‘Political incest’ in Garden Grove?
Garden Grove City Councilman Bruce Broadwater, left, and Garden Grove Mayor William Dalton, right, listen to Councilwoman Dina Nguyen speak at a recent meeting. Last March, the City Council appointed two commissioners with family ties to Dalton and Nguyen, raising additional concerns about nepotism and cronyism in the city. (Allen J. Schaben, Los Angeles Times / January 24, 2012)
There was no shortage of candidates to serve as traffic and planning commissioners in Garden Grove last March. More than 40 residents with university degrees and backgrounds in real estate, construction and traffic engineering applied for the 12 positions.
Despite the number of volunteers and a city policy designed to limit nepotism, two people with family ties to the council — the son of the mayor and the husband of a councilwoman — were given seats.
In May, Mayor William Dalton and the four council members arbitrarily named a planning commissioner to fill a vacant council seat, appearing to go against a voter-mandated advisory policy on how vacancies are to be filled. Then, for the vacated commission seat, the council picked someone who hadn’t applied.
“It’s political incest,” said Steven P. Erie, a professor of political science at UC San Diego. “This is the kind of thing that happens in a town of 5,000.”
–Ruben Vives, Los Angeles Times
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