Ousted Housing Director Tees Off : Montijo Letter Blasts Mayor, 2 Councilwomen

Still a subject of controversy six months after his ouster, former San Diego Housing Commission Director Ben Montijo has attempted to defend his personnel practices in a scathing letter that lambastes Mayor Maureen O’Connor, two other council members and his successor.

In the letter and its attachments, Montijo, responding to recent charges he improperly used employee evaluations to reward and punish subordinates for personal loyalty, refers to O’Connor as “bad, unpredictable and vindictive,” calls Councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer “wacky,” and labels Councilwoman Judy McCarty “dumb.”

All three were among the majority of council members who voted to oust him earlier this year.

The former housing director also accuses acting Housing Director Betsy Morris, his successor, of playing politics and not supporting him during the events that led to his firing, effective March 2.

Montijo said Tuesday he decided to write the letter, which has been distributed over the last week to council members and the media, to defend himself against the charges by the agency’s attorney.

“I guess part of my feeling is that I think people ought to let the past be the past, but it seems to me that there are some individuals who want to keep bringing up stuff and a lot of the stuff they’re bringing up is absolute nonsense,” Montijo said in an interview. He declined to say whether he is currently employed.

Letter Called ‘Unfortunate’

O’Connor, when told Tuesday about Montijo’s letter, said Tuesday it was “unfortunate that he has to resort to name-calling.”

“The problems were there before Maureen O’Connor arrived in the mayor’s office,” she said. “I just had to deal with them.”

An investigation by the housing agency concluded last month that Montijo filed improper employee evaluations for Morris and two other top aides--Cathy Lexin, deputy director in charge of general services, and Bob Ross, a deputy director in charge of the housing agency’s rehabilitation loan program.

Larry Marshall, the housing agency’s attorney, told commissioners that Montijo actually issued the evaluations after he left the agency, but backdated the documents to coincide with his March 2 departure date.

In the case of Morris, Montijo failed to submit her evaluation until July--fully four months after he left the agency, Marshall wrote.

Marshall wrote that it could be “reasonably inferred” that the evaluations “represent an improper effort on the part of the former Executive Director to reward those who he perceived to be supportive during the period of controversy which culminated in his departure, and to punish those who he perceived to be less supportive or even disloyal to him personally.” The attorney said Montijo recommended a large pay increase for Lexin, but small raises for Ross and Morris.

‘Queen Maureen’

Marshall ordered the evaluations nullified and pulled from housing agency files.

In his undated letter, Montijo attacked Marshall’s conclusions and questioned the attorney’s right to pull the evaluations.

Montijo derided Marshall as “Sherlock Holmes” and wrote that the attorney refers to O’Connor as “Queen Maureen.”

“Larry Marshall should also read his contract, as well as the Housing Commission’s personnel policies,” Montijo wrote. “His contract says over and over again that he is to advise ! Advise! Advise! . . . His contract does not give him authority to pull personnel evaluations! It does not give him authority to decide what work he should do and to run up a bill for whatever he wants to do.”

Montijo also refers to Marshall, O’Connor and Morris as “Larry, Mo and Curly.”

The former director wrote that the evaluations were not backdated. But even if they were, he argued, they should be considered valid because they are part of the “work products” he was supposed to furnish to the agency until April 30, the date Montijo was taken off the payroll.

Montijo also wrote that it took several months after his firing to submit Morris’ written evaluation because he tried unsuccessfully to arrange an appointment with her to discuss his findings.

Critical Evaluation

As backup, the former director submitted copies of Morris’ personnel evaluations with the letter.

The first, covering the 1985-86 fiscal year, criticizes Morris, then a deputy director, for tardiness, taking long lunches for personal reasons, taking too much sick leave and not completing all of her work. It recommends a 2% pay raise out of a possible 6.5% increase.

The second, which covers July, 1985, to March 2, accuses Morris of being a disloyal employee.

“A point that has been of strong concern is your lack of support when the going gets tough,” Montijo wrote in the second evaluation. “You seem to always want to jump to the ‘winning side.’ For example, around August and September things looked bad for me and you let me know you wanted to distance yourself from me. As soon as they stabilized and I began developing a good rapport with (O’Connor aide Ben) Dillingham you became loyal and supportive. . . .

“You have voiced to us (management group) about how bad, unpredictable, and vindictive Maureen is; how wacky Abbe is; how dumb Judy McCarty is, and by contrast all the qualities you admired about my commitment, productivity, etc . . . but how quickly you can discard your values for personal gain is disappointing.”

Morris said Tuesday she didn’t “recall saying those things and I question their appearance in a personnel evaluation.”

‘Quite Remarkable’

Asked about Montijo’s criticisms of her management abilities, Morris said: “I think I’d like to let the record of the last six months stand. I think that the agency has made progress. I think we’ve been working well with the commissioners to bring about an understanding of what we do and how we do it.”

Attorney Marshall said he was saddened by Montijo’s letter.

“His translation of events is really quite remarkable,” said Marshall. “I’m just sorry that this is consuming him the way it is.”

McCarty’s office had no comment on the Montijo letter. Attempts to reach Wolfsheimer were unsuccessful.