SANTA ANA – A coalition of community groups is demanding a grand-jury investigation into what its members describe as a pattern of abuse inside Santa Ana City Hall.
Those alleged abuses include a six-figure severance package given to the former city attorney and a half-million-dollar fee that the mayor expected for his work on a state land deal. The coalition plans to file a formal complaint with the Orange County grand jury by Thursday, listing those and other concerns.
That complaint will bear signatures from half a dozen mostly Latino organizations, headed by the longtime advocacy group Los Amigos. That group counts among its members Alfredo Amezcua, one of the chief political rivals of Mayor Miguel Pulido.
Amezcua, who lost a bid to unseat Pulido last fall, referred questions to other members of the coalition. They said politics played no role in their decision to take their concerns to the grand jury.
"This is not about politics," said Francisco Barragán, commander of the United Mexican-American Veterans Association, one of the coalition's groups. "It's about getting the facts, and moving forward from the facts."
Pulido was not in City Hall on Wednesday and could not immediately be reached for comment. In a prepared statement, City Manager David Ream said: “The city is sensitive to the public’s need for a transparent government. As such, the City Council has always strived to be inclusive and to meet the highest standards of disclosure as required in both local and state laws.”
The community groups' complaint lists four areas of concern, many drawn from news coverage of the past several months:
•The City Council recently approved a severance deal with former City Attorney Joseph Fletcher for more than $330,000, including cashed-out vacation and sick days. Neither Fletcher nor council members have spoken in any detail about the circumstances of his resignation last month, but his contract guarantees him a severance only if the council fires him.
•Pulido has said he expected to receive a "success fee" worth as much as $500,000 for helping bring together investors for a state land deal. The companies involved in that deal, however, have refuted that, saying Pulido was never in line for any money.
•Police Chief Paul Walters recorded an automated "robocall" in the days before the November election challenging Amezcua's campaign claim that he had the support of a member of Congress. Walters said he recorded the call on his off-hours, at home, and only after checking with the city attorney, the city manager and his own personal attorney.
•Five council members received campaign money from developers and real-estate brokers involved in a major redevelopment project. Two of the council members subsequently cast votes on that project; both have said they were not aware that they may have had a conflict of interest, and have returned the money.
"It becomes a pattern of repeated abuses," said Barragán, who helped organize the coalition and led a press conference on Wednesday morning announcing the grand-jury complaint. "What do they say? Where there's smoke, there's fire."
Mary Booker, an administrative assistant with the Orange County grand jury, said she could not speak in any detail about complaints it receives, all of which are considered confidential. The grand jury receives about 50 complaints a year, she said, and intends to "check into each and every one."
The coalition filing the complaint also includes the state League of United Latin American Citizens and its Santa Ana chapter, the Rudy Escalante chapter of the American GI Forum of the United States, MANA de Orange County and the Santa Ana Coalition for Better Government.
The coalition's lead group, Los Amigos, also demanded a grand-jury investigation of Pulido's business dealings last year, a request that Pulido described at the time as politically motivated.
Contact the writer: 714-704-3777 or dirving@ocregister.com
http://www.ocregister.com/news/coalition-282858-grand-jury.html
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