Power Player Saltarelli Tests Strength as Supervisor : Profile: Newest O.C. board member built connections over decades as mayor, lobbyist and developers’ ally.

In the realm of Orange County government, Donald J. Saltarelli is a virtual unknown: A real estate broker who emerged from the city of Tustin to become the newest member of the Board of Supervisors.

But in his hometown of nearly 30 years, power and influence have been his stock in trade.

Developers and trash haulers have paid tens of thousands of dollars to buy his lobbying clout with a City Council consisting of his brother and good friends. Established city politicos frequently ask his advice. Aspiring council members seek his endorsement.

Supporters say Saltarelli, who served 15 years on the Tustin City Council, is a man of intelligence and integrity, driven by a sense of civic duty.

Detractors accuse him of serving as the developers’ handmaiden, in office and out--a man sufficiently opportunistic to recently sue an ailing 94-year-old woman, a longtime friend, for $1.25 million after he fell out of her orange tree helping himself to her fruit.

Both friend and foe, however, agree he is nothing if not well-connected.

So much so that when Gov. Pete Wilson last month asked the Irvine Co.--the county’s omnipresent developer and behind-the-scenes kingmaker--who should replace departing Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez on the board, Saltarelli was given a nod of approval.

Now, as he settles in as the freshman member on the Board of Supervisors of this bankrupt county, residents and observers are wondering what to expect of Saltarelli--a dedicated public servant or self-serving political operator.

“We’re curious and interested in what he does in his tenure,” said Connie Haddad, president of the Orange County chapter of the League of Women Voters. “We’ll have to wait and see.”

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In the short four weeks he’s been in office, Saltarelli already has drawn mixed reviews. He’s been praised for trying to eliminate county regulations on businesses to encourage economic growth, but criticized for giving pay raises to his staff at a time when the salaries of other county employees are frozen.

“It’s a horrible job and it’s no place for sissies,” Saltarelli said this week during an interview in his fifth-floor office at the Hall of Administration. “It’s a very thankless job. It’s caused me a lot of intense pressure, but somebody has to do it, and I guess the governor thought I was best qualified. I’m going to do the best I can and suffer through it, but it is not a fun thing to do.”

Having vowed not to seek election to a full term in the 3rd District seat he is filling for departed Supervisor Vasquez, Saltarelli has charted out an ambitious agenda for his 15 months in office. He says he wants to downsize government, privatize services, consolidate special districts and leave his mark on the county’s financial recovery.

At age 54 with two young children from his third wife and a well-established real estate business in Tustin, Saltarelli says he has no interest in extending his time on the board. If anything, he wishes his stint were shorter.

“I honestly can’t tell you why I allowed my name to be put in for this,” said Saltarelli, who at times sounded like a homeowner stung with buyer’s remorse. “But I plan to do a good job. . . . I think I’m a person of reasonable intelligence and good integrity.”

In Tustin, few would dispute that Saltarelli is a smart man, especially when it comes to business. In addition to his real estate business, which employs more than 30 agents, Saltarelli has 50% interest in an escrow company and holds interest in about half a dozen business, residential and rental properties, according to public documents.

Saltarelli, who was a stockbroker briefly before becoming a real estate agent, also invests in the stock market. One source close to Saltarelli estimated his net worth at about $1 million. Saltarelli said he did not have a estimate of his net worth, but added, “It’s nowhere near that. I wish it were.”

Saltarelli, who stands 5 feet, 7 inches tall and greets people with a firm handshake and warm smile, is a popular, charming and generally well-liked man, widely respected in Tustin. While on the City Council, he helped create parks, advocated random drug tests of city employees and made sure the city put its funds in safe, insured investments.

He was also instrumental in Tustin’s annexation of the Tustin Marine Corps Helicopter Air Station, a move that is expected to be a major economic boon to the city.

“He’s a great guy,” said political consultant Harvey Englander, who frequently makes snide remarks about board members. “He’s a real straight shooter.”

But after nearly 15 years as a Tustin councilman, including four years as mayor, Saltarelli has accumulated his share of political foes. Half a dozen of his detractors, who were interviewed for this article, wished to remain anonymous, citing Saltarelli’s considerable influence in Tustin and fearing possible retribution.

Even his second wife, who went through a bitter divorce from Saltarelli in 1985, declined comment. “I learned long ago not to say anything against him in public,” said Jill McBride, who also is a real estate agent in Tustin.

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One of the most common knocks Saltarelli’s critics make against him is that he is too “pro development.” They say Tustin underwent tremendous development under Saltarelli’s leadership when he was on the City Council from 1972 through 1987.

During that period, Tustin’s population soared--from a community of about 26,000 to more than 62,000. The council approved retail, industrial and commercial development, a massive auto mall, recreation centers, a golf course and several master-planned communities.

Saltarelli says the city’s development was “well planned” and responsible.

Some residents, however, disagree.

“In my opinion, Don Saltarelli left Tustin a legacy of high density,” said Berklee Maughan, a longtime resident who follows city issues. “No one ever increases the quality of life in any city by increasing density.”

A couple of years after leaving the council, Saltarelli was hired by the Irvine Co. as a lobbyist-consultant at about $26,000 a year until he severed his business relationship with the company in June, according to Larry Thomas, a spokesman for developer. Thomas said the company availed itself of Saltarelli’s services for the Tustin Ranch development in the eastern portion of Tustin.

