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Mostly Cloudy Long Beach ethics board debate gets heated
Democratic council members spar over appointments
The City Council appointed eight members to the city’s Board of Ethics last week, but not before Councilman Mike Fagen and Council Vice President Scott Mandel got into a heated discussion when Fagen argued that most of the appointees are Democratic supporters who could not serve objectively.
The ethics board has been inactive for six years, but in last fall’s campaign, Democrats Fran Adelson, Len Torres and Mandel, who wrested control of the City Council from the Republican-led coalition, pledged to revive the board and several other committees.
The Board of Ethics’ eight members are appointed by the City Council, and are not paid. They meet and offer advisory opinions at the council’s or city manager’s request. In June, the city announced on its website that it was seeking candidates for the board, and it received about 10 applications.
At its Aug. 21 meeting, the council voted 3-1 to appoint John Laffey, a former city manager and police commissioner; Lawrence Rogak, an attorney and a former acting corporation counsel; Robert L. Carroll, a former parks and recreation commissioner and president of the Lions Club; Helen Dorado Alessi, vice president of the Long Beach Latino Civic Association; Kathy DiBari, a city employee and a former Civil Service Employees Association president; Mathew Behrens, an attorney for the state comptroller’s office; Chris Lynch, a real estate professional; and Stuart Banschick, a former member of the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals.
Mandel said after the meeting that it was too early to determine what the board’s first order of business would be. He dismissed rumors that the council was considering a request to focus on Fagen, who is scheduled to stand trial next month on charges that he illegally collected $14,000 in unemployment benefits.
“We don’t know enough about the matter pending in the criminal court, and it would be premature to say one way or the other whether it would warrant a referral to the ethics board,” Mandel said. “I wouldn’t feel comfortable referring him to the ethics board, not knowing the whole story.”
