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Politics & Government

Mohill: 'Desperate People Do Desperate Things'

Candidate refuses to budge in spite of a furious retort from the Council dais.

Mike Mohill, candidate for Glendale City Council, broke his silence on Sunday and answered incumbent John Drayman's recent public disclosure of Mohill's three misdemeanor convictions, two of which are for sex offenses (read Patch coverage ).

In response to Drayman, Mohill expressed that "desperate people say and do desperate things," in an exclusive statement to Montrose Patch. Mohill went on to say that "to equate my personal missteps to the possible felonious actions of a sitting city councilman for his self-enrichment is bad enough. To misdirect attention from the millions of dollars in alleged fraud by the housing developer misdirects the attention of the public at a time when councilmen should be held accountable to their record."

Mohill's relentless attacks on Drayman stem from local press reports spotlighting council ties to Los Angeles-based Advanced Development Investment Inc. via a web of campaign contributions. Federal authorities are currently investigating ADI for fraud, and the city is pursuing a lawsuit against the formerly respected developer.

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Since 2005 the company, along with construction firms it hired to do work on city council-approved projects, gave more than $100,000 to members, including $9,000 to Drayman.

The council has bankrolled four multimillion-dollar ADI projects and last summer, Drayman had his Glendale condominium renovated by National Fire Systems and Services, a campaign donor that had worked for ADI.

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Several ADI subcontractors have received federal subpoenas and have claimed the company pressured them to contribute money to Glendale council members or risk missing out on city-funded building jobs.

"Drayman said he had been referred to National Fire by an ADI manager, Khachik Zargarian, whom he identified as a longtime friend," according to the Los Angeles Times and Glendale News-Press in a Dec. 29 collaborative article. "But Drayman said he had no idea at the time that National Fire or the other companies were connected to ADI."

Last week Drayman dismissed Mohill's reading of the facts and denied any wrongdoing by himself and other council members. The Times, which owns the News-Press, appears to be on a crusade for another city of Bell scandal, largely motivated by the drive "to sell papers," he said. Last year the Times broke what became a national story showing considerable acts of graft by city officials.

"The Bell story ... moved the [Los Angeles Times] back to the top of the charts," Drayman said. "It was a big story for them, for which they will likely win a Pulitzer. And so, they thought they had another scandal here."

Mohill declined to comment on his convictions in the late 1980s for soliciting lewd acts in a public place and in 2006 for trespassing onto a neighbor's property in order to hack off a tree limb that extended over the property line.

"Mr. Drayman can say what he wants to say—he's stealing money from the public and giving it to the builders," Mohill said in an interview. "And his groupies would rather see a man take from the taxpayers and give to the rich people, but Mr. Drayman always makes sure he takes care of Montrose first."

The councilman offered this on his motive for last week's tirade:

"Let me be real clear. I don't care what Mr. Mohill's extracurricular interests are," Drayman said. "My only reason for raising it was, unlike what the News-Press' finally edited story on the front page [reported], that we had been trading mud for weeks, well, that's not true. For the last four to six months I've been sitting there not saying a word about any of the accusations from Mr. Mohill, at all. I haven't opened my mouth about it."

But on March 1, a week prior to Drayman's retaliatory salvo, Mohill "got so carried away that he got to the point of comparing me to Adolf Hitler," said Drayman, who is Jewish. "And that put me over the edge becaue I think when we get to a point where we've gone so out of the stratosphere of reality that we're comparing people to Adolf Hitler, even if everything he was saying is true, and none of it is true, but even if every single thing he was saying is true, how does that conpare to Adolf Hitler? ... I just decided to say somethng about it at the next council meeting.

"On a certain level it was just a very human reaction," he continued. "I was tired of getting trashed week after week after week by him and Barry [Allen] and then when they got to the extreme of comparing me to Adolf Hitler, I said OK, that's enough."

Allen publishes a newsletter that is critical of council members and like Mohill has made numerous anti-Drayman presentations during council meetings.

Mohill said it's very likely he'll be back at Glendale City Hall on Tuesday for another round with Drayman, who seeks a second four-year term.

In a one-on-one interview with Patch, the councilman spoke in depth on ADI, his condo renovation, campaign contributions and lessons learned from this still-developing story.

Stay tuned for further coverage of Drayman later this week, as well as continuing coverage of the 2011 city council campaign.

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