Mayor Jerry Sanders says he's issuing a stop work order demanding that Sunroad Enterprises cease all construction on its building near Montgomery Field. And, he asked the State Attorney General to step into the ring and settle the match with the city attorney.
Mayor Jerry Sanders was flanked by heavy-hitters in law enforcement, including the police chief, the district attorney, and the county sheriff. He drew a figurative line in the sand in response to accusations the city attorney made against the mayor in a letter to the Union-Tribune last week. Aguirre accused Sanders of corruption in connection with Sunroad.
Sanders : It's a message to the public, these are law enforcement officials, these are attorneys, these are judges. These people have served their entire career with honor and Mr. Aguirre has no problem throwing out the allegations they're corrupt if he doesn't like what they say. And I don't think the public should tolerate it; I'm not going to tolerate it, and I know none of these people are going to tolerate it either.
The controversial high-rise near Montgomery Field in being constructed to 180 feet, 20 feet above the FAA's safety regulations.
Today, the mayor said he is ordering construction to stop. In the meantime he's ordered a review into just how this building got to be so high, despite several warnings from officials.
And he did something else mayors don't usually do. He asked California's attorney general to investigate his conduct in the Sunroad case. He says he's been maligned by the city attorney, and he wants his name cleared.
Sanders : I am willing to stand up here and be investigated in a very public way, so the public can be assured I've done nothing illegal or wrong and that's exactly what this is about.
In his response, Aguirre dismissed the mayor's comments and his plea to the Attorney General as a PR exercise. He says he stands by his assertions of corruption -- but he won't rule out apologizing to the mayor.
Aguirre : I wouldn't rule anything out, because what's important now is that we are now in the right track with each other. And if something like that were necessary, to move us along, I wouldn't rule anything out.
Although it may be too little, too late.
The State Attorney General's Office has officially stepped into the Sunroad fiasco. The office says it will investigate charges of corruption at the mayor's request.
The mayor says the review of the Sunroad debacle will be complete in a couple of weeks and he'll make the findings public. But for now, all further construction of that controversial building has been halted.
