Ties to College Knot Council on Some Votes

What really annoys La Verne Councilman Patrick J. Gatti is the fact that state law assumes his vote could be bought so cheaply.

The price? As few as three-dozen roses. “It’s such a menial amount,” Gatti complained.

Gatti, who owns a flower shop, cannot vote on matters involving the University of La Verne because he sells more than $250 worth of flowers a year to the university.

Those flowers put him in the same conflict-of-interest league as two other council members who are employees of the university: Thomas R. Harvey, chairman of the department of educational management, and Robert F. Rodriguez, who is in charge of security services.

There are only five members on the City Council, so that leaves just two without a conflict when university matters come to a vote.

La Verne Assistant City Manager Jeff Allred said the council faces the problem about once a year. The most recent time was last week, when the university asked the city to grant a cultural landmark designation to Woody Hall, an office building that was the first men’s dormitory on campus.

Since three votes are required for the council to act on any matter, the council, under state law, draws names to decide who among the three disqualified members can vote.

Harvey’s name was drawn last week, and he joined in a 3-0 vote to approve the landmark designation.

This was a non-controversial issue, but not all university matters are so routine. Gatti said he would have liked to have voted in 1988 when the council was considering approval of General Plan amendments for expansion of the university, but he lost that drawing to Harvey too and the expansion plan was approved.

Gatti opposes expansion of the university into the central business district, and the thought that the university buys flowers from him just so he may not vote has “occurred to me more than once.”

Stephen Morgan, president of the University of La Verne, said the university buys flowers from Gatti because his shop is two blocks from the campus, and is the only one nearby.

“We try to do business with local merchants,” he said.

Morgan said the university works with all five council members on issues of concern, and he doesn’t care who among the disqualified members wins the drawing to vote. “I’m neutral,” he said.

City Atty. Robert L. Kress said a conflict of interest arises whenever a council member derives more than $250 in annual income from an organization that could benefit financially from a council decision.

Gatti said he derives comparatively little income from the University of La Verne. He said $250 will only buy three dozen roses during the Valentine’s Day rush or maybe six dozen in a slower season.

Harvey, meanwhile, said he considers himself just as financially independent of the university as Gatti because the university can neither reward nor punish him.

“I’m a full tenured professor,” Harvey said. “They can’t promote me and they can’t get rid of me.”