Mayor’s appliance deal faces scrutiny [North County Times, Escondido, Calif.]

Aug. 26--Two people who've recently been active in Encinitas civic issues called for Mayor Dan Dalager's resignation Wednesday after news surfaced that the mayor obtained discounted kitchen appliances last year from a man who later had a project come before the City Council.

"I do believe if there's any truth to the allegations, we should have an immediate resignation," Cardiff Taxpayer Association President Jerry Peters told the City Council at its Wednesday night meeting.

Andrew Audet, who has been involved with a Cardiff planning document, said that the appliance deal makes many people in the community worry about the mayor's impartiality.

Reading from a prepared statement after Audet made his remarks, Dalager emphasized that he never tried to hide his October 2009 appliance transaction and said he does not believe he did anything wrong. However, he said, he will now ask the state Fair Political Practices Commission to review the situation in an effort to settle the controversy.

"I'm going to put everything out there, any document they want to see," he said.

The appliance deal surfaced publicly Wednesday morning after the Union-Tribune newspaper ran a story stating that the mayor received some extremely cheap kitchen equipment from San Diego's Aztec Appliance, and then supported store-owner Matthew Gordon several months later when Gordon had a dispute with the city of Encinitas about an illegally constructed wall at his home on Neptune Avenue.

The council got involved in the wall issue because Gordon appealed a city order to remove it. The council deadlocked over the issue at its Feb. 17 meeting.

Dalager and Councilwoman Teresa Barth supported Gordon's appeal, while Councilwoman Maggie Houlihan and Councilman James Bond opposed it. Councilman Jerome Stocks abstained because Gordon is one of his insurance business clients. Because the council deadlocked, the appeal was denied.

Before Wednesday night's council meeting, Dalager said in an interview with the North County Times that he believes the appliance sales controversy is simply election-year politics -- he's running for re-election in November.

He said he hadn't known about the wall issue when he bought the appliances in October 2009.

The appliances in question -- an electric wall oven, an electric cook top and a range hood cover -- were used items that the store had in a back room, he said. The store's owner arranged the sale because Dalager wanted to replace his home's 40-year-old appliances without going to the expense of reworking his kitchen cabinetry to accommodate modern larger equipment, he said.

"I was told (these items from Aztec) were old enough that they didn't make them anymore," he said.

The store's owner did not return a message left at his business Wednesday. He was quoted in the Union-Tribune article as saying that the appliances he sold Dalager were essentially "scrap stuff" -- models that had been damaged or returned.

An invoice that Dalager gave to the North County Times states that he paid $50 for the Frigidaire electric coil cook top; $62.93 for the Frigidaire electric wall oven; and $25 for a white under-cabinet range hood.

Prices for a comparable range hood online vary from just under $80 to just over $100; while the electric cook top could be had for $295 on Amazon.com; and the electric oven could be had on the same site for $740.99.

Call staff writer Barbara Henry at 760-901-4072.

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