ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : The Right Call in Brea Case

Municipal Judge Stephen J. Sundvold has provided Brea with the clarity it desperately needed to get on with its future. The law, he says, requires that Mayor Ronald E. Isles give up his council seat because his recent guilty plea to charges of conflict of interest constituted “violations of official duties.”

That should have been obvious from the outset. Isles pleaded guilty to three counts of voting or taking action on matters that benefited entities in which he had a financial interest. He also pleaded guilty to four counts of failing to report loans on state-required economic interest disclosure forms.

The mayor said he did nothing wrong--that the violations were the product of carelessness and that he did not benefit financially from his errors; even so, no municipality needs to tolerate such inattention to ethical considerations or sloppiness. Especially not in the example-setting post of mayor.

A dispute arose over whether Isles’ plea-bargaining agreement with prosecutors required him to go sooner rather than later. He balked at an attempt to force him to leave office before his term expired on Dec. 1 and went to court to ask that the judge suspend his conviction until after his mayoral term was finished.

The judge did right by the city, ending this unnecessary anxiety by ruling that the mayor’s council seat was in effect vacated by state law. That law requires elected officials to leave office if they are found guilty of a crime involving their official duties.

The city has 30 days in which to appoint a new mayor or call a special election. But because Isles was not running for reelection, it’s best that the issue be resolved by the Nov. 3 election, when a new mayor will be selected by the voters.

Isles has resigned. Now, thankfully, the city can get on with business.