Updated at 10:50 p.m. May 20, 2015
Amid reports that District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis’ office is investigating county Supervisor Dave Roberts, his recently hired crisis-communications consultant set and then canceled a news conference on the growing scandal.
The consultant and spokesman Gary Gartner told Times of San Diego: “We believe that a thorough investigation by the District Attorney will confirm that there is no wrongdoing by Dave Roberts.
“Supervisor Roberts will ask the county to release to the District Attorney the results of the county’s confidential internal investigation into these false allegations. We are confident that the false allegations that have made by a former employee will be proven to be untrue.”
- Coming Thursday: Twittercast of Dave Roberts Aide’s News Conference
U-T San Diego reported Wednesday that one of Roberts’ former aides, Brittany Shaw, said she was “contacted by a supervising criminal investigator in the special operations division of District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis’ office.”
Others confirmed the DA probe of the lone Democrat on the Board of Supervisors, the U-T said. Dumanis’ office would not confirm or deny such an investigation.
NBC San Diego reported that Gary Gartner, the consultant, had planned to hold a press conference at 3 p.m. Wednesday to address the investigation, “but it was canceled 15 minutes before.”
Gartner told Times of San Diego that the news conference was delayed “because we need some time to put together some documents that we’re going to be releasing. These documentations will prove that the allegations are false.”
The news conference on alleged misuse of public funds was postponed until 3 p.m. Thursday at the County Administration Center.
Depicted as a “personal friend” in a U-T report, the paper quoted Gartner Tuesday as saying: “I was Dave Roberts’ campaign consultant who successfully helped get him elected in 2012. We have remained good friends and I have served as an trusted advisor since the election.
“I offered to help Dave respond to the increased media inquiries to be able to set the record straight and respond to the false allegations that have been made against him.”
The story exploded a week ago when Diane Porter, a former scheduler for Roberts, filed a $250,000 claim with the county alleging financial and personal offenses against Roberts, including allegations that he was conducting an affair with a county-paid driver.
Contributing editor Alex Nguyen contributed to this report.
