sought a ruling from the California Fair Political Practices Commission to determine if joint ownership of the apartment building with the councilwoman represented a conflict of interest. The FPPC said in an August, 1986, letter that no conflict existed.

According to his financial disclosure statement on file at City Hall, Biondo also owns stock in 10 different corporations amounting to less than $10,000 in each. He also holds stock in eight other firms representing between $10,000 and $100,000 in each company, according to the records.

The city attorney said he typically spends “maybe an hour a week” on his personal business dealings during working hours, but more than makes up for it with unpaid overtime work for the city.

In addition, Biondo said he has on “one or two occasions” had his City Hall secretary notarize documents pertaining to his private business dealings, something “she does on her own time.”

“I’ve got absolutely nothing to hide,” Biondo said, noting that he called the news conference because he decided “if this is news, which I believe it isn’t, then everyone should know.”

But Biondo refused to reveal how much his property holdings are worth, saying he was “entitled to some privacy” on his financial affairs.

Lewis said Biondo, who has served as Carlsbad city attorney for more than 14 years, has been “a valuable asset” for the city.

“He puts in beyond the normal working day,” Lewis said. “I find no fault on that fact.”