Bitter Political Feud Heats Up as Glaser Rebuts Accusations Made by Henderson

Environmental leader Bob Glaser, lashing back at San Diego City Councilman Bruce Henderson on Tuesday, accused him of McCarthyism and formally requested that City Atty. John Witt investigate Henderson’s private discussions with the developer of a proposed resort in his district.

Glaser said Henderson’s attack on him during a news conference Thursday “evoked similar scenes of Sen. Joseph McCarthy waving a packet of papers, saying, ‘We have the evidence.’ ” He accused Henderson’s of “fabricating” a “package of half-truths and blatant distortions in order to attempt to further his own causes.”

Henderson last week accused Glaser of failing to disclose that he had secretly solicited payments from the De Anza Group--developer of a proposed 1,400-room hotel and resort on the shores of Mission Bay Park--to help win city approval for the controversial project.

Henderson said that Glaser’s offer to De Anza was hypocritical in light of Glaser’s successful effort, along with other environmentalists, to oust Henderson this month from his chairmanship of the council committee which oversees Mission Bay Park and other parks.

Henderson released a draft August contract, among Glaser’s consulting firm, the La Jolla Group and De Anza, in which Glaser asks for more than $250,000 to outline and win approval for his proposal.

Glaser countered that he was trying to sell De Anza on the idea of moving its hotel off Mission Bay, a concept that would preserve scarce open space there while still allowing De Anza to build its resort. He said there was nothing inconsistent about his business dealings and his stand (as co-chairman of San Diegans for Managed Growth) that Henderson should be removed from the sensitive committee post.

Moreover, Glaser noted, De Anza’s senior vice president, Michael Gelfand, turned down his request in August.

On Friday, Gelfand revealed that he had given the draft contract to Henderson in September when he asked Henderson’s advice on whether to negotiate with Glaser.

The mudslinging has political overtones because Glaser was one of Henderson’s opponents in the 1987 6th District primary and is a potential 1991 opponent.

At a news conference Tuesday outside City Hall, Glaser stepped up his criticism of Henderson, asking that Witt investigate whether Henderson’s conversation with Gelfand violated any laws prohibiting a council member who may in the future participate in a quasi-judicial review of a project from discussing it with a developer.

He also accused Henderson of lying about how he obtained the document and of waiting three months before producing it. Glaser also said it is more likely that Henderson was aware of an Aug. 15 letter in which Gelfand rejected Glaser’s proposal. Glaser released the letter Tuesday.

Deputy City Atty. Cristie McGuire said Tuesday that she could not issue an opinion on Glaser’s charges without knowing the specifics of the case.

Henderson responded that “I have not violated any law.”