By JEANENE HARLICK
Sentinel staff writer

County Supervisor Tony Campos holds stock in a local construction company that does business with the county, and owns so much property it sometimes conflicts with his role as a member of the county panel that approves land annexations.

Supervisor Mardi Wormhoudt, meanwhile, arguably the most pro-environment member of the county Board of Supervisors, owns stock in several multinational corporations, including Chevron Corp.

The holdings of both Wormhoudt and Campos — as well as those of supervisors Jeff Almquist, Ellen Pirie and Jan Beautz — are outlined in 2001 disclosure forms filed in March.

The Political Reform Act of 1974 requires public officials to annually disclose financial holdings that could benefit from decisions they make while in office.

Campos holds between $2,000 and $10,000 worth of stock in two local firms — boating company West Marine and Granite Construction. In 2001, Campos voted to award several road pavement contracts to Granite. In each case, Granite offered the lowest bid. The projects ranged in cost from $535,000 to $5.6 million.

State law requires government officials to recuse themselves from voting on items that could benefit them financially because of the potential conflict of interest. But determining whether a conflict exists is difficult, because the law is complicated, said Dinah Phillips, county spokeswoman. It would require a lengthy investigation by the county Counsel’s Office, she said.

According to the 1974 state law, a public official with stock holdings of $2,000 or more in a business has an economic interest.

Campos said his vote triggered no conflict because when the board approves contracts, it does not do so subjectively. The board’s choice is scientific, Campos said. It always awards contracts to the lowest bidder, as recommended by the Public Works Department director.

A former real estate agent, Campos also owns 31 rental properties worth $100,000 to $1 million each, eight vacant lots worth $100,000 to $1 million, and one lot worth more than $1 million. All his property is in the Watsonville area — most is within city limits — and four of Campos’ lots are family properties in Monterey County. He valued his realty company, Coldwell Banker Campos Real Estate, at between $100,000 and $1 million. Campos’ wife manages the company.

"My retirement is in real estate," he said. "I’m not a career politician. I’m a businessman. I make money buying houses and fixing them up. ... I’ve only been with the county four years. If I had to depend on my county retirement I’d be in trouble."

Campos has had to abstain from voting more than once on projects coming before the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission, said Patrick McCormick, executive director. LAFCO approves county and city land annexations, and includes members of the Board of Supervisors.

According to state law, a conflict of interest exists if a public official votes to zone, rezone, annex, buy or sell land within 500 feet of his or her property. Projects involving land more than 500 feet from an official’s property also can present a conflict if the project affects the value of the property, or results in unwelcome changes to the property’s neighborhood, such as more traffic or pollution.

McCormick says Campos has been vigilant about monitoring whether annexations coming before LAFCO benefit his real estate holdings. For example, during a controversial annexation of county land to the city of Watsonville in 1999 — for a proposed industrial park — Campos recused himself because he owned property near the site. County Supervisor Jan Beautz, his alternate, voted instead.

Watsonville Mayor Betty Bobeda said Campos was equally careful when voting on city projects when he was a councilman.

All commissioners can seek advice from LAFCO staff or county counsel if they think a conflict might exist, McCormick said.

Campos had county staff create a map circling all his properties so he can easily determine when a land-use project gets too close to his holdings. The county administrator and county counsel have copies and keep an eye out for him as well, he said. He seeks their advice regularly.

"County counsel works with me very closely to make sure I don’t screw up," he said.

Most of Campos’ properties are within Watsonville city limits, and so rarely affect his decisions as a county supervisor, he said.

Neither county nor state agencies monitor whether local officials are complying with conflict-of-interest laws — the system is based on self-enforcement, McCormick said. Other than that, it’s up to the public to keep watch, he said.

It may seem like that system makes it easy for officials to slip through the cracks, but most public officials wouldn’t risk violating the law, said Tony Miller, who served as acting secretary of state in 1994.

