D.A. Files 5-Count Complaint on Brea Councilman Wedin

The Orange County district attorney’s office brought a five-count misdemeanor complaint Monday against Brea City Councilman Wayne D. Wedin, charging that the former mayor broke conflict-of-interest laws in his dealings with a local development firm.

The complaint alleges that Wedin violated the state’s Political Reform Act in 1990 by helping the Costa Mesa-based Keith Cos. win a job with the city of Brea for a study contract, even as Wedin was accepting more than $37,000 from the firm for work as a consultant.

It marks the second time this year that the district attorney has filed conflict-of-interest charges against a Brea council member.

In May, Mayor Ronald E. Isles was charged with 21 misdemeanor counts, alleging that he voted on issues involving a longtime business partner and that he failed to disclose millions in loans and financial interests.

Several city and community leaders rallied to Wedin’s defense Monday, and Isles was his staunchest supporter.

“I would trust Wayne Wedin with my life,” Isles said. “I don’t think I would believe it of him even if he’s convicted. He’s a builder, not a destroyer. . . . I wouldn’t wish this kind of thing on my worst enemy, and Wayne’s a good friend.”

The 53-year-old Wedin was to be arraigned Oct. 7 in Orange County Municipal Court in Fullerton. If convicted, he faces a sentence of up to six months in jail and a $10,000 fine on each of the five counts against him.

Such conflict-of-interest charges “are not a common occurrence,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. James J. Mulgrew, who is prosecuting the case. “This is something we take very seriously,” he added.

Wedin was said to be out of town Monday and could not be reached for comment on the charges. But his attorney, Michael McDonnell, said he was angry that prosecutors, who began looking at the case a year ago, took so long to bring charges.

“I’m happy that . . . they’ve finally figured out what they are going to do,” McDonnell quipped sarcastically. He said he would not comment further on the charges until he had a chance to review them.

When the conflict-of-interest issue was first disclosed publicly by The Times in April, 1991, Wedin said in an interview that he saw nothing wrong with his involvement in the selection of Keith Cos. for a city contract. He also said that the city had distanced itself from the firm after receiving a call from the Fair Political Practices Commission about the conflict issue.

But he added at that time that “if I could go back and redo it today, I wish I hadn’t done it that way because it’s caused an appearance of impropriety, I suppose.”

A former city manager in Brea for 15 years, Wedin is a well-known municipal finance consultant who was first elected to the City Council in 1988, serving as mayor in 1991. He announced in July that he would not seek reelection this year, saying it was time to “move ahead and give others a chance to contribute to the betterment of our community.”

Wedin, who owns a consulting business, did work as a subcontractor for the Keith Cos. on a downtown redevelopment project in San Diego. According to the complaint filed Monday in Orange County Superior Court, he received checks from the Keith Cos. totaling $37,562 between May and November of 1990 for his work on the project.

The complaint alleges that Wedin did not report this as income on his state-mandated economic interest statement for 1990, in violation of the Political Reform Act.

At the same time he was working for the Keith Cos., Wedin also helped the firm in its efforts to get a contract with the city of Brea for conducting a study on whether about 500 acres of land north of the city falls under the city’s sphere of influence, the complaint alleges.

The Keith Cos. and a firm it was affiliated with for the project were initially rejected by the Brea city planning staff, in part because of their high bid. But with Wedin’s support, Keith Cos. and its partner then were recommended for the $320,000 job by the city council.

The complaint alleges that Wedin aided the engineering and architectural firm in its bid on four different occasions between June and December of 1990, all leading up to the firm’s selection for the job. He allegedly had the firm added to the list of prospective bidders, pushed to make it one of the finalists for the job, directed staff to discuss the project with Keith Cos. officials, and then met with the firm about the project, the complaint said.

But city officials ultimately decided not to enter into the contract with Keith Cos. after receiving a call in December, 1990, from an investigator with the Fair Political Practices Commission about a possible conflict by Wedin.

The commission had received an anonymous tip about the matter. After interviewing one city official, the agency concluded that Wedin did not have a conflict. But agency files showed that investigators were unaware of Wedin’s role in helping Keith Cos. win the contract. After details of his role were published in The Times, the commission reopened its inquiry in May, 1990, and later turned it over to local prosecutors for possible criminal action.

Keith Cos. officials declined comment on the charges Monday.

Meanwhile, Brea city officials tried to weather the latest in a spate of bad publicity.

In addition to the charges against Isles in May, a Superior Court judge ruled in July that the Brea Redevelopment Agency violated state law in planning a 50-acre downtown redevelopment project because it failed to develop an adequate relocation assistance plan for local businesses.

Brea City Manager Frank Benest said Monday that he did not think the city’s operations will be affected by the charges against either Wedin or Isles, whose trial was scheduled to start Oct. 13.

“These are charges against two particular individuals and not the city government,” Benest said. “Wedin is not running for reelection and that minimizes the impact on the organization as well.”

Benest added that Wedin “has served the city in an exemplary fashion for a number of years and it’s unfortunate that he has been charged.”

In a statement released Monday afternoon, Brea Chamber of Commerce president Bill Murray said: “We are saddened and disappointed to hear of the indictment, and to see Brea back in the news with another negative story.”