Times: Hercules councilman had waterfront ties while plans discussed
— by Jeffrey Wisniewski — 23 November 2008 — 11 comments below »
Sooner or later this information was going to come out; it is wholly unfortunate — to Ed Balico himself, and the community that he represents — that Balico chose to play “hide-and-seek” on the issue and not be forthcoming to City residents (and we still don’t know the complete story)…
Hercules councilman had waterfront ties while plans discussed
By Tom LochnerHercules City Councilman Ed Balico dabbled in real estate along the Hercules waterfront during a time when the council dealt with numerous land-use issues there, including discussions that culminated in a plan for more than 1,200 homes with a ferry terminal, train station and boulevard of restaurants and shops.
The council finally approved a waterfront development initiative in July, almost a year after Balico said he resigned from Hercules Waterfront Properties Inc., a real estate company that operated at 2210 Railroad Ave. until early this year. Balico said there was no conflict of interest while he worked for the company because he did not own it and made little if any money from it.
“I was the initial broker of record; I was just an agent there,” Balico said in an interview two weeks before the Nov. 4 City Council election, in which he was elected to a third term. He said the principals of the company were “five or six local people” whose identities he did not know. A February 2007 corporation record on file with the California secretary of state lists Balico’s son as the company’s president and CEO, a fact Balico meanwhile has confirmed.
“I owned zero percent of HWPI,” said Balico, reached while he was out of town earlier this month. “I ran it through our legal counsel.” Balico said he was driving in traffic and had to hang up, and told a reporter to send him an e-mail. Two e-mails to Balico since generated automatic replies that said he “won’t be able to reply by Nove 17,” including one Nov. 20.
On his state-mandated Form 700 Statement of Economic Interests for 2006, Balico reports gross income from Hercules Waterfront Properties Inc. as between $500 and $1,000; he does not mention the company on his disclosure form for 2007.
City Attorney Mick Cabral said conflicts of interest are decided on a case-by-case basis, adding, “I don’t know any circumstance for Mr. Balico that would have required his recusal.”
Cabral said it is his understanding that the company was Balico’s son’s company and that Balico was “simply broker of record to accommodate his son.”
“He (Balico) had no income coming from that business,” Cabral said.
The state Department of Real Estate indeed lists just one real estate broker with the surname Balico: Adelfo Simon Balico, which is Ed Balico’s full name.
The secretary of state record that lists Herherson Agdinaoay Balico — Ed Balico’s son, also spelled “Heherson” — as the company’s president and CEO also shows Adelyn Jill Agdinaoay Balico, Ed Balico’s daughter, as a director.
Cabral said father-son relationships when the son is of majority age do not create the same potential conflicts of interest as husband and wife.
The state Fair Political Practices Commission, in some of its criteria for potential conflicts of interest, singles out spouses and dependent children, but not emancipated children. One example: “You have an economic interest in a business entity in which you, your spouse, your registered domestic partner, or your dependent children or anyone acting on your behalf has invested $2,000 or more.” The entire document “Can I Vote? Overview of the Conflicts Laws” is available at www.fppc.ca.gov/index.html?id=37.
Some of Balico’s recent disclosures about his business interests have been confusing.
On his Form 700 for 2006, Balico reported that he owned 2210 Railroad Ave., valued between $100,000 and $1 million. In September, Balico told the Times he never owned the property, that listing it as his asset was “an oversight” and that Hercules Waterfront Properties Inc. rented the ground floor.
On Sept. 30, Balico filed an amended Form 700 — but for 2007, not 2006. He has said it was an oversight and that he would correct it.
In October, Balico told the Times he would go to Sacramento to find out who were the principals of the company and to get paperwork updated — as of last week, the Department of Real Estate still listed Balico as “Designated Officer,” albeit with the notation “officer canceled as of 03/25/08.” During the telephone conversation this month, Balico said he had not made it to Sacramento but that his son told him the company has been dissolved.
As of late October, Hercules Waterfront Properties Inc. was “suspended” — a term connoting unpaid taxes or failure to file a return — by the state Franchise Tax Board; the company owed $418, said agency spokeswoman Denise Azimi.
Balico left a message at the Times late last week saying he was in Southern California, returning Saturday night; he said he would respond to an e-mail as soon as possible, but as of Sunday, he had not contacted the Times.
