Campaign Fund Laundering Probe Started : Oxnard: The D.A. says his card-club investigation uncovered evidence of violations involving last fall’s City Council candidates and other office-seekers.

Ventura County Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury announced Tuesday that he has launched a criminal investigation into possible laundering of campaign contributions to Oxnard City Council candidates and other city office-seekers last fall.

In a report at an Oxnard council hearing Tuesday evening, Bradbury said his six-month investigation of card clubs and promoters of proposed Oxnard casinos uncovered evidence “that several campaign contributions to City Council and other candidates were laundered in violation of California’s Political Reform Act.”

Bradbury’s report did not specify potential violations nor did it say which candidates are the focus of his new inquiry. And in his public comments, he did not say whether any current council members are being investigated.

Bradbury’s report--which condemns card clubs as corrupters of local government--was part of a boisterous debate by an overflow crowd of at least 300 people in council chambers that continued late into the evening.

The key issue was whether Oxnard should welcome a 50,000-square-foot casino that promoters say would lure 1,000 customers a day, produce at least 300 jobs and provide $500,000 to $1.2 million in gambling taxes annually for the city.

City Council options included rejecting card clubs outright, inviting promoters to submit casino applications, placing the issue on the Nov. 2 ballot--or delaying the vote.

The dozens of speakers were split on whether the jobs and taxes a casino would bring to town would be worth the damage a card club might do to local families, city government and Oxnard’s reputation.

Casino supporters argued that Oxnard, facing $4 million in budget cuts, cannot afford to pass up the economic relief a casino could bring.

“I don’t see how a small casino along the highway is going to be so awfully bad,” said Oxnard resident Steve Molnar, 78, who grew up around card clubs in the city of Gardena. “If 500 jobs come with the club, let’s take it, let’s try it. Let’s generate taxes to help us with our libraries and our Fire Department and our Police Department.”

Michael Koutnik, chairman of the Oxnard Chamber of Commerce’s tourism committee, also urged the council to fully consider a card club option. “This can be done and adequately serve the needs of the community.”

But opponents, who overwhelmingly outnumbered supporters, said a card club would lure criminals, tarnish the city’s reputation, encourage chronic gamblers and take money away from poor residents mostly likely to gamble.

“If this was an election, we’d call it a landslide,” said businessman Jeff Brown, a member of an Oxnard church. Brown said that more than 1,000 people had signed an anti-casino petition, and city officials have received about 350 cards and letters opposing a club.

“The council should slam the door shut on gambling in Oxnard, lock it and throw away the key,” Brown said.

Stewart Mimm, chairman of the executive board of Oxnard’s inter-neighborhood council, said the body voted unanimously against a card club. “If this council and this city is ready to accept revenues and jobs (from card clubs), let’s go for the whole bit. Let’s go for prostitution and the distribution of drugs,” Mimm said half-facetiously.

In an oral report, Oxnard Police Chief Harold Hurtt took a neutral position on the issue.

He said the Police Department had followed up last year’s preliminary checks with police in Los Angeles County cities with large casinos--Gardena, Commerce, Bell Gardens and Bell--and again was told that casino crime is not a large problem.

Hurtt noted that prosecutors in San Diego and Orange counties have concluded that casinos lead to more crime. But crime impacts may be minimized if a casino is closely scrutinized.

“I think we have enough responsible leadership in our city to ensure it will be run properly,” Hurtt said in a recent interview. “I have not found anything that would lead me to believe that it would corrupt any politicians (in Oxnard).”

Bradbury, however, said the potential for corruption should worry the Oxnard council. He recommended that the council reject big-time gambling by refusing to allow construction of the county’s first large card casino.

“Throughout California, card room casinos have had a troubled and often unsavory past,” Bradbury said in his report. “Although providing revenue for city government, the cost in terms of crime, the diminution of quality of life, the attraction to an undesirable element in society, and the loss of integrity in government is unacceptably high.”

“The long-term costs of these problems far outweigh any short-term benefits of card room casinos,” he added.

Bradbury’s 22-page report cites past hidden ownership and bribery scandals involving the state’s two largest card clubs--the California Commerce Club in Commerce and the Bicycle Club in Bell Gardens--as evidence of the corrupting influences of casinos.

He also said that crimes such as loan sharking, extortion, money laundering and follow-home robberies are problems at casinos statewide, with Asian gangsters increasingly involved in those activities.

The prosecutor also said that Oxnard’s contacts with card club promoters have already given Ventura County “a glimpse of the reality of card room casinos and their potential for criminal activity and public corruption.”

He said that two Los Angeles County businessmen involved in a casino proposal abandoned last month--Kevin Kirwan and Timothy Carey--have both been convicted of felonies. Kirwan was convicted in 1985 of conspiring with Bell city officials to gain approval of a casino there, and Carey pleaded guilty last year to felony lewd conduct with a child.

Bradbury also noted the purported role of Oxnard political consultant Donald Gunn--campaign manager last fall for Councilman Michael Plisky and former Councilwoman Geraldine Furr--in directing contributions from Carey and Kirwan to Oxnard candidates.

