City Official Says He Once Worked for Suspect in Bribery

James C. (Buzz) Person Jr., Newport Beach Planning Commission chairman, said Saturday that he once worked for and socialized with the restaurant owner who last week was accused of offering Person a $20,000 bribe.

Person, 42, a Newport Beach lawyer, said that from 1977 to 1985, he handled business law problems for the 62-year-old Francis M. Delaney, owner of Orange County-based Delaney’s Restaurants Inc. Delaney was arrested Friday on suspicion of bribery.

Some Legal Work

Person said he was a staff attorney at Delaney’s Newport Beach headquarters in 1977. “And I had done a little legal work for him until maybe ‘85, but nothing significant,” he said.

Person said he “had virtually no contact with him the last three years.”

Delaney, who lives in Rancho California, could not be reached for comment Saturday.

Newport Beach Police Lt. Tim Newman said Delaney contacted Person in January seeking his help. Delaney reportedly wanted city approval to increase the elevation of a building, known as Lancer’s Landing, so customers could have a better view of Newport Bay from the restaurant he planned to put on the top floor.

Person declined to provide details of that conversation or other events leading to Delaney’s arrest as he left his corporate headquarters in the 2800 block of The Rhine in Newport Beach.

Person said Deputy Dist. Atty. Martin Engquist, who filed one felony bribery count against Delaney, had instructed him not to elaborate on the case. Engquist could not be reached for comment Saturday.

“I can tell you,” Person said, “that I received a telephone call in mid-January from which I suspected that a criminal act was about to take place.”

Newman said in a prepared statement that Delaney offered to pay Person $20,000 if he would use his influence on the seven-member Newport Beach Planning Commission to allow the building to be higher than normally allowed.

Final Approval

A city official, who asked not to be identified, said that approval by the Planning Commission of the kind of variance Delaney wanted would have been final and not subject to further review unless neighbors or Newport Beach City Council members appealed it.

Recalling his telephone conversation with Delaney, Person said Saturday: “The minute I hung up the phone, I called the city attorney (Robert Burnham), who is the legal adviser to the Planning Commission.”

Person added: “Within half an hour, I was talking to Lt. Newman.”

Newman said that the evidence to support the bribery charge was obtained within a week of the phone call, with Person’s cooperation. In his prepared statement, Newman did not say why Delaney was arrested more than a month after the evidence was gathered.

But Person said, “The investigation has been ongoing over the past 2 1/2 months.”

Until three years ago, Person said, not only did he work for Delaney, but he socialized with him. Their once-close relationship became distant in 1985, Person said, “because I did not feel like being that close to the individual.”

Person added: “I got married three years ago, and my wife and I developed a new set of friends.”

In 1986, Person ran unsuccessfully for the Newport Beach City Council.

While police said Delaney planned to open a restaurant in Lancer’s Landing in the 3100 block of West Coast Highway, William R. Laycock, the Newport Beach planning administrator, said Saturday that he did not believe Delaney had an ownership interest in the building.

He added: “A restaurant could not have been put there because there are not enough parking spaces.”

Laycock said he wasn’t familiar with the plans for that building. But the manager of Newport Imports, a car dealership across the street from Lancer’s Landing, said he believed that Delaney was trying to put a restaurant on the second floor.

He said the building, under construction for about five years, is far from complete, consisting mostly of “some steel girders, some framing and some masonry work.”

The manager, who did not want his name used, said Lancer’s Landing reportedly was expected to cost about $65 million but has been plagued with cost overruns.

“It’s right on the waterline,” he said, “so they’ve had these subterranean problems and water leaking in.”

He added: “Two or three contractors have gone belly-up.”

Delaney’s bail was set at $250,000. He was released from the Newport Beach City Jail on Friday after posting bail, authorities said.

In 1986, Delaney’s Inc. had sales of $15 million and had a work force of several hundred, according to “Million Dollar Directory,” published by Dun & Bradstreet.

Delaney’s Inc. owns restaurants in Newport Beach, Anaheim, Anaheim Hills, Dana Point, Garden Grove, Laguna Hills, Costa Mesa and Irvine.