I think this article proves Mr. Balico has been less than forth-coming, first denying he knew who the company officers were and then they turn out to be his own children! What other relatives are involved? It is unfortunate this information was not disclosed prior to his re-election. I suspect this may be the ‘tip of the iceberg’ and would like to see all his connections with the Waterfront brought to light – the community has a right to know. In addition, Mr. Balico seems to have a number of “over-sights” on his income tax documents as well. Given the number of claims he has made regarding projects he is personally responsible for in the City of Hercules, I wonder how many other “over-sights” are out there?
Im ashamed that I voted for him. As a promenade home owner, now I see what the real issues are. It will be very interesting to find out who his ‘dream team’ is aside from his family.
How is it possible that Adelfo Simon Balico aka Ed Balico not know who owns the company? Only to find out its his children. What a joke. His brother in law who owns the Fernandez Cleaning Service happens to be the cleaning service for the City Hall. Isnt this a coincidence? I believe there is more to this than what was printed in the CC Times. Hope what happened in Pinole will not happen in Hercules.
Yes, I was wondering why this information did not come out before the election.
I knew for a fact that his son owned the business because I remember sitting outside talking to him about it when Hercules Waterfront Properties opened up.
Then to read that Ed didn’t know who the principals were is a flat out, bold faced LIE.
I don’t know about the rest of my neighbors, but I really don’t appreciate someone who is supposed to represent us LIE directly to our face.
Glad I didn’t vote for him.
Hopefully we can convince John Delgado to run again in 2010 along with some other hopeful candidate(s).
Balico must think the citizens of Hercules are stupid if they are going to believe that he didn’t know his children were the owners of the Hercules Waterfront Properties Inc., how rediculous is that and he has been relected to sit on the city council.
For those who are familiar with the TV shows “World Dumbest” aired on channel 65, that statement would would make him the perfect canidate for “Worlds Dumbist Politicians”
To think that they did property managment out of that office, makes you wonder how many Waterfront properties they managed and how much money he made off of that. Hmm!! conflict of interest Hmm!! but Im sure he will blame that on his kids to.
And to think I voted for him in the past, well as they say the truth will provale
Balico must think the citizens of Hercules are stupid if they are going to believe that he didn’t know his children were the owners of the Hercules Waterfront Properties Inc., how rediculous is that and he has been relected to sit on the city council.
For those who are familiar with the TV shows “World Dumbest” aired on channel 65, that statement would would make him the perfect canidate for “Worlds Dumbist Politicians”
To think that they did property managment out of that office, makes you wonder how many Waterfront properties they managed and how much money he made off of that. Hmm!! conflict of interest Hmm!! but Im sure he will blame that on his kids to.
And to think I voted for him in the past, well as they say the truth will provale
Balico must think the citizens of Hercules are stupid if they are going to believe that he didn’t know his children were the owners of the Hercules Waterfront Properties Inc., how rediculous is that and he has been relected to sit on the city council.
For those who are familiar with the TV shows “World Dumbest” aired on channel 65, that statement would would make him the perfect canidate for “Worlds Dumbist Politicians”
To think that they did property managment out of that office, makes you wonder how many Waterfront properties they managed and how much money he made off of that. Hmm!! conflict of interest Hmm!! but Im sure he will blame that on his kids to.
And to think I voted for him in the past, well as they say the truth will provale
This shows how corruption is not only in our Federal government but in local government too. He has been wheeling and dealing for a long time and is always the first one to take credit for anything that happens in the development or progress of the city. I think it is a disgrace to the city to have an official like him who has continued to weasel he’s way out of things. How convenient to use your children as the sacrifical lambs.
He should be ashamed to imply his children were running this phony company which he clearly set up to run his personal business through. The “broker of record” is the owner and is responsible for everything and controls all income and other affairs last time I check with the DRE.
He has lied to the citizen and he continuous to do shaddy things behind a phony business set up. Wow that who is leading this city look out what’s next? Do they do recalls for city councilman?
Of course RECALL is a posiiblilty. In February 2008, two council people in our neighbor city of Pinole got recalled successfully. What we’re hearing is just a little piece of what is to come. We need to question our city leaders.
Balico is a disgrace to the city let’s form a reacll committee.
Now that we know these facts, what are we going to do about it. Let Balico know that he is a corrupt politician.