ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Roth: Record Doesn’t Square

It is increasingly difficult to believe that Supervisor Don R. Roth and the Dougher family were merely personal friends who shared occasional meals and trips but didn’t discuss issues pending before the Board of Supervisors. At least one trip, a three-day excursion last November to Santa Catalina Island paid for by the Doughers, appears to have had a business purpose.

Roth acknowledged previously that he traveled to Catalina with Dorothy and Gerald J. Dougher, members of a family that owns a dozen mobile home parks in Orange County. Roth said he didn’t put the trip in his campaign financing reports because he bought groceries for all their meals.

Roth has also protested that he did not know at the time that the Doughers had business before the board.

But the Doughers were fully aware that they did, as noted on the back of a credit card slip paying for a tour of Catalina Island for Roth and his fiancee. The slip was among receipts subpoenaed by a federal grand jury; copies of some have been obtained by The Times. The notation, apparently in the hand of Dorothy Dougher, states in part: “Purpose of the trip to discuss Supervisors’ meeting on rezoning Beach Bolsa Property.”

The board later unanimously voted to overturn a county Planning Commission recommendation to deny a permit for a Midway City condominium project on land owned by the Dougher family.

The FBI and the district attorney’s office are probing the Doughers’ relationship with Roth after allegations were made that the supervisor may have traded political favors for gifts. The emerging record does not square with what Roth has said about his ties to the family and its pending business. He still has much to explain.