Pressure for San Jacinto councilmen to resign will likely increase

Even as residents attempt to absorb the news that four of the five San Jacinto City Council members have been indicted, one political expert is suggesting there will be growing pressure for the group to resign so the city can move on.

“There will be pressure from different sides to step aside,” said Max Neiman, senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. “Some will suggest they should step aside for their own good so they can focus on defending themselves; these are serious allegations.”

Neiman, a political science professor at UC Riverside for 32 years before retiring, said the pressure will come from those who support the four council members and those who believe the group is harming the city by staying on as the case winds through the legal system. The longer the case drags on, he said, the more the pressure will build.

“There will be a cloud over the city, no doubt,” he said.

The four —  Mayor Jimmie Dale Stubblefield Jr., 41, vice mayor John Mansperger, 41, councilmen James Williams Ayres, 48, and James Walter Potts, 67 - have been charged with a variety of criminal charges in what District Attorney Rod Pacheco called the largest political corruption case in Riverside County history. The 155-count indictment includes allegations of bribery, conspiracy and money laundering.

The case involves 56 felonies and 99 misdemeanors and some of the defendants face up to 20-plus years if they are convicted on all the charges against them.

Five others have been charged, including Ayres’ 44-year-old wife, Nancy, but the initial focus appeared to be on the four council members and how the city will progress after Thursday’s stunning announcement.

“There has been a whole range of emotions in the community,” said Bob Duistermars, president of Central County United Way, which serves the San Jacinto Valley area. “You have people out there who were outraged, then there were others who said people are innocent until proven guilty. But everyone seemed to have an opinion.”

Along with Nancy Ayres, who is a San Jacinto Unified School District board member, the other defendants are Steven Russell Holgate, 62, Scott Douglas Shaull, 45, Byron Jerry Ellison, 70, and Robert Edward Osborne, 69. The four men have been described as business associates of the council members or the city.

Duistermars said there has already been talk among some in the community that the council members should step down or organizing a recall campaign. According to published reports, the remaining councilman, Steve Di Memmo, has called on the others to step down.

Duistermars, who serves on various community boards, said he expects the pressure on the four councilmen to increase as the case continues, especially since the city is facing some tough decisions like replacing the retiring city manager and dealing with the tough economic times. The legal system should be allowed to run its course, he said, but there are also other considerations.

“If you step down now, everyone is going to assume you were guilty,” he said. “Then if you stay on, others are going to say you are harming the city.”

Some people hear the allegations, he said, and assume they are true.

“We expect so much of our elected officials,” he said. “Some people don’t want to wait and see what happens. They hear something like this and just believe it.”

During a Thursday news conference, Pacheco outlined some of the case, focusing much of the attention on Ayres and his unsuccessful 2006 campaign for the 65^th Assembly District. The case started with a tip in April 2008, Pacheco said, and continued for 18 months as investigators served 32 search warrants, including those at the homes of Stubblefield and Ayres.

According to a news release, the investigation showed that the council members and various campaign contributors had been engaged in a conspiracy to launder campaign funds into campaign committees, which include those of Nancy Jo Ayres for San Jacinto school board and the 2006 primary election for Ayres in the 65th Assembly District.

The conspiracy was designed to avoid the disclosures mandated by the Fair Political Practices Act and to avoid campaign contribution limits, the news release stated. The investigation further disclosed improprieties in the financial relationship between Stephen Russell Holgate and the couple, the news release said. Several other people played key roles at various stages of the inappropriate financial dealings.

Neiman said the four can remain on the council as long as they are not convicted of a crime and there is little anyone can do to remove them, short of a recall election. The practical aspects of the case, however, could eventually harm the city’s ability to do business, he said. The day-to-day operations are handled by the city manager and staff, he said, but the council members often get involved in the workings of government.

Whether its negotiations, public events or approving a contract with an outside contractor, he said, the indictment will always be there as the council members try and go about their work.

“It puts a cloud over everything,” Neiman said.

Pacheco described Ayres and Holgate as the “two main players” in the case, but emphasized that many others were involved, including other family members, friends and associates. He said more information about who else was involved would come out as the transcripts from the Riverside County Grand Jury are released.

John Hall, spokesman for Pacheco, said Friday those transcripts will be released sometime in December.

Tags: and James Walter Potts, councilmen James Williams Ayres, Max Neiman, Mayor Jimmie Dale Stubblefield Jr., Public Policy Institute of California, Rod Pacheco, san jacinto city council, SWRNN, UC Riverside, Vice Mayor John Mansperger

This entry was posted on Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 4:49 pm and is filed under Courts, Crime, Local News, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.