Complaints Filed Over How Mayor Was Named

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office has been asked to investigate whether three Rancho Palos Verdes council members violated the state’s open-meeting law by allegedly deciding among themselves in private who the city’s next mayor should be.

Deputy Dist. Atty. James Hickey said that two complaints had been filed requesting the district attorney to determine whether council members Jacki Bacharach, Douglas Hinchliffe and Mel Hughes violated the Brown Act by allegedly agreeing before a publicly convened council meeting that they would cast their votes for Hughes for the honorary post.

The Brown Act mandates that public representatives conduct official business in public, although there are some exceptions permitted for personnel and legal matters.

The three council members, who make up a council majority, voted Dec. 5 to appoint Hughes to the mayor’s post, even though under city tradition Mayor Pro Tem John McTaggart would normally have gotten the job. Bacharach was mayor at the time.

The three were opposed by McTaggart and Councilman Bob Ryan, and it created an uproar at the meeting. McTaggart’s supporters have continued to demand that the council majority rescind its vote.

Hinchliffe this week denied that he or his council allies violated the Brown Act. Earlier in the week, before the complaints had been received by the district attorney, Bacharach called them “ludicrous.” Hughes could not be reached for comment.

Although the district attorney’s office does not release the names of people who file such complaints until after an investigation is closed, Grant A. Stucki, a Rancho Palos Verdes resident and McTaggart supporter, said he filed one of them.

Stucki said he took the action after learning from a local newspaper reporter that Bacharach had publicly admitted that she, Hughes and Hinchliffe decided among themselves before the vote was taken that Hughes should be mayor but did not tell Ryan or McTaggart.

“It is immoral, improper, illegal and unethical,” Stucki said.

Bacharach declined to discuss specifics of the issue, but Hinchliffe said that he did have separate discussions with her and Hughes about who should be the city’s next mayor.

He said the three did not meet to discuss the issue and did not come to a decision on how they would vote before the council meeting.

“I can tell you there was no agreement,” Hinchliffe said.

Hickey said the complaints will be evaluated “as quickly as possible.” If it is proven that the council majority knowingly violated the Brown Act, each could be charged with a criminal misdemeanor, which carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $500 fine.