The DinnerGate Cover Up - "...Speak No Evil"

This is Part 3 in a series about the Cover Up to prevent an investigation into the spending habits of Councilwoman Kathy McCullough. In Part 1 we examined the events leading up to my belief that Mrs. McCullough may have broken City and State laws. In Part 2 we saw that the City Manager, the City Attorney, and the City Police chief all refused to open an investigation.

According to the City Manager, “State laws and relevant ethical guidelines” prevented him from acting on behalf of the interests of the people of Lake Forest.

CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL

After City Manager Dunek’s refused to investigate the case, I forwarded my report to the State of California Attorney General (AG). The AG replied on September 15 saying

“It is our general policy that local governments are primarily responsible for citizen complaints against their employees or agencies, and that appropriate local resources should be utilized for the resolution of such complaints.

We suggest that you first address your complaint to the head of the city’s agency. If this does not lead to a satisfactory resolution, we suggest that you contact the city attorney’s office, the mayor’s office, and your representative on the city council for assistance. (bold added)”

Hmmm.

Mr. Dunek is telling me that he has no authority and the top law enforcement official in the State of California, the Attorney General, is telling me that Mr. Dunek is indeed the person who should be investigating this case!

Whom should we believe?

CITY OF SANTA ANA

While this was going on an article appeared on the Voice of OC and in the OC Register about the ongoing investigation of the Santa Ana Mayor. According to the Voice of OC –

“City Attorney Sonia Carvalho began investigating the deal almost immediately after the article was published and six months ago turned over a report to the DA’s office and the state Fair Political Practices Commission. The DA and the FPPC then launched their own investigations.”

Lake Forest City Manager Dunek claimed that there was an “obvious and inherent conflict of interest” preventing him investigating “whether or not a member of the city council has violated a particular municipal, state, or federal law...”. But his opinion (we already learned) was not shared by the Attorney General of California and now it appears that it is not shared by the City of Santa Ana. Dunek’s claim that “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” are obviously specious considering the Santa Ana investigation.

Apparently the ongoing investigation in Santa Ana was initiated by the City Attorney. According to Dunek, as I understand it, the Santa Ana City Attorney is breaking the law.

OTHER CITIES

Who’s wrong?

The Attorney General of California or Mr. Dunek?

The City Attorney of Santa Ana or the City Attorney of Lake Forest? Before you answer that question, remember that the City Attorney for Lake Forest works for the law firm BB&K who are perhaps best known for advising the City of Bell, and we know what happened in that case!

To determine whether or not Lake Forest is the odd one out I did an online search and found several more recent cases of cities investigating their council members. For example, the Statesboro City Council investigated whether or not a majority of council members met in potentially illegal private meetings. The Troutville City Council investigated the Mayor building an illegal structure on his property that violated city code.

Hence, the results of a very casual search revealed that several cities have no problems investigating the potentially illegal activities of their Council members.

BOTTOM LINE

There is a substantial amount of evidence that suggests that City Councilwoman Kathy McCullough may have improperly used public monies and in the process violated City and State laws. The evidence is not conclusive, but it is substantial, and should be evaluated further by the appropriate authorities.

But the City Manager, City Attorney, and Lake Forest Police Chief refuse to open an investigation, all of whom claim that it isn’t their responsibility.

Yet the Attorney General of California claims that this is their responsibility, and there is ample precedence, including an ongoing case in Santa Ana, where City authorities have launched investigations into the activities of their elected officials.

NEXT STEP

In my next article I will provide some examples of the “irregularities” I found.

About Jim Gardner

Dr. Jim Gardner edits the CITY WATCH column in The Patch and is a contributing editor to OC Politics and The Voice of OC. He is running for City Council in Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook.