Councilmember won’t face ethics violation

Colleagues agree with board that Clarissa Cervantes’ DUI arrest broke no city code

A Riverside City Councilmember won’t be hit with an ethics violation, her council colleagues decided Tuesday night.

Months ago, the city’s Board of Ethics dismissed a complaint filed by Ben Clymer against Clarissa Cervantes, but that decision was appealed to the council. Councilmembers voted 5-0 to adopt the board’s decision to dismiss the ethics complaint, saying board members did not commit a procedural error as had been alleged in the appeal.

Cervantes and Clymer could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Councilmember Ronaldo Fierro was absent Tuesday, and Cervantes did not take part in the discussion or vote because she was the subject of the complaint. Both are running for the 58th Assembly District.

The original complaint, filed in October, contained two items.

The first alleged that Cervantes violated the government code by failing to disclose income. At a November meeting, the city’s Board of Ethics delayed action on the allegation until the Fair Political Practices Commission finishes its review.

Clymer also alleged that her summer DUI arrest was an ethics violation under city rules. The councilmember was arrested in July and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in August. The ethics board voted to dismiss this complaint, saying Clymer didn’t offer enough evidence to show that, “more likely than not,” the DUI may have violated the prohibited conduct section of Riverside’s municipal code.

Clymer filed an appeal days later, alleging that the board made a procedural error.

He argued that ethics board member Freya Foley should have excused herself from the discussion because she represents Ward 2 — the Ward represented by Cervantes — and because she is president of the Democrats of Greater Riverside, which he said supports Cervantes’ Assembly campaign.

“The fact that Ms. Foley already participated in discussion with her peers puts the objective fairness of this matter being reconsidered by the Ethics Board overall into jeopardy,” Clymer’s appeal states.

The board voted 7-0 to dismiss the allegation. Had Foley not voted, the result would likely have been the same.

On Tuesday, the City Council heard the appeal, with City Clerk Donesia Gause asking councilmembers to decide “if the board of ethics committed a clear procedural error or an abuse of discretion.”

Depending on the council’s answer, the ethics board’s decision to dismiss the complaint would either be adopted, or the complaint would return to the board for more review.

Cervantes left the dais during the discussion. Clymer did not attend.

Foley was the lone speaker on the issue.

“I checked with both the City Clerk’s office and with the city attorney assigned to the Board of Ethics prior to participating (in the initial discussion),” she said. Language prohibiting board members from participating in complaints about their Ward’s councilmember was removed from the code last year, she said, and “they said I could participate.”

As for her involvement with the Democrats of Greater Riverside, Foley said that organization members had chosen two representatives to attend the state Democratic Party Pre-endorsing Conference.

The group then decided who they would vote for at the conference. Cervantes was one of them. Foley said she was in Europe during that meeting, and had no involvement in the processes.

Councilmember Erin Edwards made a motion that no procedural error occurred and that the council back the ethics board’s dismissal. Councilmember Steve Hemenway seconded the motion.