To Melissa Fox and Christina Shea: There IS a Conflict of Interest
Below is a prepared speech by Robin Gurien that was to be delivered to the City Council on June 26th. Although she was unable to give the speech due to an issue with the public comments request, the Council clerk was kind enough to accept an email of it and distributed it to the Councilmembers.
There is more to a conflict of interest than whether or not a Council member earns a direct paycheck for their work on other boards and projects. A conflict of interest could occur because of potential land development deals or real estate sales that Council members could benefit from. Or there could be a conflict of interest due to relationships that board members have with others who stand to benefit from their votes and positions on the Land Trust Board. Conflicts of interests can occur due to the nature of gifts, reimbursements, donations, or other contributions that could change hands.
Tonight, we heard Irvine City Attorney Melching confirm that Council members Shea and Fox do not get any money from being on the Board of the Irvine Land Trust and the Irvine City Council at the same time, and that as a result the Council members have not engaged in a conflict of interest. I believe that Mr. Melching, and Council members Shea and Fox have misunderstood the complaint. It is that Council members Fox and Shea, as board members of the Land Trust, requested funding from the Irvine City Council, and then as council members of the City of Irvine, voted to approve that funding. This is the simplest conflict of interest relationship that can exist: you used your power in your positions as Council members to benefit your work as board members of the Land Trust.
By “stacking the deck” on this decision, you give credence to the complaints of corruption and impropriety that Council member Shea claims have been plaguing her on social media. Though these comments may in fact be par for the course for an elected official in today’s political world, there are actions that the Council members can take to reduce them: embrace more transparency on the Irvine Land Trust. Even if there is no government code requiring non-profit agencies to allow members of the public to attend the board meetings, allow unrestricted access anyway. Even though a non-profit doesn’t have to post its by-laws for the public, post them anyway. Even though the land trust doesn’t have to record and/or publish meeting minutes, record and publish anyway. Go beyond what you have a right to do; do what is right.
Showing the residents of Irvine more transparency in the decisions and actions that affect us will give us less reason to doubt your sincerity.
Robin Gurien, PhD has been a resident of Irvine since 2007.
8 Comments
Joyce C
June 28, 2018 at 5:43 amThank you for bringing this to light. It is imperative to inform our Irvine citizens of the deceit that and corruption that fuels our city officials. The rapid expansion in construction is going to cripple our city. Traffic is reaching LA levels. No one has considered the impact on infrastructure. We will be faced with spending more money down the line to expand, improve and repair it, unless of course that is their plan – more contracts to provide more kickbacks or funding for their campaigns. They must be exposed and must be stopped.
Branda Lin
June 28, 2018 at 7:40 amIt is also concerning that Patrick Strader, lobbyist for the developer FivePoint/StarPointe Ventures, is a board member of the Irvine Community Land Trust, given the fact that he has given money to Melissa Fox who sits as Chair of the ICLT and as an Irvine City Council member.
Gail Lewis
June 28, 2018 at 8:37 amIs it okay if I put your speech on Next Door? Irvine residents need to know. Thanks for all you doing Wesley.
Janis Morris
June 28, 2018 at 3:05 pmIrvine has so many accomplished residents, all other issues aside, why do 2 sitting council people need to be on the ICLT BoD?
Perhaps more diversity of thought would be an asset.
Robin Gurien
June 28, 2018 at 8:57 pmFor the sake of clarity, please be aware that these public comments were delivered *in writing* to the city councilmembers via email on Wednesday, June 27. When I submitted my request to speak at the meeting on Tuesday night, I put the paper in the wrong place and so it never made its way to the clerk. Ms. McGlaughlin was kind enough to accept my comments via email and distributed them the next day.
Susan Sayre
June 29, 2018 at 6:23 pmThere are a number of issues with regards to the Irvine Land Trust. The current board, with Melissa Fox and Christina Shea as board members, has refused to allow members of the public to attend the meetings without prior consent and thereby is not allowing public comments> This action is in violation of the Brown Act, in my opinion, and actually in the opinion of Mayor Wagner as well, or so he told me. I have written a letter to the Irvine Land Trust Attorney to ask him to inform the Irvine Land Trust Board that they have to apply by the provisions of the Brown Act and Mayor Wagner told me that he would also look into the matter.
Is there no transparency nor accountability for the Irvine Land Trust? Are they free to do whatever they want behind closed doors? I further believe that when it comes to City Counsel budget decisions regarding giving City funding to the Irvine Land Trust, Christina Shea and Melissa Fox should recuse themselves due to conflict of interest.
Farrah N. Khan
July 28, 2018 at 8:48 pmThe Irvine Land Trust was organized to provide housing for low-low income and the homeless with wrap around services. The land is given to the city as a part of new development ordinance and currently the Land Trust has about 16 acres of land available. The Land Trust works with local non-profits like Jamboree Housing, the Kennedy Commission and others to develop plans and find funding. This usually takes up to 10 years for any project. With 2 council members and a developer lobbyist sitting on the board with closed meetings, one can only guess what will happen to that land and money. This is unacceptable, unethical and unfair. The land and money is dedicated to those in need, not to those with greed.
katherine daigle
July 29, 2018 at 1:11 pmThe Irvine Land Trust ( ILT) seems to have lost their way. Homelessness is becoming a real issue in Irvine and its surrounding cities. We need to ask ourselves what we can do to as a city and as a business leader how to address this today. Under our current local governing system, the politicians who are inherently partisan get to focus their entire administration into a bureaucracy, as their own publicly financed re-election campaign machine runs the gambit, and California’s public policy serves only their individual political needs. Orange County leaders need to step up. Everyone has a responsibility and needs to play a role, cities who don’t want to take a role in this are pushing it to cities who are dealing with this problem and they need action, not words. The private sector leaders in the OC have begun working with the Salvation Army, United Way and the ACC-OC to broker a deal to house people across the county to handle demand. However, this is not enough; we do not need JUST housing. We need to find out whom these people are, where they came from, what their specific needs are and give them guidance to attain these services. Subsequently we should provide temporary services to those who need them, whether they are families and need jobs, housing, food, and the necessities of life. If some of these men and women are Veterans, we need the same housing, food, jobs AND most important mental health services, because no veteran should never be left behind. The other habitual homeless that fall into an addiction category should be referred to a mandatory rehabilitation program or jail if they are repeat offenders. ILT can be a place that can begin to team up and step-up with solutions – we can be a LEADER for other cities to follow.
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