SANTA ANA : Jury Asked to Probe Bid to Oust Cooper

Mayor Daniel H. Young on Tuesday called for a grand jury investigation of an attempt to oust City Atty. Edward J. Cooper, claiming that three council members involved have conflicts of interest because of past or current litigation with the city.

In a letter to the district attorney’s office, Young said council member Richards L. Norton voted to place Cooper on 60-day administrative leave despite a lawsuit he had filed against Santa Ana and a countersuit the city had filed against his company, Norton-Western Enterprise. The case is pending.

Young also included a memo by Cooper outlining possible conflicts of interest of council members John Acosta and Miguel A. Pulido, both of whom have been involved in litigation with the city.

Last year, Cooper filed a complaint against Acosta for a zoning violation. And in 1984, Pulido’s family sued the city when the family’s muffler shop was threatened by redevelopment. The attempt to oust Cooper has broken the uneasy truce between two factions of the council that often engage in bickering. In the middle is Cooper, 50, who has been the city’s attorney for nine years.

Norton responded Tuesday by saying that he welcomed an investigation but called the mayor’s actions “political, childish and vengeful.”

“My personal attorney has advised me that there is no conflict of interest,” Norton said. “The city attorney has not brought up the issue of conflict of interest. Only the mayor has. It’s Ed Cooper’s duty to advise council members if there is a conflict of interest. On this point, he said nothing.”

Four council members--Acosta, Pulido, Norton and Ron May--voted in private session on Oct. 17 to put Cooper on a 60-day leave of absence. Young and council members Daniel E. Griset and Patricia A. McGuigan stormed out in protest. The four who oppose Cooper have refused in interviews to say why they tried the action.

In a press release, Norton has said: “My vote to approve the administrative review of the city attorney’s office was based solely on setting to rest, once and for all, the allegations and innuendoes that have been made in recent months.

“They have never indicated any allegation or innuendo against me,” said Cooper, who has steadfastly refused to leave his post, contending that five votes were needed to put him on leave.

Cooper places most of the blame on Norton and Acosta.

In a May memo to Acosta, included in the request for a grand jury investigation, Cooper wrote: “It has been no secret to me that you have desired to terminate my employment with the city since I was forced to file a misdemeanor criminal complaint against you for a zoning violation. One of my former subordinates related last year that you told him, at the Santiago Club, you were going to ‘have my job.”’

The attempted ouster of Cooper could jeopardize projects such as the Santa Ana sports arena, Young said.

“Developers have to know that the council is united and working together. This kind of action sends a signal that four of them don’t know what they are doing,” Young added.

That’s “nonsense,” countered Norton. “Cooper is not the only attorney in the whole city government.”