Santee Councilman Fined $6,000 for Gaining Financially From Votes

Santee City Councilman Ray Woodward has agreed to pay a $6,000 fine after an investigation found his public votes on the proposed extension of California 52 increased the value of his personal real estate holdings, the Fair Political Practices Commission announced Tuesday.

The state’s political watchdog agency found that Woodward, a Santee real-estate agent and investor, violated the political reform act on three occasions when he voted with the council to support the plan and also appeared before the California Transportation Commission in 1987 to push for the alignment of California 52 along Prospect Avenue. Woodward voted on the alignment while he was part-owner of the Buena Vista Business Park, two other office buildings and a restaurant near the proposed freeway alignment.

“At the time of Mr. Woodward’s actions, it was reasonably foreseeable that the decision to build the Route 52 extension would result in an increase of greater than $10,000 on the fair market value of the Buena Vista Business Park, and on each of his other interests,” the FPPC said in its findings against Woodward.

The investigation findings and Woodward’s decision to pay the $6,000 fine were released Tuesday in documents to be presented at the FPPC meeting in Sacramento on May 1, when commissioners can vote either to accept or to reject the agreement as negotiated by their staff.

Woodward could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.

The FPPC investigation found that Woodward used his official capacity to enhance his financial holdings when he voted in favor of Santee City Council actions to urge the state transportation panel to select the Prospect Avenue alignment. Such a resolution was necessary before the state transportation commission could proceed with planning the final leg of the freeway, which was begun in 1961 as a way to ease traffic congestion along Interstate 8.

The investigation found that Woodward voted on March 25, 1987, to approve a resolution in favor of the Prospect alignment, and again voted on April 22, 1987, to send a contingent of city officials before the California Transportation Commission to advocate that position.

The next month, Woodward himself appeared before the state transportation panel and “presented a stack of letters from residents in and around Santee in favor of the route,” the findings say.

In the third vote, Woodward voted Sept. 23, 1987, to approve the alignment and give Caltrans the final go-ahead from the city to start planning the last leg of SR 52, which is scheduled for construction next year.

Meanwhile, the FPPC found, those decisions benefited Woodward personally.

At the time of the votes, he was half-owner of the Buena Vista Business Park, 10207 Buena Vista Avenue, just north of Prospect Avenue.

Woodward sold his interest in the business park in 1989, when the fair market value was more than $600,000, the FPPC found. Even after the sale, Woodward continued as the listing agent for the property.

The FPPC also found that Woodward was part-owner of two office buildings at 8606 and 8781 Cuyamaca Street. The latter building has 25 to 28 tenants, as well as a restaurant of which Woodward owns 40%.

Because the proposed freeway would have an exit to Cuyamaca Street, it was “also reasonably foreseeable that the extension of Route 52 along the Prospect alignment would result in an increase to the rental income from his real property interests, the broker’s commissions from his real estate business, and the income from the restaurant that he partially owned,” the FPPC investigation found.

The documents released Tuesday said that Woodward cooperated with the agency’s investigation, and noted that other Santee council members voted virtually unanimously to support the Prospect alignment.