Contra Costa Times editorial: Ugly politics stains Concord weapons station developer selection process

Concord’s process for selecting a master developer for the massive Naval Weapons Station site was supposed to ensure the decision was based on merit, not politics.

It was undermined by three City Council members, the mayor’s campaign consultant, the city manager and one of the two final bidders, Lennar Urban.

Now just three council members will participate in the final decision, only two votes are needed to capture the prize and the stench of influence-peddling has permeated the process.

The council should only consider awarding the deal to Catellus Development Corp., which played by the rules and, as determined by city staff, submitted the clearly superior proposal. Lennar should be disqualified for its conduct and, if not, rejected for its inferior plan.

We’ve known for months the process was tainted. But a new, city-commissioned independent investigation by attorney Michael Jenkins reveals how badly.

Lennar violated prohibitions against lobbying council members. Four entities linked to the company made maximum allowable contributions to Councilman and then-Mayor Tim Grayson’s state Assembly campaign. One admitted contributing at Lennar’s suggestion; another cleared it with the firm; and two others wouldn’t say whether they acted at Lennar’s request.

Grayson met twice privately with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, once during the same month that he watched Brown make a pitch on Lennar’s behalf to city officials. Grayson says the private meetings were for campaign advice, but the only corroboration comes from his campaign consultant, Mary Jo Rossi, who spoke only through her attorney. Brown refused to answer Jenkins’ questions.

Rossi, who frequently crosses between candidate consultant and special interest advocate, approached Catellus’s CEO and suggested the company bolster its chances by teaming with local developers. Meanwhile, Grayson was heard at that meeting bemoaning the difficulty of raising campaign funds. Catellus didn’t follow Rossi’s advice nor did it contribute to Grayson’s campaign.

Later, as the decision deadline loomed and council members learned city staff’s long-expected recommendation would favor Catellus over Lennar, three council members — Grayson, Laura Hoffmeister and Edi Birsan — suddenly insisted that the recommendation be excised from staff analysis of the competing projects.

City Manager Valerie Barone claimed the decision to delete it was hers alone. But the paper trail shows otherwise: Barone took direction from the three council members through a series of private meetings that violated the state’s open meeting law.

After release of Jenkins’ investigation, Grayson announced he would recuse himself from further participation. Councilman Ron Leone had already done likewise because he lives close to the site.

That leaves three council members and only one palatable outcome. It wouldn’t have come to this if everyone had played by the rules.

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