Admitting a Wrong

We are continually amazed at the gall of politicians who become entangled in conflicts of interest and then want to dismiss them by claiming simply to have been naive. The most recent example is Chula Vista Mayor Greg Cox, who voted in favor of two projects involving Home Federal Savings & Loan after having received a $2.2-million loan from the institution.

Though Cox had met personally with Home Federal Chairman Kim Fletcher before the loan was approved, he said it never occurred to him that the loan might pose a conflict of interest. It also did not occur to Cox to list the loan on his annual financial disclosure statement until he learned that a Times reporter was asking questions about it. Then he quickly amended the economic interest form.

The loan Cox and several business partners received in 1985 was to refinance a 123-unit apartment complex in Austin, Tex. There is no indication that Cox got preferential treatment from the lender, and, in fact, Home Federal may soon foreclose on the apartment complex because the Cox group has defaulted on the loan. But Cox, 38, who was first elected mayor in 1981 and is considered one of the county’s brightest young Republican officeholders, should have known he was creating at least the appearance of a conflict when he voted several times in favor of two projects a Home Federal subsidiary is building in Chula Vista.

Cox is not the first politician to use the “Gee-I-didn’t-think-about-that-being-a-conflict” defense when the whistle was blown. But it is insulting that a person in a position such as Cox’s expects the public to have confidence in his ability to conduct the important business of the city, yet also would have us believe that it just slipped his mind that someone lent him $2.2 million.

A state Fair Political Practices Commission spokeswoman said Cox should have recorded the loan on his financial disclosure statements of 1985 and 1986. Whether his votes on the El Rancho del Rey and Bonita Long Canyon projects represent legal conflicts has yet to be determined by the FPPC.

Whatever the final determination of the conflict issue, this will not be the biggest scandal to hit the county. It’s just disappointing that yet another public official has failed to draw the line between his personal and public affairs and then isn’t big enough to admit he was wrong.