"My experience is very few deliberate violations occur," he said. "Most public officials recognize if a conflict-of-interest charge sticks, it may end their political career ... The district attorney, Fair Political Practices Commission, and individual citizens have authority to take action if a public official crosses the line. That’s a significant deterrent — and publicity is an even more significant deterrent."

Both Campos and Wormhoudt own stock in several big technology and consumer goods companies. Campos also holds stock in Exxon Mobil Corp. and some realty and financial companies.

At first glance, Wormhoudt’s holdings seem to fly in the face of her pro-environment leanings. According to her 2001 statement, she owns stock in several energy companies, including Duke Energy, which operates a Moss Landing power plant that environmentalists say has hurt Elkhorn Slough wildlife and sea otters. She also owns stock in Chevron, which produces gas with the water pollutant MTBE.

But Wormhoudt never purchased the stocks, she said. Instead, she inherited them from her late father two years ago.

"I’ve never bought a stock in my life, ever," she said. "And I certainly wouldn’t have bought these if I had."

Her pension plan is through a socially responsible mutual investment company, the Calvert Foundation, she added.

Wormhoudt already has sold some holdings, such as Cisco Systems, and she sold her Duke Energy shares earlier this year, which is why the company still showed up on her statement, she said. Chevron will soon join the list, she added.

Selling the stocks has been a tedious process because of the laws governing inheritance, she said. Wormhoudt plans to keep holdings in technology, pharmaceutical and consumer goods.

"I’m working my way through (the stocks). It’s been hard to deal with," she said. "I only want responsible investments and I do not consider investments in energy companies that have exploited California’s energy needs and petroleum companies to be the kind of responsible investments I want."

Of the three other supervisors, Almquist holds stock in mostly financial institutions, Pirie holds relatively little stock, and Beautz holds none. Mark Primack, who will challenge Wormhoudt for her seat in November, holds no stock, and owns one rental property.

Contact Jeanene Harlick at jharlick@santa-cruz.com.

Supervisors’ assets
Following is a partial list of county supervisors’ stock holdings.

Supervisor Jan Beautz has no stock.

Mardi Wormhoudt

Chevron Corp.

Southern Co. (utility company)

XCEL Energy

Constellation Energy

Puget Sound Energy

Minnesota Mining & Mfg.

RPM Inc. (industrial manufacturing co.)

Clorox

General Mills

Johnson & Johnson

Proctor and Gamble

Pepsico

WalMart

American Home Products

Hewlett Packard

Intel

Agilent Technologies

Sun Microsystems

Plantronics

Verizon Communications

Allstate

Merck Pharmaceuticals

Tony Campos

Granite Construction

West Marine

Exxon Mobil Corp.

General Electric

McDonald’s Corp.

WalMart

First National Bank

Pacific Cap Bancorp.

Dure Realty Investments

Centerpoint Properties

Cisco Systems

Lucent Technologies

Microsoft

AT&T

Compaq computer

Jeff Almquist

Tower Lodge Corp.

BP AMOCO (petroleum products)

Ballard Power

Air Pollution Control Systems

Greater Bay Bancorp

Washington Mutual

Citicorp

Irwin Financial Corp.

Ellen Pirie

Digital Lightwave (diagnostic products)

SPEX (bio-technology)

Source: Fair Political Practices Commission

Campos’ votes
Following are some projects county Supervisor Tony Campos voted on involving Granite Construction. In all cases, Granite submitted the lowest bid. Campos holds between $2,000 and $10,000 worth of stock in the company.

MAY 8, 2001: Supervisors voted 5-0 to award a $5.6 million contract to Granite Construction for a countywide road pavement project.

OCTOBER 2, 2001: Supervisors voted 5-0 to awarded a $827,300 contract to Granite for another pavement project.

APRIL 17, 2001: Supervisors voted 5-0 to approved a final cost of $908,231.47 for Granite’s completion of a 2000 countywide road pavement project.

Source: Santa Cruz County Boardof Supervisors minutes