Wedin Trial on Misconduct Charges Begins : Courts: Former mayor of Brea allegedly failed to disclose his relationship with a firm whose projects he voted on.

Former Mayor Wayne D. Wedin went on trial Monday on charges that he violated conflict-of-interest laws. He is the second former Brea mayor in two months to face charges of official misconduct.

Wedin is charged in Orange County Municipal Court with five misdemeanor counts stemming from his alleged failure to disclose his relationship with a development company while voting on their project.

If convicted, Wedin, 52, faces a sentence of up to six months in jail and a $10,000 fine on each of the counts. Wedin has pleaded not guilty, and the Brea City Council voted earlier this month to pay his attorney’s fees, estimated at $20,000 or more.

Deputy Dist. Atty. James J. Mulgrew, acknowledging that the case was “a little bit unusual,” alleged Monday that Wedin, who owns a consulting firm, had a business relationship with the Keith Cos., a development firm. Wedin’s work helping Keith Cos. get a contract to redevelop an area of San Diego earned him $37,562, authorities say.

Later, Mulgrew told the jury, Wedin took an active role in helping the Keith Cos. secure a major redevelopment deal with the city of Brea, without disclosing his financial relationship with the company.

Mulgrew pointed to dates where Wedin received checks from the Keith Cos. for the San Diego project at the same time that the Brea City Council was discussing plans for a Keith Cos. project on county-owned land north of the city. The point, the prosecutor said, was not that there was a relationship between the payments and Wedin’s actions, but that the councilman did not disclose the relationship.

“That’s the gist of this conflict of interest. . . . That’s what this case is about,” Mulgrew said.

But Wedin’s attorney, Michael R. McDonnell, told jurors that the councilman’s financial relationship was actually with the government agencies in San Diego, and not with the Keith Cos.

McDonnell acknowledged that Wedin’s consulting firm had a “pass-through” relationship with Keith, which had “input but no supervision” over Wedin’s work. The development company billed San Diego for Wedin’s work, the lawyer said, but received no “markup” for the relationship.

After an anonymous complaint was filed with the state Fair Political Practices Commission regarding Wedin, McDonnell said, both the Brea city attorney and the commission concluded in written findings that they saw nothing wrong with the councilman’s actions.

Wedin, who had served as Brea city manager for 15 years before running for council, had devoted much of his life to the city, McDonnell said. As a planner, the attorney said, Wedin was largely responsible for the Brea Mall, the Brea Marketplace, the city’s cultural center and a high school, which he said was built without state funds and without debt.

In October, in an unrelated case, former Mayor Ronald E. Isles pleaded guilty to seven misdemeanor counts of conflict of interest covering his actions as a council member from 1989 to 1991. Isles received three years probation and was fined $13,500, and resigned his office.

Before offering opening statements in the Wedin case, lawyers for both sides took note of prevailing attitudes, quizzing prospective jurors about their feelings toward politicians and people who run for office.