Liegler Expected to Resign Post : Ethics: Convention Center’s general manager may leave as early as this week over parties to which family and friends were invited, sources say, regardless of the outcome of a review.

Amid allegations that he used the San Diego Convention Center for parties to which his family and friends were invited, general manager Tom Liegler is expected to resign his $117,000-a-year job, possibly as early as this week, sources told The Times on Tuesday.

The Convention Center’s board of directors is holding a special meeting Thursday to review charges that, during the past two years, Liegler held four parties at taxpayer expense that included family and friends.

Regardless of the review’s findings, Liegler is expected to abandon the post he has held since 1985. He is on administrative leave until the investigation is completed.

“As I understand it, he’ll be going fairly quickly,” said one source close to the investigation. “It could be as early as (Wednesday) afternoon. It might be Thursday. But, in terms of the overall allegations, he will resign.”

A source at the Convention Center, who also asked not to be identified, said Liegler will not be returning.

“The man is destroyed,” the source said. “He could never come back after what’s happened. He’s grieving, and he feels he’s embarrassed himself. It has nothing to do with (the allegations). It has to do with his ability to lead in the future.”

The sources said they must remain anonymous because the matter is still under scrutiny. After the board meeting Thursday, the findings will be passed along to the city manager and city attorney, who also are investigating.

Liegler, 63, has been criticized for four parties he arranged at the Convention Center this year and last.

In February, 1990, Liegler invited members of the Tom Club, a social group of San Diego businessman and civic leaders named Tom--of which he is a member--to the center.

The event, which included hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, dessert, coffee and a marketing presentation for 30 people, cost $852. Liegler and board chairman Morgan Dene Oliver defended the party as a legitimate Convention Center expense because of the possibility that any of those who attended might rent the hall for their organizations.

In April, 1990, Liegler held a party for members of the International Assn. of Auditorium Managers, including friends from the Anaheim Convention Center, where he had worked previously. It was billed as a “VIP reception and inspection tour,” along with a dinner that would include a video display and entertainment. The event cost $9,707 for 200 people, including Liegler’s son, Scott.

Oliver said the party was arranged to gather “good, honest feedback” from industry professionals, although the event was not sponsored by the auditorium association and included many of Liegler’s friends.

“The majority of people invited, if you look at the list, dealt with the convention industry, its customers and its suppliers,” Oliver said. “It was an equally clear instance of an appropriate promotional event.”

Liegler said he planned to pay the $1,411 cost of a third event, held this month for 32 members of his golfing club, called the Dana Group. The San Diego Tribune, however, quoted a food service manager as saying the food was originally to be billed to the Convention Center. After the newspaper made inquiries, Liegler asked that he be sent the bill, the Tribune said.

Oliver said he believed that Liegler had intended to pay the bill all along.

However, Oliver could not defend the particulars of a fourth party attended by Liegler family members in February. At that time, Liegler rented the center for a group of doctors--including his cousin from Orange County, a neurologist--who were said to be interested in renting the center for a seminar on worker’s compensation issues.

All of the physicians except the cousin, Dr. Don Liegler, were unable to attend, and Don Liegler suggested the event be canceled, Oliver said Tom Liegler told the board. Liegler insisted the party be held anyway and that family members--including his wife, son, daughter-in-law, Don Liegler’s wife, son, father and mother, and four others--be included, Oliver said.

The event was listed in records as a party for a group called Southern California Neurologists, although no such organization exists and not all of the invited physicians were neurologists. Liegler said that the group had no formal name and that the notation was the best description of the group that was to attend at the time.

After the party was discovered, Liegler reimbursed the center its $745 cost. Oliver said Liegler made a “judgment error” and said he was “surprised and disappointed” by Liegler’s actions “but tolerant of the fact that Tom is a human being.”

Eight of the board’s nine members (including two who are ex officio) did not return telephone calls Tuesday.

Board member Joseph Francis said he would be surprised if Liegler decided to resign.

“From what I have read from initial reports from the executive committee, there may have been questions of judgment,” he said. “In terms of disciplinary action or a resignation, I’m not sure that’s warranted based on what I’ve seen.”

Liegler has “an amazingly good record, and if he is thinking of resigning, I would like to hear that from him,” Francis said.

City Manager Jack McGrory said his office should get a copy of the board’s final report Thursday and then review the findings with the city attorney and city auditor. All three will examine the board’s policies and practices for using Convention Center facilities, he said.

Liegler, who is on administrative leave, did not return several phone calls to his home Tuesday. In his only interview, given last week to The Times, he called it “tragic that 41 years of professionalism have been called into question.”

Although he did not comment directly on the allegations during the interview, Liegler said he makes dozens of tough decisions each day and used good judgment on most occasions.

“I think my batting average is pretty good,” he said.

It is unclear why Liegler has reportedly decided to resign, given that a number of board members support him. But one source said Liegler “is a proud and moral man who is critical of staff members who make mistakes.” The source said it is impossible for Liegler to continue to lead the staff after he has acknowledged his own mistakes.

Liegler has already been approached to do consulting work on convention business throughout the world, the source said.

“He was going to retire in a few months anyway, and I know he wants to do some other things,” the source said. “The board appreciates that he has been working here under some trying times.”