Torrance City Council – A Town Hall Style Conversation About Local Politics

Eve Irvine was sworn in last Tuesday as the first female police chief to lead the Torrance Police Department. In the same meeting, two key roles within the City Attorney’s office were filled. Tatia Strader was appointed as Assistant Attorney while Brandon Gonzaque received an appointment as Deputy City Attorney. The appointments followed the recent elevation of former Assistant Attorney Patrick Sullivan to the City Attorney post. These new leaders will take on the challenge of heading beleaguered City Departments beset by recent scandals.

The Police Department, in particular, has experienced a series of eye opening incidents. Signs of trouble began to show when it was discovered that former Chief Matsuda was suspended due to reports that he made hostile remarks about women, blacks, gays, and muslims. Oddly, news of that suspension did not initially come from City officials. It was the Daily Breeze that broke the story after being contacted via e-mail by persons that appeared to be officers within the department. Matsuda returned to his post after a personnel investigation, but the results of that investigation were never made public.

Shortly after Matsuda returned to work, the Daily Breeze printed another bombshell report. In that article, it was revealed that Lieutenant Hector Bermudez filed a lawsuit alleging that Matsuda obstructed an internal criminal investigation and retaliated against Bermudez. According to the lawsuit, Bermudez, as head of internal affairs, was leading an investigation into unlawful uses of police databases. The suit alleges that Bermudez discovered that a department employee was illegally utilizing a police database in furtherance of an off duty job providing security for the Los Angeles Lakers and other professional athletes.

Bermudez claimed that during the course of his investigation he was confronted by a former captain in the department who told him not to follow up on leads and interview potential witnesses. When Bermudez complained about the obstruction to his superior he received an unfavorable performance evaluation and was denied a possible promotion to Captain.

The outcome of that internal investigation initially led by Bermudez has yet to be made known to the public. A week after Bermudez filed his lawsuit former Chief Matsuda unexpectedly retired. City officials did not comment at the time on whether they played any role in Matsuda’s exit.

The Police Department has also been plagued by several lawsuits involving police shootings and other matters. One of the most recent was filed by the 14 year old son of San Diego woman who was killed after a short car chase.

The City Attorney’s office has also been embroiled in an number of controversial matters over the past few years. In one of his last acts, for example, former City Attorney John Fellows announced that anyone having a relationship with any of the attorney’s in his office was effectively immune from prosecution. The pronouncement stemmed from the failure of his office to prosecute Mayor Furey for criminal violations of the City’s campaign finance laws. Fellows retired from the City’s attorney’s office as the highest paid city employee in terms of Salary. His salary in 2016 was $290,318 with total compensation of $385,168.

The City’s self insurance fund, used to pay for outside legal services, has been depleted so much due to legal fees that it has required the Council to divert large sums from other sources to replenish the fund. The City, however, has provided scant information about how these outside firms are selected to represent the City and how much they are paid. The law firm of Rutan and Tucker, for example, has enjoyed a cozy relationship with the City for many years receiving untold millions in legal fees.

As one reference point, the City of Torrance paid Rutan and Tucker $410,000 to prohibit a 33 year old woman who suffered from cerebral palsy from obtaining a designated handicapped parking space in front of her home. The City eventually lost the case and the curb was painted blue. The embarrassing legal loss, however, appears to have had no impact on the City’s relationship with Rutan and Tucker as the firm has been hired to represent the City on several other cases since that time.

Interestingly, former City Attorney John Fellows was named a partner at Rutan and Tucker shortly before beginning his employment with the City.

Given the above, the City could improve transparency and communication with the public by implementing the following measures:

• Solicit competitive bids for outside legal services and allow public and Council to comment in open session on the merits of each firm seeking to represent the City;
• Disclose to the public how much each outside firm it utilizes is paid in legal fees on an annual basis;
• Provide a listing on their website of all active lawsuits in which the City is a party and their current status;
• Publish on their website publicly available court documents pertaining to active lawsuits;
• Notify the public immediately of all legal settlements;
• In high profile matters, such as police shootings, inform the public of what measures were taken and notify the public of the results of any internal or independent investigations.

