SANTA ANA : May Subpoenaed in Probe of Lobbyist

Former City Councilman Ron May and a city planning commissioner said Monday that they have been subpoenaed to appear Jan. 8 before the Orange County Grand Jury in connection with an investigation involving attorney and lobbyist Rodolfo Montejano.

The grand jury is apparently trying to determine if Montejano attempted to improperly influence city officials on at least two pieces of legislation that may have affected clients he represented.

May, a Santa Ana high school teacher who was defeated in November by Councilman Robert L. Richardson, also appeared before the panel in September along with Councilman Miguel A. Pulido Jr. Both men attended a dinner hosted by Montejano in July, 1989, just before the council voted to ban private uses of public parks. At the time, Montejano represented a promoter who was helping stage a concert in a park.

Santa Ana Planning Commissioner Donald A. Sizemore, May’s campaign manager, will be making his first appearance before the panel. In an interview Monday, Sizemore said district attorney investigators have questioned him about a private dinner hosted by Montejano in December, 1989.

Sizemore said he and May were invited by Montejano to the dinner at a Reuben’s Restaurant to discuss whether the city Planning Commission and the council would approve construction of a series of oversize billboards being sought by a firm that the lobbyist represented.

“Ron May and I told him that there was no possibility that the billboards would pass,” Sizemore said. “There was no deal-cutting. These guys had the straightest word they could get that they were not getting any billboards passed.”

Earlier this year, the council and Planning Commission voted not to allow the billboards.

May said Monday that he does not remember the dinner meeting.

“There’s been so many damn dinner meetings. I don’t know what’s going on,” May said.