Asset statements show connections

Dinners, golf outings and baseball game tickets were the most popular gifts developers, lobbyists and others bestowed on city, school and water district officials this past year, according to documents filed with the three public agencies this month.

The gift reports are part of the economic interest statements local elected and appointed leaders are required to file each year. Other reportable items include business positions, income, investments, real estate holdings and loans.

But except for gifts, the reporting requirements generally apply only to income or holdings worth $2,000 or more that are associated with each agency’s jurisdiction.

And since gifts can’t total more than $360 from one source each year, they’re often used more to build relationships with officials, rather than directly influence decision-making.

For example, the city’s law firm paid $85 each for dinners with Councilmen Allen Castellano and Mike Duvall, and the Disney organization provided Councilman Ken Ryan with a $137 dinner.

The influential lobbying group Smith Public Affairs gave Ryan and Councilwoman Keri Wilson each two sets of four Angel baseball tickets, valued at $208 by Ryan and $192 by Wilson.

Golf outings were provided to Ryan ($80 from Vista del Verde developer Aera Energy) and Councilman Jim Winder ($200 from Fullerton businessman Tom Duncan and $150 from St. Jude Hospital CEO Bob Frushetti).

Parks and Recreation Director Steve Rudometkin enjoyed two $65 golf dates, from Aera Energy and city trash contractor Taormina Industries. City Manager Tamara Letourneau noted 13 wedding gifts, mostly Waterford items valued at more than $100 each.

School trustees and water directors didn’t report any gifts. Superintendent Dennis Smith listed nine lunches and dinners valued from $12.50 to $80, as well as Nissan Open and Disneyland event tickets he didn’t use. Water district assistant general manager Ken Vecchiavelli reported a $120 golf tournament and dinner from the district’s law firm.

Duvall’s Lemon Street insurance business and building, Wilson’s real estate appraisal service and water district General Manager Mike Payne’s Pomona Valley Towing business and Pomona property, which he listed as worth more than $1 million each, were among the business interests reported.

In addition, water district directors Mike Beverage and Bill Mills each listed marketing or consulting income. Beverage worked for developer Shapell Industries and engineering company Metcalf and Eddy, as well as providing design and printing for Yorba Linda and Placentia. Mills noted three major water-related agencies among his accounts.

A FINAL NOTE

Barrett Garcia, the San Juan Capistrano-based treasurer of Citizens and Taxpayers to Restore Old Town Yorba Linda, sponsored by the former Old Town Yorba Linda Partners, officially ended the political action committee’s brief existence last month.

The controversial group spent $115,000 in December and January in a failed attempt to stop Yorba Linda voters from signing petitions calling for a referendum on the City Council’s hastily approved and quickly rescinded Town Center zoning ordinances.

The two contributors to the committee’s coffers were former downtown developer Michael Dieden’s Los Angeles-based Creative Housing Associates ($75,000) and Greg Brown and Ed Hanley’s Newport Beach-based BH Urban Equities ($40,000).

Dennis DeSnoo, a former consultant to all five council members, was paid $23,000 for his work and expenses in the aggressive 21-day effort to block the petitioning process.