Garofalo: Bad Judgment or Worse

Huntington Beach Mayor Dave Garofalo’s mixing of his political and business activities has the unmistakable appearance of conflicts of interest.

In response to a possible state ethics investigation, Garofalo says he has done nothing criminal. But there’s a higher standard. He should abide by it or get out of public office. In the meantime, he needs to be much more forthcoming about his business dealings.

For years, Garofalo owned a local newspaper and published an annual visitors guide for the city, and this period covered some of his time in government. City records show that between the time he joined the City Council in January 1995 and the end of 1998, Garofalo voted at least 46 times on agenda items involving businesses that advertised in the visitors guide. Each vote favored the position of the advertiser. He abstained only once in those four years, according to the records.

There also are questions about the ad revenue, the timing of payments and his conformity with state requirements on voting. City Atty. Gail Hutton says she will ask the state Fair Political Practices Commission to consider whether Garofalo violated state law in his handling of the publications and of two transactions involving property he owned.

One involves a company building a redevelopment project near Garofalo’s home. The company paid $3,000 for an ad in the visitors bureau guide, and Garofalo has voted to keep the project going. Another involves his purchase for $565,000 of a new home in a development for which he voted and its sale within days for $625,596. Garofalo said his net profit after upgrading the house was $1.

City records show Garofalo asked the city attorney two years ago whether he could vote on matters involving advertisers after the publications were sold. He claimed to have sold them in December 1997, though state and county records show him as the owner until January 1999. The query was forwarded to the FPPC, which demands that officeholders not vote for a year following a sale.

It is difficult to see how Garofalo thought he could properly discharge council duties given the many areas where the interests of advertisers intersect with policymaking in a city like Huntington Beach. This is a story about poor judgment at least, with questions about violating state law yet to be answered.