The Story Behind the Story When Officials Are Investigated

For public officials, being the subject of a district attorney’s investigation can be politically and personally painful, even if charges are never filed.

Supervisor William G. Steiner was reminded of that last month when prosecutors briefly investigated his relationship with the lobbyist for a controversial housing project in Trabuco Canyon.

The day that newspapers carried the story, “people were coming up to me . . . asking ‘What’s this all about?’ ” he recalled. “It makes you feel like crawling under a rock.”

The district attorney’s office soon announced that a preliminary inquiry had found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing, a frequent outcome to such investigations. But the case highlights how law enforcement reviews can become weapons in development battles and bitter election fights.

The district attorney’s office gets dozens of requests a year to investigate supposed instances of malfeasance by public figures. Prosecutors say they have a duty to check out all allegations, even when it appears that those making the complaint are driven by their own agenda.

“During election time, we tend to get a lot of them, very often from political opponents,” said Guy Ormes, the deputy district attorney in charge of special operations. “We have an obligation to look into them [and] determine if there is a violation of criminal law.”

*

Legal experts agree that even dubious charges must be examined. But they caution prosecutors and the press to handle such inquiries with sensitivity.

“They have to be careful not to be used or manipulated,” said George Zervas, a professor of constitutional law at Southwestern University School of Law.

Political opponents can “plant” charges with investigators and then leak information about the probe to reporters, Zervas said.

Steiner maintains that foes of the Trabuco Canyon development asked the district attorney to investigate his involvement with a project lobbyist in an effort to show a conflict of interest that would prevent him from voting on the issue.

He got an opinion from the county counsel’s office concluding that he was free to vote on the project.

“I was relieved that the D.A. took care of this thing quickly,” Steiner said. “It would have been much more difficult if this was dragged out and there was no resolution.”

Other recent incidents involving elected officials are less complicated but produced similar results.

Last spring, prosecutors launched an inquiry into Garden Grove Councilman Mark Leyes’ residency after opponents in the campaign for county supervisor alleged that he was living outside the district.

In May, Newport Beach Mayor John W. Hedges became the subject of a probe after the city police union complained about his contacts with civil service board members handling a police officer’s disciplinary hearing.

Both inquiries received attention in newspapers but were dropped after prosecutors determined that no laws had been broken.

Hedges faults the press for reporting the story based on the “politically motivated” complaints of the union. But he also questions the need for the prosecutors’ probe.

“The real danger is that these kinds of cases trivialize the role of the district attorney’s office in investigating real crimes,” he said.

The district attorney’s special projects division receives more than 200 letters and telephone calls a year from people demanding investigations or offering evidence of alleged misdeeds.

Prosecutors conduct “inquiries” of each one to determine whether the charges, if true, would amount to a crime and whether the district attorney’s office would have jurisdiction over the matter, Ormes said.

Less than half of those inquiries result in full-fledged “investigations” of the specific allegations, and of those, only a tiny fraction result in criminal charges.

Ormes said his office does not announce or release information about the subjects of its investigations. But in politically charged cases, newspapers are informed about the allegations by the same parties that presented them to prosecutors.

“You often see competitors or opponents trying to use these situations in the press,” Zervas said. “If someone is under investigation, it’s considered news. If [prosecutors] find nothing, it’s not considered news.”

Still, the public is best served by a full examination of all allegations, he said. “You never know. What might seem like an innocent situation might blow up in your face.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Following a Tip

The special projects division of the district attorney’s office receives more than 200 letters and telephone calls each year from people demanding investigations or offering evidence of alleged misdeeds, including malfeasance by public officials. Here is how tips are handled:

* Inquiry: Prosecutors conduct preliminary reviews to determine whether allegations, if true, would amount to a crime and whether the district attorney’s office would have jurisdiction.

* Investigation: Less than 50% of the tips reach this phase, in which prosecutors and district attorney investigators probe specific allegations. That could include interviewing witnesses and reviewing documents.

* Charges: Only a small fraction of the tips result in the filing of criminal charges.

Source: Orange County district attorney’s office; Researched by SHELBY GRAD / Los Angeles Times