Mayor’s Own Cloud Is Too Dark

The continuing debate over the private lives of public officials came home dramatically to Orange County last week with the revelation that Newport Beach Mayor John E. Noyes had snatched his children from the legal custody of his ex-wife in 1976 and hid them for nearly a decade.

Shortly before details of what he did were published in the Times, Noyes announced that he would not seek reelection. He has defended his past actions as an effort to protect his children. He also argues that he has paid for what he did through a substantial financial judgment, and that he has focused on city business.

All of that may be, but surely citizens who evaluated his fitness for public office in 1996 were entitled to know more about whom they were getting. Noyes certainly has made no bones about holding other politicians accountable.

What this also comes down to is a question of judgment. An official with such a complicated and troubling history is unlikely to be in a position to give full attention to constituents. This is somebody, who, now that the facts are known, really never should have been a candidate for public office in the first place.

There also are questions about what Noyes did, and they are pertinent now that he is a public official. He was wanted on criminal kidnapping charges in Idaho from 1976 to 1985, and those charges were dismissed in 1986 after he had been tracked down. But as someone who today evaluates the Police Department and sets a policy standard for law enforcement, it is noteworthy that he did not come forward to address Idaho’s complaint. Even if he was acting to protect his children, he is a sitting mayor who not so long ago took it upon himself to operate outside the law.

In depositions taken for a civil lawsuit, he acknowledged obtaining a second Social Security card, driver’s license and bank account under a different name for at least three years. He also said that he filed his taxes for two years under that name and, after 1976, did not file again until 1984.

He said he later paid back taxes for some of those years, and did not earn enough to file for others. Voters did not have ample opportunity to evaluate these and other facts, and should have.

Noyes had an obligation to think long and hard what was best for the citizens of Newport Beach. He has done so now through his sensible decision not to run again. That act of reflection has arrived about four years too late.