Trash Firm Not Targeted, Montgomery’s Attorney Says

Moorpark City Councilman Scott Montgomery never targeted the east county’s largest trash company in an effort to solicit either a $50,000 investment or a $120,000 business contract while voting on city trash contracts or serving with the county’s waste commission, Montgomery’s attorney said Thursday.

Montgomery did circulate a general offering in 1989 to “some of the folks in Moorpark” in an effort to start up a new technology company, but did not specifically aim his proposal at the owners of G.I. Industries, said attorney Daniel J. Schmidt. He added that the company was never actually launched.

Nor did Montgomery ever solicit a large contract with G.I. Industries in 1993 to overhaul the company’s computer system, Schmidt added. Instead, the lawyer said, the company had asked Montgomery to provide an estimate on what such an overhaul might cost.

“Scott is asked about computers by lots of people,” Schmidt said. “He gave them an estimate only because he thought it would be a way he could learn something about the rubbish business. He made it clear at the time that he could not participate in the installation of any computer system because the company had business with the city.”

Schmidt’s comments followed a story in The Times on Sunday that quoted Montgomery as saying he has been questioned by investigators with the district attorney’s office about the two matters in connection with an ongoing public corruption probe that started almost 10 months ago.

The article inappropriately characterized both those transactions as efforts by Montgomery to solicit business from G.I. Industries, but did not fully report Montgomery’s own account of the matters, which agreed with the account given by Schmidt on Thursday.

“They were asking how much it would take to establish a very sophisticated waste handling and recording system,” Montgomery said last week. “Since I knew computers and waste, I thought it was helpful for my knowledge. I found out what it would take to do that and I wrote them that--in terms of costs, items, software, hardware, and everything. I never got paid for it. I never asked for any money either. “

Montgomery said the cost he outlined to overhaul the computers was “in the neighborhood of $100,000.”

“I think I learned a lot, which I’ve been able to apply,” Montgomery added. “I found out later that they decided not to do that. Had they asked, I don’t know if I’d have done it or not. If I had done it, and I saw any conflict with any of my public activities, I would have taken the appropriate action.”

Montgomery said he did include Manuel Asadurian Sr., owner of G.I. Industries, on the list of people he sought out for his marketing venture for starting a computer software business, but said it was one of many overtures he sent out in an effort to raise money for the venture.

“At a couple of times during the 10 years I was self-employed I issued--once it was a private placement memorandum and another time it was basically a document seeking capitalization of an entity--which I proliferated out to anybody I thought would have money,” he said.

“I sent it out to scores of people, if not hundreds,” Montgomery added. “Nothing ever came of it. I never received any investment of capital.”

Schmidt’s comments Thursday came a day after the Moorpark City Council delayed for 30 days voting on a new rubbish hauling contract with G.I. Industries and another east county company, pending the possible sale of G.I. Industries.

Council members said they wanted to wait while company executives from G.I. Industries consider putting the trash hauling firm up for sale. G.I. Industries and the Anderson Disposal Co., both of Simi Valley, spent the last several months negotiating with city officials on a five-year contract with a three-year renewal to share trash pickup in the city.

Before the meeting, city officials expressed concern that the pending contract, which they feel is good for Moorpark, has been overshadowed by the ongoing investigation into Montgomery’s dealings with G.I. Industries and members of the Asadurian family, who run the company.

The investigation initially focused on a $3,500 payment Montgomery received in 1993 from G.I. Sweeping--a company owned by Manuel Asadurian Sr. Montgomery says the money was for the sale of a computer, while Asadurian insists the payment was a short-term loan that has yet to be paid back.

Montgomery has repeatedly charged that the investigation is politically motivated.