Panelist Accuses Port Chairman of Slander : Ventura: The suit alleges that he told a councilman that Commissioner Robert Starr is a convicted felon.

Ventura Port District board Commissioner Robert (Nick) Starr has sued board Chairman Richard Hambleton for slander, alleging that he told a city councilman that Starr is a convicted felon.

In fact, Starr’s 1968 felony conviction, stemming from bribery charges filed while he was a Los Angeles Harbor commissioner, was overturned by an appeals court in 1971.

Starr’s failure to mention the closed, 24-year-old case, however, has deeply divided the Ventura City Council that appointed him and threatens to disintegrate the Port District board itself.

“My understanding is that all the four remaining commissioners will resign” if Starr is not removed from office by himself or the council, Commissioner William Crew said.

“The district clearly will have a very awkward three or four years,” he said. “The first problem you have is finding commissioners. There aren’t a lot of qualified people standing up for the job.”

Starr, a 59-year-old property manager and bankruptcy consultant, has declined to comment on the slander suit or on calls for his resignation.

On Wednesday, Starr’s lawyer, Kirk Grossman of Ventura, said, “His position is that he hasn’t done anything wrong and he feels like he shouldn’t resign. It’s just a straightforward ‘No.’ ”

Starr’s suit, filed Tuesday in Ventura County Superior Court, alleges that Hambleton told Councilman Jack Tingstrom on Aug. 21 that Starr was a convicted felon.

“The words so uttered were false,” and injured Starr’s reputation as a Port District commissioner, the suit contends.

Tingstrom backed up the slander allegation by signing a declaration of facts that Grossman said he plans to file this week. Tingstrom, however, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The lawsuit also alleges that Hambleton confronted Starr on Aug. 4 after learning of the felony case, in which Starr and a fellow Los Angeles Harbor commissioner were found guilty of accepting $6,500 in furniture from a developer seeking their help on a $12-million project.

An appeals court had overturned the case on the ground that the jury was improperly instructed, and prosecutors said they did not refile the charges in part because Starr’s co-defendant had died.

The suit contends that Hambleton told Starr that the conviction’s reversal was a technicality and that he “believed that (Starr) was and still is a convicted felon.”

Hambleton then said that unless Starr quit his board post, he would release information about the case to the City Council, the suit alleges.

In the past, Hambleton has denied that he ever made such a threat to Starr. He declined comment Wednesday.

Starr’s suit seeks unspecified damages and court costs, alleging that he has suffered severe emotional distress from Hambleton’s alleged threat.

Meanwhile, Ventura Mayor Gregory L. Carson said he is seeking a solution to the controversy over Starr’s past before the Ventura City Council reconvenes on Sept. 14 after the August break.

“I would like to deal with this privately without having to deal with it publicly. . . . It would be cleaner,” Carson said Wednesday.

Carson declined to say whether he would ask Starr to quit.