Ann Ravel claims conflict of interest with two commissioners, says it’s not a ‘personal attack’
The California Fair Political Practices Commission is investigating a complaint alleging violations by Malibu officials of the State’s Political Reform Act (PRA). The FPPC has formally contacted City Manager Steve McClary, City Attorney Trevor Rusin, Councilmembers Paul Grisanti and Marianne Riggins, and Planning Commissioners Skylar Peak and Dennis Smith with notice it will investigate allegations of conflicts of interest by Peak and Smith of voting on matters in which they have a reasonably foreseeable material financial benefit. Stated in the complaint: “These Planning Commissioners were contractors who ultimately were employed to work on the projects on which they had voted.”
At a Sept. 25 City Council meeting, both Riggins and Grisanti bristled at allegations of misconduct. However, attorney Ann Ravel who filed the complaint, stated, “This is not a criminal case. It’s an issue of ethics. There is some strong law at the FPPC, which is based on the PRA, which requires that individual members in government service are not supposed to be conflicted because their job is to represent the public and not their own interests. That’s what the allegation is.”
At the Oct. 2 Planning Commission meeting, Commissioner Kraig Hill summarized League of California Cities guidance saying, “For a conflict to be present there’s no requirement that misconduct has occurred. There’s no need for a quid pro quo. So, the concept of innocent until proven guilty, as was invoked by several councilmembers, is irrelevant. The conflict of interest law is not essentially about something you’ve done, but about who you are, about your economic position in the community. The guidance makes clear that if a decisionmaker’s job involves development-related contracts and if they benefit more directly from development than do most others in the community they’re required to recuse from hearing development applications.”
According to Ravel, “The issue is whether or not the decision that they are making will have a foreseeable financial effect on them. In this instance that is true. That happened. There was a foreseeable financial effect and for that reason my opinion and I am quite certain the FPPC will agree they should not have participated in making that decision about that development. This is about the planning commissioners. The council is only being referred to because they have some responsibility here to indicate to the commissioners they appointed that they must not engage in any conflicts of interest. The councilmembers have not been charged with anything. The entire argument that I am making is that given the issue that they voted on that they [Peak and Smith] did have a financial interest. They are covered by the law because they are public officials.”
Ravel, a Berkeley Law professor, is considered an expert on governmental ethics. She was appointed by President Obama to serve on the Federal Election Commission and served as chair of the FPPC. In an interview with The Malibu Times she commented, “For me the issues are about government ethics and that elected officials who are appointed have to abide by the rules that show that their interest is for the public and not for themselves. The provisions in the PRA are that public officials should not and cannot participate in any governmental decisions in which they may have a foreseeable monetary conflict of interest and enrich them by their own decisionmaking. The important part for me is it’s not a criminal issue, it’s an ethics issue.”
As to who hired Ravel, she clarified she filed the complaint on her own and was “not hired. I had conversations with numerous residents of Malibu and some others. I am not in the employ of anyone. When I was told about these issues I found so improper, [I acted] because of how important it is for there to be public trust in government.”
Ravel also said an ethics investigation should not be viewed as a “personal attack.”
“It is a hope that local governments are going to be absolutely ethical and are going to make decisions on behalf of the community and not on their own behalf,” she said. “They should be concerned about this complaint.”
Ravel noted that after informing the City of Malibu of her concerns, she never received a response. That prompted her to file a formal complaint.
If the FPPC does find conflicts of interest at the Malibu Planning Commission, fines could be levied. In the meantime, Ravel continues to request the two commissioners recuse themselves from development issues or to step down, or that Riggins and Grisanti appoint new commissioners.