Former City Official Settles Suit for $7,000 : Law: The D.A. alleged that ex-San Clemente planning commissioner voted to assist a company in which he owned stock.

A former San Clemente planning commissioner agreed Friday to pay $7,000 to settle a conflict-of-interest lawsuit filed by the district attorney’s office that accused him of voting on matters in which he stood to make a financial gain.

The suit, which was filed just before the settlement was reached, alleged that former commissioner Harold Joseph voted in favor of development projects involving Centex Corp., a company in which he held 1,000 shares of stock worth more than $30,000.

State law prohibits any elected or appointed officials from voting on issues in which they have a financial interest. The district attorney’s office sought civil penalties against Joseph under the Political Reform Act of 1974.

“I was economically coerced into this,” Joseph said late Friday. “I was compelled to settle because if I went to court, it would take two years and cost me an arm and a leg. I didn’t have the personal income to fight it, and for that reason I just wanted to put it behind me.”

According to the lawsuit, Joseph violated state laws on at least seven occasions between March and October of 1989. Deputy Dist. Atty. Rosanne M. Froeberg, who filed the suit in Orange County Superior Court, could not be reached for comment.

City officials said they never felt Joseph exercised undue influence over the commission on a Centex project, but agreed that the former commissioner suffered a serious lapse of judgment.

“The appearance of impropriety is probably greater than what he actually did,” said Councilman Scott Diehl. “In retrospect, what he did was stupid. It was a dumb mistake. It set him up to look suspicious.”

Joseph first ran into trouble with the City Council in early 1989 when he received a finder’s fee for leading Centex to the Forster Ranch property, a large housing development in east San Clemente.

The former commissioner has declined to say how much he made from the deal, but sources in the city estimate the finder’s fee at over $100,000.

Although the council initially declined to oust Joseph from his commission seat, the city attorney requested that he not vote on any Centex issues for a year. Shortly afterward, the city passed a conflict-of-interest law in reaction to the incident.

In April, 1989, Joseph purchased the Centex stock and by the end of the year had participated in a 5-0 vote on a 300-home development in Forster Ranch sought by Centex. In early 1990, city officials pointed out the conflict when Joseph filed his state-required financial interest forms.

Although the council then unanimously favored unseating Joseph, the situation took a bizarre twist when the council discovered that city law didn’t allow for getting rid of a commissioner.

At first, Joseph refused to leave the Planning Commission. But with his term due to expire in a few months, Joseph resigned in May, 1990.

“There’s no question what he did was very much out of order,” said Councilman Tom Lorch. “I think this sends a message, not only to San Clemente, but to the rest of the area.”