In a stunning revelation made on the eve of his retirement former City Attorney John Fellows admitted that he had considered prosecuting Mayor Furey for criminal violations of municipal law due to campaign finance infractions that led to a $35,000 fine from the FPPC. Violations of the municipal law in question are misdemeanor offenses carrying penalties of up to $500 or 6 months in jail per violation.

Fellows had the power and duty to enforce the law. In fact, the City Charter states that the City Attorney is “required to prosecute on the behalf of the people all criminal cases for violations of this Charter, of City Ordinances or of misdemeanor offenses.”

Ultimately, however, Fellows decided against prosecution. He failed to do his job on behalf of the people. Fellows explained his decision by citing a conflict of interest stating that, “each of the prosecutors in our office have both personal and professional relationships with one of the suspects, Torrance Mayor Patrick J. Furey, which would preclude us from reviewing this case objectively and without bias.”

Paraphrasing Fellows resident Linda Gottshall-Sayed commented that:

“There was a law that was broken, and I didn’t prosecute … because I had a conflict of interest, but after the statute of limitations ran out I ran around to a bunch of agencies and tried to find another agency to prosecute. That’s just a lot of dressing on a turkey that never got washed.”

Mayor Furey had a different take. He deflected blame for the debacle by attributing fault to the FPPC. At the last council meeting he stated:

“The FPPC didn’t tell anybody. They didn’t tell me. They didn’t tell John [Fellows]. They didn’t tell the City. They waited until the bitter end before they said anything. Had they come up and said at the outset that they were investigating it would have made a big difference. I think they [the FPPC] fell down.”

The problem with Furey’s statement is that it is blatantly false. Fellow’s own report affirms that the FPPC sent a notification letter on September 18, 2014 that it was considering an investigation into the allegations. That letter was followed by another on October 15, 2014 wherein the FPPC confirmed that an investigation was underway. There was also a Daily Breeze article that reported on the investigation that was published November 23, 2014.

To say Fellows was not aware of the allegations against Furey is not credible, but in deference to the former City Attorney he most assuredly faced a quandary. The City Attorney can be fired with only four votes of the Council. If he prosecuted he would risk the wrath of the mayor. If he did nothing, he could have been accused of not doing his job by the other six councilmembers. Fellows commanded the highest salary in the City. His total compensation in 2016 was $385,168. He was paid to make tough decisions. In the end, he found a way to argue that his hands were tied.

The decision was a politically savvy move for Fellows. Furey was not prosecuted and Fellow’s decision did not appear to raise the ire of any of Furey’s colleagues on the Council. Fellows was not fired or even publicly reprimanded for not adhering to the requirements of his job description. He is now reportedly off to Las Vegas where he can enjoy his retirement and hefty pension. Torrance, however, is left with a troubling state of affairs that has the City trudging through an ethical quagmire.

Mayor Furey received immunity from prosecution. He is effectively above the law. The bigger dilemma is that it is now uncertain what laws can be enforced and against whom. The position taken by Fellows opens the door for a multitude of people to assert, based on precedence, that they are effectively above the law or immune from prosecution due to personal or professional relationships they have with the City Attorney or anyone in that office. How many people fit under that umbrella? What about City employees? What about neighbors and personal friends or acquaintances of people in the City Attorney’s office?

Creating this class of people that are above the law can’t be a satisfying result to the majority of law abiding Torrance residents. Even Fellows recognized it was a problem. In one of his last acts as City Attorney he called for a solution that would allow any resident to bring a “private right of action” to enforce the law. The Council deflected that solution, instead opting to explore whether they could contract with the LA County District Attorney’s office for prosecutorial services.

