Councilman Ends Own Voting Ban : Government: National City’s Van Deventer says there is no reason to abstain any longer on redevelopment, even though his previous votes are under investigation.

National City Councilman Jess E. Van Deventer said Wednesday he will resume voting on some redevelopment matters despite an active investigation by the district attorney’s office into allegations that he violated conflict-of-interest laws by voting on previous redevelopment projects.

“I will, of course, continue to scrutinize each vote to determine whether voting on an issue will have any financial impact on my business and property holdings. Where the prospect of such financial impact appears, I will, as I have in the past, abstain,” said Van Deventer in a written statement.

Last month, Van Deventer admitted breaking state law by secretly buying property in the city’s redevelopment area after he helped draw the redevelopment boundary. Van Deventer hid some of the properties by listing them as owned by Pacific Professionals, a company run by his former accountant.

He said the accountant, Jerry Sagawa, had recommended putting the properties in Pacific Professionals’ name. Sagawa and his attorney have refused to comment on Sagawa’s relationship with Van Deventer.

Van Deventer voluntarily stopped voting on redevelopment matters in February, when a private investigator hired by a National City businessman to probe Van Deventer’s financial and property interests forwarded his findings to the district attorney.

Van Deventer subsequently filed amended economic disclosure statements for 1981-88 showing eight previously undisclosed properties he owns in the redevelopment area that were purchased after the boundary was drawn in 1981. The amended return also disclosed 14 other sources of income that Van Deventer had failed to report.

Officials at the state Fair Political Practices Commission are reviewing the amended statements.

In the written statement he released, Van Deventer said that, since he stopped voting on redevelopment projects in February, nobody has found any evidence that he violated conflict-of-interest laws by voting on redevelopment projects that could have benefitted his properties.

“There has been ample time for the public, press, and appropriate governmental regulatory agencies to carefully scrutinize my property holdings. . . . I am confident that my past voting record clearly establishes that I have exercised the power entrusted to me properly, lawfully and to the benefit of the National City community,” he said in the statement.

In a telephone interview, Van Deventer suggested that, if he had cast any illegal votes, the district attorney’s investigation would have uncovered them by now.

“My attorney and I researched back to 1977 and spent a lot of time looking at the votes and found no wrongdoing,” said Van Deventer.

However, district attorney spokeswoman Linda Miller said Van Deventer has not been cleared, and the investigation by her office is still going on.

“We still have a long way to go. We have an active investigation ongoing. We really can’t comment on any of his actions while the investigation is going on. When we come to a conclusion we will let everyone involved know what we’ve found,” said Miller.

According to Van Deventer, he was advised by City Atty. George Eiser that he is allowed to vote on redevelopment projects as long as they are located more than 300 feet from any of the properties he owns. Eiser did not return phone calls Wednesday.

Since Van Deventer stopped voting on redevelopment projects, the council has been mired in several 2-2 votes. One of the projects that has remained deadlocked is a proposal to build a new civic center. With Van Deventer voting on the civic center plan, the project is expected to be approved by the council.