The DinnerGate Cover Up - "See No Evil, Hear No Evil..."

Yesterday I discussed the fact that in the process of examining Councilwoman Kathy McCullough’s mis-representation of how she spends city money it appeared to me that she broke some City and State laws, so I produced a detailed report and ran it by two independent CPAs who confirmed that “something was rotten in Denmark.”

Not wanting to cause any undue distress, and being fully aware I am not a lawyer nor an expert on City policies, I wanted to meet with the City Manager and the City Attorney in private to be absolutely sure my beliefs were accurate. I have done this before, in the interests of avoiding embarrassment to the City as well as individuals, and I saw no reason not to follow the same conservative policy in this case.

INITIAL REQUEST

On July 24, 2014 I wrote to the City Manager –

“Good morning,

As you know I have been looking into the use of the travel budget by Council members and found irregularities in Councilwoman McCullough’s records. While I publicized the discrepancies between what she says and what she does, I haven’t as yet discussed the apparent breaches of the law. By my research I’ve identified more than 50 specific violations involving nearly $1000. I know from past experience that I don’t always interpret municipal codes accurately, so I thought it would be prudent for me to meet with the City Attorney (and anyone else you suggest) and go over each of these examples and make a determination as to whether or not these are violations.”

Absent a response, I inquired again on August 1, 2014.

LAKE FOREST CITY MANAGER SAYS – “HEAR NO EVEIL, SEE NO EVIL…”

On August 11, 2014, more than two weeks after my initial letter, the City Manager replied -

“The City Attorney and I had the opportunity to discuss your request; we regret the delay, but it deserved full consideration before responding.

…Given the obvious and inherent conflict of interest for the City Attorney or a member of the City staff to offer an opinion generally as to whether or not a member of the city council has violated a particular municipal, state, or federal law, it also would be inappropriate to provide advice in this specific instance. State laws and relevant ethical guidelines for lawyers and public employees recognize these constraints and, consequently, vest interpretation and enforcement of such provisions to independent agencies such as the Fair Political Practices Commission, the District Attorney, and other law enforcement agencies. While we appreciate your desire to understand those laws better as they might apply in the instance of Council Member McCullough’s expense reports, we cannot offer further assistance in aiding your inquiry.”

I couldn’t believe what City Manager Dunek was saying, but following his advice I contacted the Orange County District Attorney (D.A.) office who said that I should bring the matter to the attention of the Lake Forest Police, who then would investigate and if there was sufficient cause, refer the case to the D.A. for prosecution.

LAKE FOREST POLICE CHIEF SAYS – “HEAR NO EVIL…”

I called the Police chief and left a message requesting a meeting and briefly shared with him the sequence of events outlined above. We arranged a meeting for Wednesday September 17. On September 16, Lt. Valentine called and informed me that after discussions with his “superiors” he decided that he was not the person to investigate the case. He said he contacted the D.A.’s office and spoke with the Special Prosecutions Unit (SPU) who agreed to take the information. I sent an e-mail to the SPU along with my report and they replied, acknowledging receipt and said “Our office is going to review the documents and I will make sure to let you know about the progress and the result of our investigation.”

So, my initial requests to speak in confidence with the City Manager, the City Attorney, and the City Police Chief were all met with the response – “Not our problem”. In the case of Mr. Dunek, he apparently believes that he works for Mrs. McCullough, and not for the City of Lake Forest, or the people, and therefore he is uncomfortable investigating his “boss”. Personally I was offended by that attitude. The Council members are elected to represent the City, and the City Manager is supposed to be working for the best interests of the City, not the Council members.

Dunek cloaked his reluctance by claiming that “State laws and relevant ethical guidelines” prevented him from doing his duty.

Tomorrow we’ll see if he was correct.

About Jim Gardner

Dr. Jim Gardner is running for City Council in Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook.