San Diego City Attorney Jan Goldsmith says the first of two investigations into the conduct of Auditor Eduardo Luna and his deputy, Chris Constantin, turned up nothing.
The inquiry into allegations of harassment and retaliation by Luna and Constantin against their staff began last June when employees complained that the two had coached them not to tell state investigators looking into a workplace injury about previous incidents. The city hired an outside law firm to look into that and other allegations.
Luna and Constantin’s lawyer, former City Attorney Mike Aguirre, has said that Goldsmith called him to say the report, which was finished in September, cleared his clients. Goldsmith confirmed that account Tuesday.
“The city attorney expressed his view that the first investigative report regarding alleged obstruction of a state agency investigation did not substantiate those accusations,” Goldsmith spokesman Jonathan Heller said.
A second outside investigator was hired after employees alleged Luna and Constantin retaliated against them for participating in the first inquiry. Aguirre has maintained the results of the first investigation made the second one irrelevant. Goldsmith said he hasn’t seen the second report, which was finished in November. The two outside investigations cost taxpayers $120,000.
The city has not released either report publicly, and the city’s Audit Committee broke a self-imposed deadline to decide what to do about the investigations. It’s next scheduled to discuss the matter on April 8.
Liam Dillon is a news reporter for Voice of San Diego. He covers how regular people interact with local government. What should he write about next?
Please contact him directly at liam.dillon@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.550.5663.
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