Sometimes it’s “Good to know the King.” And as Adam Elmahrek explains in his Voice of OC article today, the King delivers for his friends, especially those who employ him.
In September of 2006, Santa Ana City Council passed one of Orange County’s strictest ordinances having to do with the containment of shopping carts. The ordinance requires merchants to come up with physical measures to corral their carts and specifically mentions electronic locking devices as one of the favored methods.
Mayor Miguel Pulido joined the council’s unanimous approval of the ordinance even though at the time he was receiving a paycheck from a company owned by R.J. Brandes, who also happened to be — and still is — majority owner of Gatekeeper Systems, Inc., an Irvine-based company that makes wheel locking systems for shopping carts.
It is unclear to good government experts whether Pulido violated the state’s conflict of interest law by participating in this vote. But it does show once again how close the mayor’s myriad business interests sometimes get to his public policy decisions.
Who knows, maybe the mayor was simply paid another one of his “Success Fees?” Surely there’s nothing wrong with that right? Whether its, Real Estate Sales, Vending Truck Permits, or in this case, Shopping Cart Laws, Mayor Pulidio seems to have his hand in just about everything.
Follow the hyperlink to read Adams’s complete article: Santa Ana Shopping Cart Law Shows Extent of Mayor’s Business Dealings.
The mayor and council should be paid jobs.
@ Cook:
And in the meantime, what should happen or what should the citizens, business and homeowners do, if there are perceived or actual conflicts of interests?
That’s a lousy idea Cook! I wouldn’t pay any of the current mayor or council to be dogcatcher.
Based on all the press coming out on the mayor, it looks like he has already turned the position into quite a little moneymaking venture, and now the council is following in his footsteps.
It’s just like what happened in the city of Bell, with a lack of accountability, unnatural relationships and dealing directly with developers who do business with the city, and other conflicts of interest.
Santa Ana may not pay their city council as much yet, but it certainly is starting to look like some of them have found the loopholes that allow them to make a little something to fill that void with side deals.
Conflict of interest is all BS, as long as the elected offical’s vote is outside the time limit, it is legal.
if the elected offical was an employee, then it would be insider trading and a crime at any time.
for “santa ana voter” you get what you pay for.
because the mayor and council ARE NOT employees, they can sell their vote or city interest to the highest bidder, as long as it is with in the letter of conflict of interest laws.
That is the system Santa Ana operates under.