BREA : Mayor Still in Office as the Lawyers Argue

Confusion reigned here Friday as an assistant city attorney said it was up to the district attorney and a judge, not city officials, to remove Mayor Ronald E. Isles from office.

The deputy district attorney in charge of the case, however, maintains that it’s up to city officials to unseat the 54-year-old mayor because of his conviction on criminal conflict of interest charges.

All the while, Isles remains in office.

“This is not a situation that comes up every day,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. James Mulgrew, acknowledging the confusion. “Obviously somebody is going to have to do something.”

The complicated situation arose last week shortly after Isles pleaded guilty to seven misdemeanor charges of conflict of interest and failure to fully report financial holdings.

Isles said he entered the plea under the assumption that he would be allowed to stay in office until his term expires in December.

After the plea was entered, however, Mulgrew said he discovered a section of the Government Code that may require Isles to step down immediately because of his convictions.

Because of the apparent misunderstanding of the plea, Isles’ attorney on Thursday asked a judge to suspend the sentence until the end of the mayoral term. The judge refused, and the attorney did not ask that the plea be withdrawn.

After Thursday’s hearing, Mulgrew said Brea officials must take steps to vacate the office. But according to Brea Assistant City Atty. Andrew Arczynski, that’s not true.

He said he found another code provision that indicated a judge must act.

“This is a decision that the court is going to have to make,” Arczynski said. “I don’t think it’s up to the city to do anything.”