It is unclear if that will work out. How much will it cost and under what circumstances would the need for the their services arise? To complicate the picture, the LA County DA’s office already weighed in on the matter in a prior letter to Fellows. In that letter, the office stated, “Please understand that the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office does not enforce the Torrance Municipal Code. As previously discussed, this is the province of the Torrance City Attorney. Accordingly, the decision whether or not to prosecute a potential violation is yours alone.”

In Torrance, those prosecutorial decisions currently reside with acting City Attorney Patrick Sullivan, who is also the likely frontrunner to assume Fellow’s role. In response to a query from Councilmember Herring at the last meeting, Sullivan signaled that he is inclined to side with Fellows on this issue. Of the circumstances he commented, “I actually agree with Mr. Fellows. I know it wasn’t a popular opinion that he gave … whether you want to say it’s an actual conflict or a perceived conflict it is there.”

Tower Energy wants to build a huge Gas Station/Mini-Mart that sells Beer, Wine, Cigarettes, Fried Chicken (cooked on site), and, eventually, Hard Liquor.  Location is on Carson between Gramercy & Andreo, in the middle of original Torrance, across from Historic Downtown, NOT at a major intersection, near THS.  Proposed Hours: 365 days a year, 5:00am – 11:30pm.

Reasons to Protest:

Traffic Congestion:  If you travel on Carson, a project of this size will increase your commute time.  Carson is already a heavily congested street, especially during key times each day, and whenever there is a train.  This will make it worse for everyone that travels on Carson including nearby schools, churches, businesses, emergency services, and neighbors.

Increased Traffic on small residential side streets and alleys:  These narrow streets and alleys are NOT designed for heavy, speeding traffic.  This project will send much traffic into our neighborhoods.  We will lose much street parking, too.

Narrow Streets:  Our streets are old and narrow.  There is not room for gasoline tankers or delivery trucks.  There is not even room for 2 cars going in opposite directions to pass each other.  One car must pull to the side in order for the other to pass.  Only locals know that.  How often will there be two cars “stuck” until one of them backs up?

More cars moving at higher speeds on side streets and alleys will lead to property loss and potential loss of life: Our sidewalks are filled with children playing, dogs being walked, and people exercising.  Drivers speeding through our neighborhood will see our streets as thoroughfares. Most will NOT be mindful that this is a neighborhood.  Sooner or later a speeding car will collide with a child, a bicyclist, another car, etc.   This is a great liability for the City, too.

We already have plenty of established gas stations, liquor stores, and mini marts in the area, plus a large Ralphs nearby.

Irresponsible drivers, including those under the influence, will increase.

Gas Pumps, Underground Storage Tanks, Fumes, and Leaks are all hazards which exponentially increase the risk for explosions, fires, and many environmental & health issues.  We have multiple cancer survivors in the immediate vicinity.

This is a historic area with many unique 100 year old plus houses and businesses.  These are the foundation of Torrance’s unique history.  All nearby structures (old and new) will be put at risk if Tower’s project is approved.

Backwards “Progress”: Torrance has installed electric charging stations throughout the city.  Why go backwards and approve a new fossil fuel gas station?  A new gas station comes with many short term and long term risks, along with hazards that will be around long after the last fossil fuel car leaves the road.  Many countries and 8 states including CA have already banned the sales of fossil fuel vehicles.  Bans range from 2025 – 2050, depending on the Country/State.

Crime increases and Loitering increases at Gas Stations and places that sell alcohol “to go”.  Tower says they won’t let vagrants linger on their property, which will push them onto our properties.

The current site is peaceful, dark, and quiet at night.  Tower’s plan, with operating hours from 5am – 11:30pm, 365 days a year will bring significant noise and light pollution, as well as the smell of Fried Chicken every day!

Accidents will increase on both Carson and side streets, which will cause further congestion from emergency vehicles.

Issue will be discussed by the Planning Commission at its upcoming meeting on September 20, 2017 at 7 pm.