CENTRAL : SANTA ANA : City Attorney Balks at Council Directive

Santa Ana City Atty. Edward J. Cooper, ordered by the City Council to take a 60-day leave of absence effective today, said he will defy the order and arrive at work as he has every morning for the past nine years.

“I will continue to do my job, and I will continue to not allow violations of law by council members,” Cooper said. “They have no authority, no power to place me on a leave with a four-person vote, and I am not going to accept that vote.”

Four council members voted Tuesday for the forced administrative leave. Two other council members, both opposed to the action, walked out before the vote.

Councilman Ron May, who voted in favor, said his colleagues will “proceed to take the legal and appropriate action necessary to ensure that our orders are enforced.”

The two council members who disagreed, Patricia A. McGuigan and Mayor Daniel H. Young, said such an action is not legally binding because it requires five council votes. And Cooper said the city charter does not give the council authority to place the city attorney on forced leave.

“I don’t see any legal possibility for them. They can hire a legal attorney if they wish, if they want to waste their money,” Cooper said. “But no court would ever issue me an order to leave my office based on the charter as it currently stands.”

Cooper and others said the vote stems from the fact that three of the four council members who voted for the leave--John Acosta, Richards L. Norton and Miguel A. Pulido Jr.--have been in lawsuits involving the city. Norton remains involved in suits over two swap meets he operates, for which the city is seeking about $140,000 in fines, Cooper said.