DA Launches Inquiry Into City Hall Credit Card Use

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office has launched an inquiry into by West Hollywood City Hall employees. Earlier this month, documents surfaced showing $13,000 worth of questionable charges on the city’s credit cards in 2010.

“We have opened an inquiry,” said Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the DA’s office. “A review of the complaint is under way to determine if it will be necessary to open an investigation.”

Those charges included a dinner for six at  that totaled $674 and one at  that came to $308.

Other charges include $2,040 for six Montblanc pens and $1,860 worth of gift cards purchased at  market.

West Hollywood City Hall released the following statement regarding the inquiry:

On March 18, 2011, the city of West Hollywood received a letter from the L.A. County District Attorney’s office, Public Integrity Division, requesting copies of various documents. The city is fully cooperating with the request.

This inquiry is not an investigation. No charges have been filed.

“This is merely the stage where they look at the information to determine if there is enough there to justify doing a full investigation,” explained Gibbons.

Former City Councilman , who lost his bid to rejoin the council earlier this month, believes there will be an investigation. He points to the $1,860 spent on gift cards at Gelson’s. The city earlier released a statement saying those gift cards were for “employee milestones.”

“The charges of Gelson’s gift cards for retiring employees are certainly nontraditional,” said Martin, an attorney who practices family law. “The DA may suspect that these represent illegal gifts of public funds as it is nearly the equivalent of giving cash.”

Gibbons would not reveal who filed the complaint with the DA, saying it is policy “not to disclose that information.”

The complaint likely grew out of a  that five of the City Council challengers (including Martin) held the day before the March 8 election.

Those five demanded that Mayor John Heilman reimburse the taxpayers for the charges. They also called upon the City Council to establish a policy for credit card use that will prevent future extravagant charges.

Newly sworn-in councilman , who was one of the five at the news conference, is on vacation in Hawaii and could not be reached for comment about the DA’s inquiry. Previously, D’Amico has said he will continue to push for those reforms now that he is on the council.  

Local activist Ed Buck, who uncovered the documents after a prolonged public records request, said he is glad the DA is conducting the inquiry.

“Whether or not this rises up to the level of criminal charges, it’s wrong,” said Buck. “It’s ethically wrong. It’s morally wrong.”

Buck noted that there have been rumors about City Hall misuse of credit cards circulating for years, but no one could ever prove it. 

The documents Buck found show that two people in City Hall made the majority of the questionable charges—Heilman’s deputy Fran Solomon and City Manager Paul Arevalo.

Also questionable was the people they were treating to the meals. The records indicate Solomon picked up the tab for lunch with Richard Weintraub, the developer behind the Sunset Doheny Hotel, and Steve Afriat, a lobbyist who frequently represents developers.

Solomon also bought lunch for U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein assistant Trevor Daly to discuss midterm elections, according to the documents. Buck says that “engaging in political behavior on the city’s dime is illegal.”

When the story first broke, the city released a statement regarding Solomon’s charges:

The credit card expenditures for 2010 incurred by city employee Fran Solomon totaled less than $2,000 for the entire year. According to our records, these expenditures were for official city business meetings with various community stakeholders.

The city has not released any statement specifically regarding Arevalo’s credit card charges. However, the city did say “no public funds have been expended for any private club membership,” referring to Arevalo's meals at Soho House, a private club frequented by Hollywood elite.

The city also said in an earlier statement, “The city of West Hollywood understands and has always taken seriously its fiduciary responsibility in managing public funds.”

It further stated that the city has a written expense reimbursement policy and that all credit card purchases are reviewed by the Finance Department to “ensure appropriate documentation and that the purpose of the expenditure was for legitimate city business.”

Martin noted that city policy regarding credit cards has changed since he served on the council from 1994 to 2003.

“There appears to be virtually no supervision by the city manager as to use or abuse of the city credit cards,” Martin said. “The current system provides less accountability than the old system where each City Council member was issued a credit card. The city seems to have created a less transparent system so that citizens will not able to easily scrutinize these charges.”

Gibbons did not know how long the DA’s inquiry would last, saying only that it will go on “as long as it takes.”

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