Tuesday, May 29, 2018
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District Attorney’s Office Obtains a Judgment Removing Carson Mayor From Second Post
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The Office of Los Angeles County District Attorney announced Friday that it has obtained a judgment ordering Carson Mayor Albert Robles to be removed as a director of the Water Replenishment District of Southern California based on the prohibition against holding two incompatible public offices.
The prohibition is contained in Government Code §1099 which says that “a public officer, including, but not limited to, an appointed or elected member of a governmental board, commission, committee, or other body, shall not simultaneously hold two public offices that are incompatible.”
The judgment was signed Thursday by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant, who heard arguments in the case on April 17. Judgment was pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure §809, which provides:
“When a defendant, against whom such action has been brought, is adjudged guilty of usurping or intruding into, or unlawfully holding any office, franchise, or privilege, judgment must be rendered that such defendant be excluded from the office, franchise, or privilege, and that he pay the costs of the action. The Court may also, in its discretion, impose upon the defendant a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, which fine, when collected, must be paid into the Treasury of the State.”
The District Attorney’s Office filed its petition for a writ of quo warranto on Jan. 25, 2016, after obtaining the requisite consent of the attorney general.
Robles has been on the water board since 1992. He was elected to the city council in March 2013, and is presently mayor.
The city council attempted an end-run around the statute in December 2014 by voting 4-0 to authorize Robles to continue to hold two posts.
Robles, an attorney, was in pro per. Deputy District Attorneys Marian Thompson and Bjorn Dodd of the Public Integrity Division represented the relator, the “District Attorney of Los Angeles County,” acting for the “People of the State of California.”
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