The San Benito County Board of Supervisors allocated $10,000 to
pay for a lawyer to be present any time Supervisor Reb Monaco meets
with the District Attorney’s Office concerning a criminal grand
jury proceeding aimed at revealing the identities of the members of
Los Valientes.
Hollister – The San Benito County Board of Supervisors allocated $10,000 to pay for a lawyer to be present any time Supervisor Reb Monaco meets with the District Attorney’s Office concerning a criminal grand jury proceeding aimed at revealing the identities of the members of Los Valientes.
Special Deputy District Attorney John Picone, who is working with the grand jury to unmask Los Valientes, questioned Monaco on Monday about his knowledge of lawyer Michael Pekin, his client Juan Monteon and the lawsuit they filed alleging county corruption. The supervisor said he felt it was in his best interest to have a lawyer present during any future meetings.
Monaco, who said he had no idea why he was questioned in the first place, took lawyer and former district attorney Harry Damkar with him to the meeting with Picone on Monday after learning of the “nature of the kinds of questions” he would be asked, he said. The board approved the money with a 4-0 vote in closed session earlier this week. Monaco abstained from voting.
“The risk was I would be subpoenaed at some level,” Monaco said. “I felt it was in my personal best interest to have an attorney.”
District Attorney John Sarsfield initiated a criminal grand jury investigation into Pekin and the Los Valientes lawsuit about a month ago, and has recently said it’s his mission to discover the identities of members of Los Valientes – the anonymous group of individuals behind the suit that has morphed into the Monteon suit and alleges corruption by former Supervisor Richard Scagliotti. The grand jury proceedings into Pekin and the suit began this week.
Sarsfield declined to comment whether the purpose of the meeting between Picone and Monaco was an attempt to discover whether the supervisor knew who members of the furtive group are, and wouldn’t say if Monaco was the first or last supervisor to be questioned. He said there is nothing unusual about Monaco asking to have an attorney present when dealing with prosecutorial matters.
“He came in as a good citizen and he provided information,” Sarsfield said. “There’s nothing inappropriate with having an attorney present when you’re talking to the government.”
Damkar said Monaco read a prepared statement during the interrogation stating he has no involvement with anyone involved in the Monteon suit, and answered Picone’s questions centering around the matters Pekin has filed.
Pekin and Monteon filed a suit containing corruption charges against the county and former supervisor Richard Scagliotti more than a year ago. The suit alleges Scagliotti pressured the Board of Supervisors to take its vehicle repair contract from Autoworks to San Benito Tire, the owner of which was a tenant of Scagliotti’s. The suit also alleges Scagliotti abused his power in the county to have the Churchill Nut plant rezoned from agricultural to manufacturing land, which made him a profit of $1.2 million, and that he violated the Brown Act open meeting law while drafting the growth control initiative Measure G for his own personal gain.
Picone declined to comment about the meeting, except to say that, “Mr. Monaco was questioned as a witness, not a suspect.”
Monaco said he asked for an outside lawyer to assist him instead of having County Counsel Karen Forcum represent him because she appears on behalf of the entire board. Representing one supervisor in a specific matter could create a conflict of interest for her, he said.
Monaco said he doesn’t expect to be questioned again on the matter, but asked for the funding as a safety net if he is.
Supervisor Pat Loe said she voted to approve the money because it is the county’s responsibility to take care of its elected officials when they feel they need representation. She said $10,000 is the maximum amount of money the county will pay, and that the amount was placed at that level so Monaco wouldn’t have to come back and ask for more money if he was questioned extensively. However, the board doesn’t believe Monaco’s legal fees will get anywhere near the $10,000 cap, she said.
“For whatever reason Supervisor Monaco felt like he needed to have counsel present and I didn’t question it,” Loe said. “It’s certainly his right.”
Newly seated Supervisor Anthony Botelho conceded relations within the county government have become strained, but believes they can be worked out in time.
“We do have a lot of problems and we’re working on them,” he said. “I’m confident we’ll be successful in repairing the relations between the county, the DA and other parties.”
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected].
