# Building Official city attorney lost jobs for prosecuting violations



## mark handler (Oct 28, 2014)

MORENO VALLEY: City rehires attorney suing over his layoff

A deputy city attorney who is part of a “whistle-blower” lawsuit has been rehired by the city

http://www.pe.com/articles/city-752887-early-former.html

A Moreno Valley deputy city attorney who alleges he lost his job for prosecuting code-enforcement violations by a former councilman is back at City Hall.

The city offered to reinstate Paul Early earlier this month and he returned to his old post Oct. 13, said Gary Bennett, an attorney representing Early and two other former city officials in a wrongful termination lawsuit.

Bennett said Early, who was first hired by the city in 2007, is still part of the lawsuit because he is seeking pay and damages for the time between his departure and return. City officials said at the time he and others were laid off due to budget cuts.

The case is tentatively scheduled to go to trial in February.

City Attorney Suzanne Bryant said Early was on a list of laid-off employees who could be rehired when funding was available. City Manager Michelle Dawson recently provided more funding to her office to allow Early to be reinstated, Bryant said.

Early’s termination had left Bryant as the only attorney in the City Attorney’s Office and increased the use of outside lawyers to handle the city’s litigation.

Bryant said the office has set up “ethical walls” so Early is not involved in any matters in which he has a conflict.

Early, former city Building Official Anne Schneider and former Code Compliance Manager Albert Brady were laid off in March 2013. The employees alleged they were terminated in retaliation for carrying out code-enforcement actions involving building-code violations by former Councilman Marcelo Co.

In a lawsuit filed last year, they also contended they were let go for reporting suspected violations of state and federal laws to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office and city officials and for refusing to break laws themselves.

Early alleged in the lawsuit that elected officials violated the Brown Act, the state’s open meetings law, and that “certain public officials” exerted pressure to limit the power of the code enforcement and building departments and City Attorney’s Office and were “part of a large scheme tied to certain developers in the city and others associated with them.”

The layoffs were announced two months before the FBI, IRS and other agents raided the homes of council members and the offices of real estate broker Jerry Stephens and developer Iddo Benzeevi on April 30.

Bennett attributed Early’s reinstatement to changes in leadership at City Hall.

“It seems like the new council is trying to do the right thing,” he said.

Former City Manager Herny Garcia and former Economic Development Director Barry Foster both left the city shortly after the FBI raids, while Co resigned in August 2013 after his arrest on fraud charges. He was later arrested and pleaded guilty to bribery charges.

Former Mayor Tom Owings, whom Early said summoned him to a meeting at City Hall and chastised him for the code-enforcement investigation, was recalled from his council seat in June.


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## cda (Oct 28, 2014)

Don't you love politics


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