Local Elections : SANTA ANA CITY COUNCIL : Pulido Lashes Opponent Over Hiring of Detective

City Councilman Miguel A. Pulido lashed out at a political opponent Tuesday, accusing her campaign of hiring a detective to investigate whether he lives in the city and qualifies as a resident.

“This is disgusting,” Pulido said in an interview. “This shows the true colors of what’s going on in this campaign.”

Fountain Valley private investigator William Holland acknowledged that he had been hired by Salvador Juarez, the campaign treasurer for City Council candidate Coween Dickerson, to find out whether Pulido actually lives in Santa Ana. Holland declined to specify an amount, but said Juarez paid him with his own money and not with any Dickerson campaign funds.

Dickerson, who is running against Pulido in the Nov. 6 council race, said she had nothing to do with hiring the detective, does not know how much money changed hands and does not consider it a contribution toward her campaign.

“I didn’t know anything about this,” Dickerson said. She said that Juarez probably hired Holland’s detective agency because he wanted “evidence” that would disqualify Pulido from the council race.

Juarez could not be reached for comment.

Pulido was elected to the council in 1986. His family operates a muffler business on 1st Street.

Holland said his investigators were trying to determine whether Pulido was actually living in Fullerton at his family’s home before moving in August to a house on Garnsey Street in Santa Ana.

“I was hired just to find out where he was living,” Holland said. “We don’t care about his lifestyle, his social habits, or anything like that. We just had to determine where he was residing.”

The investigation itself was flawed, Pulido said, because the hired detectives apparently began their surveillance on Aug. 29, two weeks after the councilman had moved from a $300-a-month room on Harvard Street in Santa Ana to a house on Garnsey Street.

At one point, Holland said, one of his investigators followed Pulido’s brother for several hours.

The investigator “followed whoever left the house,” Holland said. “He couldn’t tell it wasn’t the councilman. He was just a male Hispanic. We didn’t get a good sighting.”

Pulido condemned the investigation as “malicious.”

“They can tackle me on any political issue they want,” Pulido said. “But to go after my family and my neighbors, that’s getting out of hand.”

Holland said he has written a report on the surveillance and submitted it to the Orange County district attorney’s office for investigation. Deputy Dist. Atty. Wallace J. Wade said he could not comment on the report until he reviews it.

However, according to a state court ruling, a person legally resides in a city if he or she pays rent for the address called home.

Holland conceded that Pulido might not have broken any law. “It’s very possible that he is not in any violation,” Holland said.