Councilmen Criticize Mayor but Decline to Remove Him : Lancaster: The three denounce Mayor William Pursley’s role in the sale of property and say the courts will judge whether he acted illegally.

Smarting from public criticism that they have been too lenient, three Lancaster City Council members Monday denounced Mayor William Pursley for actions that are the subject of a criminal investigation, but again stopped short of removing him as mayor.

Councilmen George Root, Arnie Rodio and Henry Hearns, a majority on the five-member council, told a City Hall news conference that it was improper for Pursley to have introduced and voted on a council measure that aided the sale of property on which Pursley then earned a $9,780 sales commission.

However, they said, the courts--not the council--should judge the mayor. For that reason, they said they plan to stick with their Nov. 29 decision against stripping Pursley of his largely ceremonial mayor’s title, despite public complaints.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office last week opened a criminal investigation into Pursley’s actions in the sale of land owned by Clyde Golding, a business partner.

Pursley introduced a council motion June 18 to reduce a street easement on the land. Golding later said the change helped clinch a pending sale of the land, on which Pursley, as his agent, collected a commission.

Pursley said he did not know that he was going to receive the commission.

“We don’t want the public to get the impression we condone what he did,” Root said. “While it may not have been illegal, it was certainly improper.”

However, the three council members said Pursley deserves to be considered innocent unless proven guilty.

The council members said they held the news conference to respond to public complaints that they appeared to condone Pursley’s actions by not removing him as mayor.

The council picks one member as mayor each year, and Pursley’s term expires in April.

“If he’s on the ground, to pick up a club and hit him again, is that what you want?” Rodio said.

“Bill has been hurt badly by this,” Root added. “He feels it emotionally and physically.”

Hearns said Pursley thus far has “suffered a terrible price.”

The district attorney’s investigation will decide whether Pursley will face trial on criminal conflict-of-interest charges. His conduct is also under review by the state Fair Political Practices Commission.

The council took no action on a proposal by Councilman George Theophanis to bar the expenditure of city funds on the legal defense of city officials accused of conflicts of interest. The council paid such expenses for a previous council member in a conflict-of-interest case several years ago. Pursley has not asked the council for legal or financial help.