San Benito County may try to force lawyer Mike Pekin into
revealing who’s funding a corruption lawsuit against Supervisor
Richard Scagliotti. And Pekin wants to take further testimony from
a sheriff’s deputy he feels could bolster his case.
San Benito County may try to force lawyer Mike Pekin into revealing who’s funding a corruption lawsuit against Supervisor Richard Scagliotti. And Pekin wants to take further testimony from a sheriff’s deputy he feels could bolster his case.
Both sides want answers. Both sides are objecting.
It’s the latest chapter in the civil lawsuit filed by resident Juan Monteon against Scagliotti – a follow up to another suit with many of the same charges filed in October 2003 by an anonymous group calling itself Los Valientes. That group had attempted to join a lawsuit relating to Measure G, but failed when a judge ruled its charges were irrelevant to that case.
Both sides in the current suit, filed in December, recently took sworn testimony from some key witnesses. The county interviewed Monteon and was unimpressed by his knowledge of the suit’s charges, said county attorney William Owen. County lawyers determined he likely isn’t the conductor engineering the suit.
Owen said the county plans to ask the judge to force Pekin and his client to divulge who’s behind the suit.
“Mr. Monteon doesn’t know anything, so we presume there’s somebody who has some knowledge,” Owen said.
Pekin said it’s none of the county’s business who’s financing the suit.
“My client is all the people,” Pekin said. “In other words, it’s a taxpayers’ suit.”
Pekin, meanwhile, interviewed sheriff’s officer Genene Proffitt, who oversaw vehicle maintenance of the department’s fleet.
That relates to the suit’s claim Scagliotti influenced the county into contracting with San Benito Tire – the shop’s owner, Bob Cain, being the supervisor’s prospective business partner at the time.
At the time, in the summer of 2002, three shops submitted bids for the contract: Autoworks, San Benito Tire and Hollister Battery and Tire, which offered the lowest bid.
During an interim period between the two latest contract terms – both awarded to San Benito Tire – the Sheriff’s Department had taken its cars to Autoworks for maintenance.
In that sworn deposition, Proffitt told Pekin that prior work at Autoworks was better than that of San Benito Tire.
Contractually, the Board of Supervisors could cancel the San Benito Tire contract with 30 days notice. And Autoworks wants the contract because owner Don Kelley believes it was wrongfully awarded to San Benito Tire.
“I think there was probably a general consensus that perhaps the work quality had been better under Autoworks,” Proffitt said during the deposition.
Pekin and Kelley believe Proffitt’s testimony will strengthen their case. The county, however, is arguing that Proffitt’s testimony – on quality of maintenance work – has no relevance to the claim Scagliotti used influence to get San Benito Tire the contract. Therefore, the county’s trying to suppress her testimony.
Monteon’s claim about the vehicle maintenance contract is one of three remaining charges in the suit, down from the initial six. The suit also alleges mismanagement and fraud in the county’s San Benito Financing Corp., and that Scagliotti used influence to rezone a property to gain financially from it.
Scagliotti has vehemently denied all the charges. He didn’t immediately return a call to his cell phone Wednesday.
For now, Pekin is focusing on the vehicle maintenance aspect. He wants Proffitt to testify during a trial, and for her to elaborate further because the county objected to much of his questioning during that deposition.
“Why do they think the people of San Benito County should be paying (county lawyers) to make sure the people of San Benito County don’t hear why the maintenance was moved from the better to the worse,” Pekin said.
Kelley said he wasn’t surprised when he read Proffitt’s deposition. He’s disappointed the county is trying to suppress testimony from the deputy.
“There’s an effort being made to shut these people up,” said Kelley, who added it’s “very provable” to show his shop’s work was far superior to that of San Benito Tire.
