No Henderson Inquiry Needed, Witt Says : Politics: City councilman has been engaged in ongoing feud with leader of San Diegans for Managed Growth.

San Diego City Atty. John Witt has declined to investigate allegations that Councilman Bruce Henderson violated state law when he met privately with a developer who wanted to build a 1,400-room hotel and resort in Henderson’s district.

The charges were levied last week by Bob Glaser, co-chairman of San Diegans for Managed Growth, as part of an ongoing feud started Dec. 14, when Henderson accused Glaser of secretly soliciting payments from the same developer.

In a one-paragraph letter Dec. 21 to Glaser, a copy of which was released Tuesday by Henderson’s office, Witt wrote that nothing in Glaser’s complaint “discloses any violation of law which would render action by my office appropriate. Your concern has been duly noted, however.”

Glaser asked for the investigation Dec. 19, the same day he held a news conference to rebut Henderson’s charges. Glaser asked Witt to see whether Henderson’s September discussion with Michael Gelfand, senior vice president of the De Anza Group Inc., violated laws prohibiting a council member from discussing with a developer any project that the the council member may later have to review in a quasi-judicial capacity.

De Anza’s proposal to build a resort on the shores of Mission Bay Park is the central issue in the mudslinging between Henderson and Glaser, currently co-chairman of San Diegans for Managed Growth.

At his news conference, Henderson released an August draft contract between Gelfand and Glaser, claiming that Glaser had offered to help De Anza win city approval of the controversial project in return for payments of more than $250,000.

Henderson said the offer was hypocritical in light of lobbying by Glaser and other environmentalists to remove Henderson as chairman of the council committee overseeing Mission Bay and Balboa parks.

Henderson declared his opposition to the project in November, and said he would have used his chairmanship of the council’s Public Facilities and Recreation Committee to fight it.

Glaser claimed that his offer was to help De Anza move the project out of Mission Bay, allowing construction of the hotel and returning the company’s 70 acres on De Anza Point to parkland, a position environmentalists favor.

Moreover, Glaser claimed that because Henderson had the draft contract since September, he should have known that Gelfand rejected the offer because Glaser was asking for too much money.