BREA : Isles Asks City to Pay for His Legal Defense

Former Mayor Ron Isles, who is on three years’ probation after pleading guilty last month to seven misdemeanor counts of conflict of interest, is asking the city to pay for his legal expenses.

Isles is asking for $10,000, which represents attorney’s fees and other legal expenses stemming from the charges brought against him by the Orange County district attorney.

The council will consider his request during its meeting at 7 tonight.

This is the second time this month that city has been asked to pay for the legal expenses of a council member. On Nov. 3, the council decided to bear the legal costs of Councilman Wayne D. Wedin’s trial, estimated to cost a minimum of $20,000.

Wedin is on trial in Municipal Court in Fullerton on five misdemeanor counts of conflict of interest for allegedly lobbying to give a city contract to a planning company he was working for as a consultant. He is also charged with failing to disclose income of more than $37,000 in his 1990 statement of economic interest.

Wedin has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In granting his request for legal assistance, the council said that the charges against Wedin were brought about in the course of his job as a member of the council. Council members said it was in the “best interest” of the city to help Wedin, a former mayor and city manager.

Isles used that same argument to ask help from the city for his legal expenses.

“I believe it’s appropriate that when City Council members act in good faith and find it necessary to hire legal assistance to defend themselves, that this expense should be borne by the city,” Isles said in a letter to City Manager Frank Benest dated Sept. 29.

On Oct. 9, Isles pleaded guilty to seven of the 21 charges brought against him. In exchange for the guilty plea, Isles was placed on three years’ probation and ordered to pay $13,500 in fines and assessments. Also, the agreement states that Isles cannot be a candidate for elective office or a lobbyist for four years.

A newly elected member of the council has denounced the council’s decision to provide legal assistance to Wedin as a “waste of public money.”

Kathryn Wiser, who won one of two open council seats in the Nov. 3 election, has said that paying for Wedin’s legal costs would be sending a “wrong message” to the residents. She said many residents share her views.