Critics Berate Council for Cost of Independent Prosecutor

Critics lashed out at some City Council members Tuesday for hiring an independent prosecutor who has filed criminal charges against the mayor and two former councilmen, alleging campaign contribution violations.

Residents and others told the council the charges are trivial and that the probe is a waste of taxpayers’ dollars.

Wearing yellow armbands, more than 60 members of the Taxpayers Expecting Accountability called for the firing of special prosecutor Ravi Mehta and charged that his investigations are a “political witch hunt.”

“We think that the special prosecutor should be dismissed, and we would like the two [councilmen who investigated it] to repay the fees of the special prosecutor,” said Stephen J. Mather, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Anaheim and a member of the taxpayer group.

Councilwoman Shirley McCracken, one of the targets of Mehta’s investigation, asked the council to consider on Feb. 24 whether to retain his services. The council agreed to put it on the agenda.

Councilmen Bob Zemel and Lou Lopez last September voted to hire Mehta, former chairman of the state Fair Political Practices Commission, to investigate alleged violations of state and city campaign-finance laws in the 1996 City Council election. Two other members of the five-person council abstained from the vote, and a third voted against hiring Mehta.

Through November 1997, Mehta had billed the city more than $79,000 in fees and more than $4,300 in expenses for leading the probe, at a rate of $250 an hour. City officials have yet to receive bills from Mehta for December and January, though the probe continues.

Zemel on Tuesday said he stands by his decision to hire Mehta: “You have stonewalling and noncooperative defendants running up the bill instead of taking responsibility in dealing with the charges against them.”

But Mather said residents are upset about what appears to them to be a political motive. Residents also criticized the absence of a spending limit for Mehta and said that money could have been used to hire two police officers.

“The real concern is it’s going to have a chilling effect on other candidates who want to run,” Mather said.

Mehta’s investigation has led to misdemeanor charges against Mayor Tom Daly, his campaign treasurer, Debra Daly, and Irv Pickler, a former councilman. The complaints against them allege they violated campaign laws by contributing money to two other council candidates, accepted contributions that exceeded donation limits and failed to itemize and report some donations. An arraignment is scheduled in Municipal Court in Fullerton on March 2.

Separate complaints were also filed against Frank Feldhaus, also a former councilman, and the city firefighters’ political action committee for alleged reporting violations. Those cases are also pending.

McCracken last December agreed to pay $6,500 in fines to the city to settle a civil lawsuit filed by Mehta charging her with reporting errors. She has said that she did not have the money to fight a legal battle.

Mehta, who made a surprise visit before the council to address the residents’ concerns, said Daly’s and Pickler’s decision not to settle their cases, which they initially agreed to do in November, has forced him to pursue criminal charges.

“I spent a lot of hours preparing documents,” he said. He would not say when his investigation will conclude.

Daly, who called Mehta’s appearance before the council inappropriate, said, “I just think it’s one more example of the highly unusual prosecution of this matter.”

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Times staff writer Esther Schrader contributed to this report.