“We have been told that Mr. Gunn directed the Kirwan-Carey campaign contributions to the various political candidates,” Bradbury said.

The two casino promoters contributed about $7,000 to candidates in the November and March elections, Bradbury said. Campaign records show that Kirwan and a Carey-run lobbying organization in October contributed $1,999 each to Plisky and former Councilwoman Dorothy Maron, $1,750 to Mayor Manuel Lopez and $1,000 to Furr.

Bradbury also said that a general partner in the Carey deal told investigators that Gunn--who went to work for Carey after the fall campaign--had in his contract a six-figure bonus if a casino was built and a lifetime 2% interest in casino revenues.

A second casino group also made significant contributions to City Council candidates, Bradbury said. That group--led at the time by Ventura developer Michael E. Wooten--also negotiated with Gunn for consulting services last year at the suggestion of Plisky, Bradbury reported.

Gunn, 38, a consultant who has run numerous Oxnard political campaigns and lobbied for several developers since the 1970s, could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening.

Just last week, former Councilwoman Maron, a casino opponent, called on Plisky to abstain from voting on card club issues because of Plisky’s relationship with Gunn.

In a May interview, Plisky said that he and Gunn are not financially tied and that Gunn’s involvement in the casino issue was not important to him.

Plisky had not commented on the Bradbury report or the prosecutor’s comments by late in the hearing, nor had any other council members. The district attorney gave the council his report before the meeting started.

Before the hearing, City Council members had said they were leaning in different directions, waiting to hear from their constituents.

Plisky and Councilman Andres Herrera had said they tended to favor a casino. Mayor Lopez had opposed a club, while Councilman Thomas Holden had said he was leaning toward a ballot referendum. Councilman Bedford Pinkard had said he favored putting the issue on the November ballot for the people to decide.

With such a divergence of views, Lopez had said the action likely to receive backing by a council majority was a ballot referendum. He said he would vote for an election if his motion to reject all clubs failed.

“Come the next election, if anybody crams anything down the public’s throat, there will be hell to pay politically,” Lopez said.

A card club referendum would be added to the November general election ballot and would cost about $15,000, rather than $62,000 for a special election.

Though marked by Bradbury’s declaration of a new inquiry, the Tuesday hearing also included numerous speakers whose interest in card clubs has been aroused only in the last two weeks--after the council announced last night’s hearing.

The city clerk’s office received 287 cards and letters of opposition to a card club last week, about 90% on same-form postcards apparently distributed by opponents. It had received only letters on the topic the previous four months.

Opponents worked phone banks to try to get residents to the hearing. And supporters distributed information about the financial benefits of the club.

James Bain, a pastor at the First Presbyterian Church of Oxnard, said ministers of about 10 churches oppose a casino because of gambling’s potential harm to families and concern about the city’s reputation.

“Part of this is in the Lord’s Prayer, ‘Lead us not into temptation,’ ” Bain said. “The City Council is tempting people to gamble away money that might be used to feed and clothe children, and they’re being tempted to gamble away Oxnard’s image.”

But the Chamber of Commerce--a potential center of support for a casino--also weighed in last week, citing the potential economic benefits of a club and asking the City Council to fully evaluate casino proposals before making a final decision.

Though taking no formal position for a card club, both chamber President John Waters and President-Elect Pat Plew said the council should disregard emotion and make a sound business decision.

“I don’t think we’re talking about vice or religion,” Plew said. “I think we’re talking about a business that creates jobs and revenue, period.”

Plew argued that since gambling is already prevalent in society--through off-track betting, the lottery and church bingo--Oxnard should allow a casino and put its tax revenue to good use in the community.

Three different promoters have said they want to build casinos in Oxnard.

William Buck Johns, an Orange County developer and political fund-raiser, became the latest entry last week, when he declared that he would take over Carey’s nine-acre casino site near the Ventura Freeway.

Another group is headed by Richard P. Crane Jr., a former federal organized crime prosecutor who owns all or part of five casinos in Nevada and Colorado.

The third coalition--organized by Oxnard businessman Keith Wintermute--has received early financial backing from directors of the California Commerce Club. Bradbury reported Tuesday, however, that the Wintermute group had decided not to pursue the issue.

The card club would draw customers not only from Ventura County but also from Santa Barbara and the San Fernando Valley, promoters said.

The closest large, competing casino would be 70 miles away, just east of Los Angeles, though the city of Ventura already has two four-table clubs.

BACKGROUND

There are about 300 card clubs in California, but only six as large as the one proposed for Oxnard. Gamblers bet a few dollars to a few thousand dollars on everything from “Hold ‘em” poker to complicated Asian games such as pai gow and pan. Unlike Nevada casinos, there are no games of pure chance, such as blackjack and roulette, or slot machines. State law allows only games of skill and requires that gamblers bet against each other, not the house. Large clubs gross up to $100 million a year by renting seats for games and serving food and drinks.