Report: Sanders Not Corrupt

Published: Tuesday, May 20, 2008 1:33 PM PDT

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Last year, Mayor Jerry Sanders called on the state attorney general to investigate allegations made by City Attorney Mike Aguirre that he was "corrupt."

The report came in this morning.

I'm still trying to wade my way through its 36 pages, but here's a couple of things to mull on while I digest the rest:

• First crucial point is that the report concludes Sanders' acts were not corrupt and that "the record does not support the allegations made by the city attorney against the mayor."
  
  
• On page 21, there's a bombshell. The report states that Mayoral Spokesman Fred Sainz told the Attorney General's investigators that, in the midst of the Sunroad scandal, Executive Assistant City Attorney Don McGrath suggested to him that Aguirre would "go easy" on the mayor over the Sunroad if the mayor relented on a budgetary dispute between Sanders and Aguirre concerning a plan to cut 17 "supplemental positions" from the City Attorney's Office.



• The report goes even further, saying that McGrath "also told mayoral aide Kris Michell that City Attorney Aguirre would publicly accuse the mayor of being corrupt in connection with the Sunroad building in the absence of a concession on the plan to cut the 17 'supplemental' deputy city attorney positions."

  And there was more on this point:
  
  

  Finally, in his statement to this office, Mayor Sanders stated that the city attorney telephoned the mayor and asked for the budget to preserve the 17 "supplemental" positions. The mayor said, "No." The city attorney responded, "It's not going to be pretty," and hung up.

Clarification: The quoted portion of the report about Mayor Sanders' statements to investigators about his conversation with the city attorney has been more fully flushed out since this post originally went up.

-- WILL CARLESS