As promised, Matt Stiles has started digging into campaing finance reports for city officeholders and seekers. This installment has to do with expenditures a couple of Council members have made on legal fees.
Since January, council members Carol Alvarado and Michael Berry have paid lawyers $70,000 and $45,000, respectively, according to campaign filings made public Monday.Berry and Alvarado, both of whom declined comment Tuesday, have been subjects of a broad inquiry into city officials and practices launched by District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal's office last year.
Rosenthal also declined comment, referring calls to a prosecutor in charge of the probe who was out of town Tuesday.
The grand jury issued a total of nine indictments against Rosita Hernandez, Florence Watkins, Christopher Mays and Theresa Orta, all of whom were fired after the investigation began earlier this year.Each is charged with theft by a public servant of more than $200,000 and tampering with a public record. Watkins is named in two tampering indictments.
The indictment alleges that unauthorized bonuses totaled $143,500 and unauthorized raises brought the total to at least $200,000, said Assistant District Attorney Don Smyth.
The grand jury did not indict Councilwoman Carol Alvarado, who was mayor pro tem when the employees got the payments.
[...]
The indictments conclude the investigation in the Office of Mayor Pro Tem, Smyth said, but the investigation now will look into all other city departments to ensure that no more improper payments have been made.
The broader probe has included scrutiny of campaign records, bonuses and other matters involving several council members' offices, but prosecutors have not said much about their inquiries.A grand jury last fall indicted four of Alvarado's former pro tem office employees, accusing them of illegally taking bonuses and raises totaling more than $200,000.
Alvarado and employees in her District I office were not implicated in any wrongdoing related to the payments, but prosecutors' investigation into other matters continues.
Council Member Berry had a different issue:
Prosecutors have not disclosed the nature of the Berry investigation. Last year he amended his campaign and personal financial disclosure forms going back several years, adding previously unreported details. He voluntarily submitted the documents to prosecutors.
What I've heard about Berry is that he reported a total of about $80,000 paid to a sign guy who never put up any signs. There was another $15,000 paid to his regular sign guy who said he never got paid that much.
Of course, that's all rumor, so take it for what it's worth.
Posted by: Uh oh on July 18, 2007 2:41 PMThe guy actually renovated houses for Berry's real estate company and was paid from campaign funds to do so.
Rosenthal has this case but he and Berry share the same political consultant, so do you think there will be any charges?
Perhaps, Jay Aiyer's real mistake was not hiring Allan Blakemore?
Posted by: Titus Livius on July 26, 2007 8:32 PM