Roth, Doughers Discussed Vote on Trip, Records Say

Two weeks before Supervisor Don R. Roth voted to approve a $5-million condominium proposal, he apparently discussed the plan with two of the landowners during a Santa Catalina Island trip they hosted for him, according to documents and interviews.

While Roth had previously acknowledged that he traveled to Catalina with Dorothy and Gerard J. Dougher in late November, notes on the documents--Dougher credit card receipts from the trip--are the first evidence that the three talked about the Midway City condominium project that would come before the Board of Supervisors on Dec. 10.

One of the notes, which sources familiar with the documents said were written by Dorothy Dougher to track business expenses, reads: The “purpose of trip (is) to discuss supervisors’ meeting on rezoning Beach Bolsa property. . . .” The Midway City project is next to the Dougher-owned Beach Bolsa Mobile Estates.

The credit card receipts are among hundreds of Dougher company records subpoenaed last week by a federal grand jury, sources said, as part of an investigation into Roth’s relationship with Dougher family members, who own a dozen mobile home parks in Orange County.

Copies of dozens of the credit card records were also obtained by The Times Orange County Edition.

In previous interviews, Roth has said he did not know when he visited Catalina from Nov. 22 to 24, 1991, that the Doughers had business before the county, and he said his relationship with them was purely personal. The two-term supervisor from Anaheim declined further comment on the trip Wednesday.

Asked about the notes in a telephone interview, Dorothy Dougher said Wednesday: “I think you have your own information, thank you.” She then hung up.

The Dougher company credit card records also include several references to mealtime discussions with Roth from 1986 through 1991 about a rent-control initiative in Anaheim and the incorporation of Laguna Hills.

Both these issues have been of concern to the Doughers. Roth, who was a city councilman and later mayor of Anaheim, joined the Board of Supervisors in January, 1987.

He also serves on the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), which authorizes the creation of new cities from unincorporated county areas.

In all, according to the documents, Gerard and Dorothy Dougher billed to their companies almost 50 restaurant meals with Roth, his former wife, Jackie, or both of them between 1986 and the end of 1991.

The restaurants ranged from Bono in Palm Springs to Ernie’s in San Francisco and Cafe Prego on Catalina. The Doughers also treated the Roths to a meal in Germany during a local delegation’s trip to explore high-speed rail technology there, and they feted him at some of the most prominent restaurants in Orange County, the documents show.

Under the state’s 1974 Political Reform Act, local and county politicians are required to report annually all meals, trips and other gifts of more than $50. They are also barred from accepting more than $1,000 per year in gifts from a single source and banned for a year from voting on matters affecting anyone who has given them more than $250 in gifts within the last year.

However, none of the meals involving Roth or Roth’s then-wife were reported in Roth’s economic disclosure statements, state records show.

Several sources who have viewed the documents confirmed that the notes were written by Dorothy Dougher in order to record the circumstances of business expenses.

Roth’s relationship with the Doughers--who have contributed at least $6,500 to his campaigns since 1984--became an issue after The Times reported in April that the supervisor had failed to report either several Catalina trips or what amounted to an $8,500 interest-free rental loan that the Doughers gave him. Roth has said he repaid the loan--which covered rent at one of the Dougher parks for part of 1990 and 1991--in January, 1992.

In several interviews in April, Roth acknowledged that the Doughers had paid for his ferry rides on three trips to Catalina and also hosted him at a condominium on the island during the trips, which took place in September, 1990; May, 1991, and November, 1991.

Roth maintained that he did not report the Catalina trips on his economic disclosure statements in part because he bought groceries for all their meals, making it a reciprocal relationship rather than a gift. He also did not report the trips because he knew of no business that the family had before the county, Roth said.

It was after that interview that The Times discovered Roth’s vote on the Midway City project. On Dec. 10, 1991, Roth had voted with the other four supervisors to overturn a November decision by the Planning Commission to deny a zoning permit for the $5-million condominium project.

The Doughers planned to sell the land for the condominiums to another developer for about $1 million.

The vote came 16 days after Roth visited Catalina with the Doughers on Nov. 22 to 24.

A Dougher Visa card receipt for $98.50 to the Santa Catalina Island Co. shows that Dorothy and Gerard Dougher; Roth; his fiancee, Diane Bonner, and two other persons took an overland tour of the island on Nov. 22.

A second receipt and note indicate that Roth, Bonner and Dorothy and Gerard Dougher spent $42.40 at Armstrong Fish on Nov. 22. And another receipt indicates that the same group spent $71.12 at the Busy Bee Cafe on Nov. 24.

The Visa card receipts from the weekend are all signed “Dorothy A. Dougher.” Notes on all three make reference to the pending vote before the Board of Supervisors to change zoning regulations to allow the condominium project next to the Doughers’ Beach Bolsa Mobile Estates.

Roth’s appointee to the Planning Commission, Chuck McBurney, has acknowledged that Roth took a “very unusual” interest in the project and called him to find out why the commission had rejected the proposal.

He said it was the only time he could recall Roth calling him on an issue.

The other four supervisors have said that they do not recall Roth discussing the Midway City project with them before the vote.

Receipt From Dougher, Roth Trip

On Nov. 22, 1991, mobile home park owners Gerard J. and Dorothy Dougher paid $98.50 for themselves, Supervisor Don R. Roth, his fiancee, Diane Bonner, and two other persons to tour Santa Catalina Island.

The last sentence refers to the Dougher family’s Laguna Hills Mobile Estates near Laguna Hills.