Speedy Probe Urged for 3 on Council in Escondido

Two members of the Escondido City Council asked Wednesday that the district attorney’s office expedite its investigation into allegations that the three other members of the council violated the city’s election codes.

If the charge is substantiated, it could lead to the ouster of the council majority, depending on a final reading of the city’s election code laws.

The charges of improper campaign financing tactics were raised by the Escondido Common Sense Committee last month. The group charged that veteran Councilman Jerry Harmon last year loaned two fellow council members amounts of more than the $250 allowed under city statutes, and that council members Kris Murphy and Carla DeDominicis, who received the loans in advance of their election, failed to pay back the money to Harmon within the 60-day period specified in city election statutes.

Committee secretary Pat (P.K.) Walker, herself an unsuccessful candidate in the 1988 council election, maintains that the city’s campaign laws require the ouster of any council member convicted of violating them.

The three targeted council members have denied the charges, saying that the issue involves the shared costs of newspaper advertisements that were originally ordered and paid by Harmon, who was reimbursed by the other two. Although all three abstained from Wednesday’s vote asking the district attorney’s office to hurry with the investigation, Murphy said he welcomed a quick resolution to the accusations.

Mayor Doris Thurston, who with Councilman Ernie Cowan voted for the motion, said she was finding the lingering charges “disruptive at City Council meetings” and hoped Wednesday’s vote would resolve the issue at the city’s level.

The city attorney’s office, citing conflict of interest, deferred to the district attorney’s office for the investigation.

Lance Stalker, spokesman for the committee, said the council’s motion “was what we wanted, and we’ve agreed to accept the findings of the district attorney’s office if it fully investigates our charges.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Rodger Overholser said Wednesday that investigators for the special operations division are pursuing the matter.

“We’re looking at it as quickly as we feel is justifiable,” he said. “We appreciate (the City Council’s) sentiment that they want it done as quickly as possible, and we feel we’re doing that.”

He said the investigation should be concluded in about a week.