The Poway City Council on Tuesday night voted 4-0 to censure absent Council member Tony Blain amid allegations of vote trading, threatening recalls against colleagues and attempting to use law enforcement to silence critics.
It was the first censure of a council member in the city’s 45-year history, according to Mayor Steve Vaus.
Before his vote, Vaus said the purpose of a censure hearing is to give the accused an opportunity to speak in their defense. He said Blain’s absence “speaks louder than words.”
“You cannot run and hide from a censure,” said Vaus, who along with other council addressed Blain even though he wasn’t present.
He said Blain, who has represented District 2 for just over a month, reneged on his campaign promises to improve transparency and honesty and end backroom deals with “factual evidence of criminal behavior that includes … extortion and bribery.”
“You have single-handedly destroyed your own reputation,” Vaus said.
The censure is considered a formal reprimand that carries no penalty, but serves as a public declaration that officials disapprove of Blain’s actions, officials said.
Council member Peter De Hoff, who asked to put the censure discussion on the agenda, said he initiated the action after Blain made what he called bribery and vote trading attempts against himself and Council member Christopher Pikus before he was appointed to his District 1 seat on Jan. 21. He said Blain also made recall threats and misused law enforcement resources to retaliate against dissenting of the public.
“I’ve never seen such brazen violations of ethics,” De Hoff said while introducing the censure item. “This issue matters deeply. People need to be sure the decisions of council are based on the merits of the case and not the political ambitions of a council member.”
Multiple emails that were connected to De Hoff’s claims were attached to the council’s agenda packet.
Among them were emails in which Blain said he would vote for De Hoff to become deputy mayor in exchange for De Hoff voting “yes” for a special election to fill the District 1 council seat being vacated by Brian Pepin. De Hoff described the email as an attempt to engage in “illegal vote trading.”
“I might be persuaded to vote Yes on you for Deputy Mayor also if you vote Yes on Special Election, since that would show you are willing to work with new Council,” Blain wrote in the Dec. 22 email to De Hoff.
The council did not hold a special election, but instead appointed Pikus to the open council seat on a 3-2 vote, with Blain and Jenny Maeda opposed. In other action at the Jan. 21 meeting, the council voted 3-2, with Blain and Maeda opposed, to name De Hoff as deputy mayor.
De Hoff said Blain also threatened to recall him and Pikus if they did not vote in favor of the special election.
“When I did not vote as he desired, he publicly stated he would follow through with those threats in a local news interview,” he said.
De Hoff said Blain did take action on his threats by starting to collect signatures for a recall.
In several instances, Blain directed the city manager to file reports with the Poway Sheriff’s Office when residents sent emails critical of his behavior to his city , De Hoff said.
In a Jan. 3 email to City Attorney Alan Fenstermacher and City Manager Chris Hazeltine, Blain wrote, “Please assist me filing restraining order against this person. I feel unsafe. Please also assist me filing a police report as I have asked this person to stop harassing me via electronic communications per Penal Code 653m.”
Blain asked Hazeltine to send sheriff’s deputies to these residents’ homes, De Hoff said.
“When one of these individuals demanded Councilmember Blain’s resignation via email after his attempted vote trading came to light, Councilmember Blain filed a report with the Sheriff’s Department,” De Hoff wrote. “The Sheriff’s department concluded no crime occurred. It appears clear that this individual was simply voicing his dissent to Councilmember Blain’s actions in his position as an elected official, which is something any member of the community is entitled to do.”
Blain asked Sheriff’s deputies to go to the homes of those who complained about his emails to “interrogate and intimidate the individuals,” De Hoff said. Blain also used his power as a medical doctor to “issue a diagnosis to compel action to silence his dissenters,” he said.
“This pattern of manipulation is consistent with his history,” De Hoff said. “Those two people who were complaining have stopped complaining. How much trust have they lost in law enforcement and how much has law enforcement lost trust in the council ?”
Before she voted in favor of the censure, new Council member Jenny Maeda said she wanted to “clarify and dispel rumors” that she is in alliance with Blain. Maeda said she met Blain last August when he reached out to her while she was campaigning for the council against incumbent Caylin Frank. Maeda said she should have recognized a “red flag” when Blain criticized Frank and offered to donate the maximum amount to her own campaign.
“His behavior back then is not what it is now,” said Maeda, noting that she never condoned his actions or advocated for him. “His behavior began spiraling after the election.”
Two speakers, Yuri Bohlen and former Council member Anita Edmondson, encouraged Blain to resign from the council.
Edmondson said Blain’s emails were “deeply troubling and unprofessional in tone.”
De Hoff said there is ample evidence to Blain’s censure based on violations of the city of Poway’s Code of Ethics and “apparent violations of state law.”
Vaus has said that “appropriate steps have been taken” regarding Blain. “I have full confidence in our legal system and our (district attorney’s) office,” he said.
On Tuesday, Tanya Sierra, spokesperson for the San Diego District Attorney’s Office, declined to comment on the Blain matter.
“Our office does not confirm the existence of potential investigations,” Sierra said.
Vaus closed his discussion of the censure topic by recommending that Blain resign from the council as a way to prevent further embarrassment.
“If I had the power to censure you more harshly I would not hesitate,” he said.
After the regular meeting, the council went into closed session to discuss with legal counsel “significant exposure to litigation regarding three personnel complaints, and to discuss other exposure and possible initiation of litigation,” according to city officials.
After that meeting, officials reported that the council had directed staff and special counsel to hire an independent investigator to review the three personnel complaints. No details were provided about the complaints.
But near the end of the Jan. 21 council meeting, City Manager Hazeltine told Blain that he had filed a complaint with the city’s Human Resources Department about his actions, which he said included “bullying, threatening, intimidating and retaliatory behavior.”
In a separate item, the city attorney reported that the council authorized the initiation of litigation.
