City Officials Light on Gifts, Heavy on Investments, Say Disclosures

Mayor Art Madrid received $110 worth of baseball tickets, courtesy of Cox Cable Co., and a parking pass worth $156 from the San Diego Regional Airport Authority. The League of California Cities reimbursed him $876.58 for travel and lodging.

Councilman Dave Allan got four tickets to December’s Poinsettia Bowl—a total value of $180. Councilman Ernie Ewin got $120 in First Friday breakfasts from the East County Chamber of Commerce.

And council members Ruth Sterling and Mark Arapostathis?

They report no gifts on their annual Form 700 disclosures—state-mandated statements of economic interest required of all elective officials, many appointed ones and city-employed staffers as well.

But Sterling’s 13-page filing (attached here along with others) is the longest on file at the La Mesa City Clerk’s Office, listing holdings of 113 stocks, bonds and real-estate investment trusts in a trust mostly valued under $10,000 but about two dozen between $10,001 and $100,000. Her range of holdings put the value of her investments between $2 million and $5 million.

Such filings are mandated under the Political Reform Act, originally a 1974 law and updated several times that requires public officials to disclose assets and income that may be materially affected by their official actions.  

Deadline for submissions covering 2010 was March 31, which Madrid met by hours—his Form 700 was received at 12:06 p.m. that day. Allan and Ewin filed March 30, Sterling on March 7 and Arapostathis was earliest of all—12:15 p.m. Feb. 11.

Arapostathis, an elementary school teacher, also filed the minimum number of pages—one, citing “no reportable interests on any schedule.”

Aimed at discouraging—and revealing—potential conflicts of interest, the Form 700s are just one tool used by the state to allow public oversight of all elected officials and certain public employees.

In November 2010, the City Clerk’s Office published a Conflict of Interest Code (also attached here) that among other things limits annual gifts.

“No member of a state board or commission, and no designated employee of a state or local government agency, shall accept gifts with a total value of more than $420 in a calendar year from any single source,” says the La Mesa code.

None of the three council members reporting gifts exceeded that single-source total although Allan listed $350 in tickets from Sempra Energy, $145 from the airport authority and $180 in tickets from AT&T for the Poinsettia Bowl for a total of $675.*

At least one commission member—Kathleen Coates Hedberg of the city’s Environmental Sustainability Commission—reported gifts totaling $470.65, including $65 each for dinners for her and her husband on a desalination plant tour and raffle prizes of $50 for an iPod shuffle and $55 for a “Banjo Board–CD.”

Among the appointive officials filing Form 700s were two announced candidates for La Mesa office in 2012—Parking Commission members Jim Wieboldt and Laura Lothian.

Wieboldt in November 2010 announced his intention to vie for Sterling’s seat on the council, receiving the endorsements of Councilman Allan, whose seat also will be contested.

In his Form 700, Wieboldt put the value of his travel agency—Unique Travel Concepts—at between $100,000 and $1 million. He also listed two homes on Sarita Street—one a rental property that brings in at least $10,001 a year. He lists his travel agency property on Date Avenue and a rental property on Palm Avenue.

Lothian, who lost to Madrid in November’s mayoral election, lists ownership of properties on Date Avenue in La Mesa and 10th Avenue in San Diego near Petco Park, which makes her no more than $10,000 a year as a rental.

She reports making more than $100,000 in 2010 from Real Estate of the Pacific.

City Treasurer Eldon “Bud” Vogt, who ran unopposed in 2010, filed a nine-page disclosure that listed no gifts. His property holdings include a vacant lot valued at $100,001 to $1 million at 8255 Finley Ave. in La Mesa and rental properties on La Mesa Boulevard and Date Avenue of the same value range.

Like Sterling, Vogt reported extensive stock holdings—about two dozen blue-chip companies including Bank of America, Home Depot, McDonald’s Corp., PepsiCo and Honeywell, mostly in the $2,000 to $10,000 range. He appears to be an active trader, buying shares and selling the same sometimes within weeks.

Sterling, like others, filed her Form 700s with other agencies and boards she’s a member of, including East County Economic Development Council, the Heartland Communications Facility Authority, SANDAG and the Metropolitan Transit System.

Aside from a trust based in Kansas City, Mo., she owns shares in at least a dozen major companies and bonds in two dozen others.

Her largest holding—in Fluor Corp. New stock—is valued at more than $1 million, according to her disclosure.

Among her stock holdings—valued at $100,001 to $1 million—are Massey Energy Co., the coal company that operated the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia where 29 workers died in 2010, and Philip Morris, which she acquired in 2007.

Among other La Mesa-paid officials and commissioners, City Attorney Glenn Sabine listed receiving between $10,001 and $100,000 and Community Development Director Bill Chopyk listed ownership of an El Cajon property on Nielsen Street worth no more than $1 million and a rental property on San Diego’s 67th Street in the same range.

Former chamber executive David Smyle, who serves on the city’s Real Estate Rehabilitation Committee, reported a value of at least $1 million for his Benchmark Financial Inc. of La Mesa, from which he earned more than $100,000 in 2010. Among the sources of his Benchmark income is the Wieboldt Family Trust.

Other highlights from the City Council disclosures:

• Madrid has investments in Costco Wholesale Corp., AT&T and Qualcomm Corp.—all in the $2,000 to $10,000 range. His former employer, AT&T, sent him pension payments totaling $10,001 to $100,000 last year
• Sterling reports earning between $10,001 and $100,000 last year from the B.L. Hupp Trust FBO (for the benefit of) Ruth Sterling.
• Allan reports his Pepper Valley Learning Center in El Cajon—of which he is part owner—is worth more than $1 million. He received between $10,001 and $100,000 from the center last year. His pension from the San Miguel Fire Department netted him between $10,001 and $100,000 last year.
• Ewin reported making between $10,001 and $100,000 as executive director of the Grossmont College Foundation.

*Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Councilman Allan exceeded the $420 limit of gifts from a single source. His total exceeded $420, but they were from multiple sources.