Senate Hopeful in Diamond Bar Hit by Conflict Claim

The rough-and-tumble of the 31st District state Senate race has hit City Hall, with an exchange of charges and insults between two council members in opposite camps.

A simmering personality conflict between Councilman Paul Horcher and Councilman Gary Miller, a candidate for the 31st District seat, exploded last week after Horcher publicly accused Miller of a conflict-of-interest violation.

Miller is running against Assemblyman Frank Hill (R-Whittier) and six other candidates in a special election Tuesday to fill the seat vacated by the resignation of William Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights).

Horcher, a longtime Hill ally, on Monday issued a statement charging that Miller’s property holdings should have disqualified him from acting as the city’s negotiator last year in a legal dispute with San Bernardino County. The dispute, involving controversial plans to link county and city stretches of Grand Avenue, came at a time when Miller owned 9.2 acres in nearby Chino Hills. The matter was settled when the City Council agreed to open the barricaded stretch of road, allowing cars from San Bernardino County to pass through Diamond Bar.

Horcher claims the agreement increased property values in Chino Hills. “Had the City Council been fully informed of the extent and value of Gary Miller’s property interests . . . the members would have possibly asked him to stay out of (the Grand Avenue litigation),” Horcher said in the statement.

Miller, who paid $756,000 for the property in 1987, sold it for $1.25 million in December. He denies any improprieties and said the increase in value was due to normal appreciation.

A Diamond Bar resident, Albert Rumpilla, first raised the issue of Miller’s property holdings, and on Jan. 19 he filed a complaint with the state Fair Political Practices Commission. California law bars an elected official from involvement in a decision that would either increase or decrease the value of his property by at least $10,000. Officials would not comment on whether Miller had done anything wrong.

Miller, however, said that council members knew he owned the property before they unanimously appointed him to represent them in negotiations. He accused Horcher of playing “cheap politics” during election time. Horcher, who has endorsed Hill for Senate, is considering running for Hill’s Assembly seat, but he would do so only if Hill is elected to the Senate.

“This is contrived,” Miller said. “He’s trying at the last minute to discredit me.”

Horcher said that although he had known about Miller’s property holdings for a while, he decided to go public with the charges only after a spat erupted between them Jan. 23 at a closed-door council meeting.

The brouhaha reflects a growing rift between the two councilmen ever since the state Senate race started heating up. Miller, whose campaign motto is “It’s all about honesty,” has sent out flyers attacking Hill, who is one target of an ongoing FBI probe into alleged corruption in the state Capitol. Miller and other Republican candidates, including Brea City Councilman Ron Isles and Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach), have focused on the investigation in their attacks on Hill at candidates’ forums.

Other San Gabriel Valley candidates in the race are West Covina Councilman Bradley J. McFadden, a Democrat, and Rowland Heights resident Robert W. Lewis, the American Independent Party candidate.

The other candidates are Janice Graham, a Democratic Party officer from Laguna Hills, and Thomas Whaling, Democrat, an El Toro attorney.

The overwhelmingly Republican 31st District stretches from West Covina and Whittier in the north to Laguna Beach in the south. It includes a number of San Gabriel Valley cities, including Covina, Diamond Bar, Hacienda Heights, Valinda and Walnut.

As election day nears, the other Diamond Bar council members are distancing themselves from the stormy Senate race, but they are siding with Miller in the flap with Horcher.

“Horcher is in this for his own personal gain,” said Councilman John Forbing.

“It looks like an opportunist’s endeavor,” added Mayor Phyllis Papen.

Councilman Gary Werner said, “I would certainly believe (Horcher) is serious about his allegations. But there’s no question in my mind that this is politically oriented and motivated.”