SANTA ANA : No State Opinion in City Attorney Leave

The state attorney general’s office has declined to give an opinion on whether four City Council members have the power to put City Atty. Edward J. Cooper on a 60-day administrative leave.

Instead, Assistant Atty. Gen. Eugene Hill recommended that the city ask the state for a special quo warranto proceeding, a method of settling disputes over the rights and procedures of a public office.

Hill said that under state law, the attorney general’s office is not authorized to provide a legal opinion to a city council.

Cooper, who refuses to leave his post, said he had advised councilmen John Acosta, Ron May, Richards L. Norton and Miguel A. Pulido that the quo warranto proceeding was the proper procedure, rather than seeking a formal opinion from the attorney general’s office.

The four councilmen could not be reached for comment.

On Oct. 17, the four council members voted to put Cooper on a 60-day leave of absence without saying why they wanted him removed from his post. But Mayor Daniel H. Young has said they are retaliating against Cooper for previous legal battles three of the four men have had with the city.

Cooper has refused to step aside, saying that the city charter requires five votes on the seven-member council to put him on administrative leave. The four councilmen counter that Cooper is disregarding the wishes of the majority.

Young, who along with council members Daniel E. Griset and Patricia A. McGuigan support Cooper, has called for a grand jury investigation of the attempt to have Cooper removed.