Official Accuses Another of Assault

Early this year, Placentia City Councilman Norman Z. Eckenrode returned a $1,000 campaign donation he had accepted in apparent violation of state conflict-of-interest laws.

Then, in May, the Orange County Sanitation District paid $150,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit against Eckenrode, one of the agency’s board members. An employee alleged that he had kissed and hugged her inappropriately.

Now the veteran politician is in the spotlight again.

The president of the Orange County Water District board told Fountain Valley police that Eckenrode assaulted and threatened him repeatedly at a water district function Monday night.

Denis R. Bilodeau accused Eckenrode of accosting him during a meeting attended by board members from the water and sanitation districts.

Bilodeau, 36, said the councilman got physical by, among other things, grabbing his arm and necktie and repeatedly shoving him in a hallway at the water district’s headquarters in Fountain Valley. Bilodeau called police, who took a report.

Eckenrode denied the accusations. Bilodeau says there is at least one witness to Monday’s encounter whom police have not interviewed.

The two were at odds during the recent election campaign, when Bilodeau opposed Eckenrode’s bid to win a seat on the water board. Eckenrode lost the election and remains on the sanitation district board.

During Monday’s meeting, Bilodeau said, Eckenrode taunted him with threats and later tried to trip him as they walked into a conference room off the main board room.

Bilodeau said Eckenrode told him, “I’m going to kick your ass. Let’s take it out into the parking lot right now. I may be 67 years old, but I can still kick your ass. This is not over!”

He said Eckenrode called him “a little boy” and tried to trip him. Bilodeau said he stumbled but did not fall.

Eckenrode, who has been on the Placentia City Council for more than 26 years, said Bilodeau misquoted him and embellished the incident to suit his political agenda.

The councilman said he blamed Bilodeau for a derogatory campaign mailer that contained newspaper headlines about Eckenrode’s sexual harassment case and the $1,000 campaign donation received from a sanitation district contractor, which Eckenrode returned.

“I talked to him about the mailer. I didn’t touch him. I didn’t push him,” Eckenrode said. “What I said was ‘In my younger days, we’d settle this in the parking lot.’ I’m 67 years old now. If I hit anyone, I’d break my hand.”

Eckenrode also denied that he tried to kick or trip Bilodeau in the conference room. He said they merely brushed shoulders accidentally. He also noted that he was not arrested after police arrived at the water district offices, where they questioned him and Bilodeau.

“His report is false. I told the police that,” Eckenrode said. “I thought I knew Denis for 15 years. Now I don’t know him at all. He used to be a nice, friendly guy. Now he just wants to do in people politically.”

Eckenrode accused Bilodeau of instigating news coverage of the $1,000 donation he got late last year from Camp, Dresser & McKee Inc., a Carlsbad engineering firm that does work for the sanitation and water districts.

He received the money just days after voting favorably on Camp, Dresser contracts, and later returned it.

In the sexual harassment case, Eckenrode said, his actions were misinterpreted by an employee who did not understand his outgoing nature. The suit, which also accused the district of failing to investigate the employee’s complaints, was settled after mediation.

Bilodeau said Tuesday that Eckenrode was unfit for public office. He said he planned to ask Placentia council members to remove their colleague as the city’s appointment to the sanitation board.