Despite his efforts on behalf of the Irvine Co., Saltarelli rejects the suggestion that he is too pro-development.

“I think it’s a very unfair characterization,” Saltarelli said, noting that he was initially inspired to run for the Tustin council because he opposed a high-density project by the Irvine Co. in 1972. “I’m not anti-development, but I’m not pro-development either. I believe people have property rights and they should be able to develop [their land] in a reasonable fashion.”

Furthermore, he said, part of the city’s growth while he was on the council occurred through annexation, as Tustin leaders sought to take over county lands, as well as the Marine base, which was annexed by the city even before the Pentagon decided it should be closed.

Another issue that Saltarelli has been criticized for is his lobbying work. Some members of the community have questioned the propriety of his openly lobbying a council that included his brother, Thomas R. Saltarelli.

Jim Potts, the current mayor of Tustin, said, “If somebody wants to lobby the current City Council, they go to Don Saltarelli.”

“Don does hold a lot of power in Tustin,” said Potts, who kiddingly refers to Saltarelli as “The Don.”

Adds Potts: “I don’t believe a former council member or mayor should be able to be a paid lobbyist for companies that do business in Tustin.”

Shirley Grindle, a county political activist who successfully pushed for campaign reforms, was also critical of Saltarelli’s past lobbying before a Tustin City Council that includes his brother. “It certainly has the appearance of being very much a conflict. I don’t think he should have been doing that.”

Although there may be perceptional issues with Saltarelli’s brother being on a public body that he lobbies, there are no laws that forbid it, state officials said. Moreover, these officials say that there was nothing legally wrong when Donald Saltarelli as a member of the City Council hired the Tustin city attorney in 1979 to handle his first divorce. That arrangement has been questioned as well.

“I’m an honest guy,” said Saltarelli, adding that he was offended by suggestions of impropriety. “I haven’t broken any laws except maybe the speed limit on occasion.”

In addition to working for the Irvine Co., Saltarelli has lobbied on behalf of the Mission Viejo Co., the Irvine Unified School District and Waste Management, which has had a long-term, non-competitively-bid contract with Tustin.

“I see no conflicts, either moral or ethical,” Saltarelli said of his lobbying work. “I’m going to do the best I can do to represent the people I represent.

Furthermore, he said he’s exerted no influence over his brother, with whom he says he doesn’t always see eye-to-eye on issues, especially now that he is on the Board of Supervisors.

“We’ve already had a couple arguments about some city-county things,” Saltarelli said. “I’ll say this about my brother Tom: When I was on the council, he never called to tell me what to do, and while Tom is on the council, I don’t call him and tell him what to do.”

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The brothers, however, have teamed up on some issues.

For example, in 1994, when Tustin residents successfully urged the council to put a measure on the local ballot to require that trash contracts be competitively bid every seven year, Thomas Saltarelli wrote the argument against the initiative. During the campaign, Donald Saltarelli was employed as a lobbyist by the city’s trash hauler, Great Western, whose contract required that the city had to give five years’ notice to terminate the contract.

When Saltarelli became a candidate to replace Vasquez several months ago, he took steps to end his lobbyist business. Saltarelli’s supporters say his foes are making too big an issue of his having done lobbying by trying to suggest that he is unethical.

“He has the highest integrity and is always concerned with what’s in the best interest of the city,” said Charles Puckett, a former Tustin councilman. “I would meet with Don regularly when I was on the council. I have a great deal of respect for him. Orange County is going to be much better off with his tenure on the board.”

Tony Coco, another former councilman who works at Saltarelli’s real estate company, agreed, saying Saltarelli is not an ordinary politician.

“Anyone who has been in office has friends and enemies, but I think he has far more friends, otherwise he never would have made it through the governor’s screening process to get appointed to the board,” Coco said. “He’s not a weather vane politician. He has the courage of convictions.”

Saltarelli proved early on that he was willing to take the heat for issues he thinks are right, standing behind his decision to give his new staff pay raises just weeks after arriving. Although he was sharply criticized by some county activists, Saltarelli said his staff was underpaid and overworked. Even with the raises, his office workers remain among the lowest-paid staffers of county supervisors.

But there is at least one decision that Saltarelli is reluctant to discuss: to sue Margaret Byrd, his elderly friend who allowed him to pick oranges from her tree while she was in a convalescent home.

According to the lawsuit, Saltarelli contended he had “an open invitation” to go on her property and pick fruit. One day in January, 1993, he did just that. As he picked the fruit, which he said he was going to give some to her and keep some for himself, he fell off a ladder he was using and severely broke his leg.

Saltarelli said this week that he received permission from Byrd to file the lawsuit so that he could recoup his medical expenses from her insurance.

Byrd’s attorney, however, disputed Saltarelli’s account, saying his client, who has since died, was “shocked” and “hurt” by the lawsuit.

The case was ultimately settled out of court for about $10,000, said her attorney, Douglas M. DeGrave.

It was not even enough to cover his out-of-pocket medical expenses, said Saltarelli, who was visibly annoyed when asked about the lawsuit.

“She was a very dear friend,” he said. “No matter how you mention this, people are going to get the wrong impression.”

DeGrave said his impression of Saltarelli was of a man who saw an opportunity to make a buck.

“It was his own stupidity that he fell off the ladder,” DeGrave said. “He just didn’t want to take responsibility for his own actions. . . . I was surprised when I heard he was appointed to the Board of Supervisors.”