Tag Archives: Ethics Lapses

Police Union member Marie Fellhauer is running for El Segundo City Council
Photo copyright © 2012 by Michael D. Robbins.

Marie Fellhauer is a Police Union member, and her multitude of ethics lapses make it more likely that she will represent the Police and Fire Unions rather than the Voters and Taxpayers if elected to City Council.

Marie Fellhauer has made at least four known ethics lapses:

1. Fellhauer’s 32 percent absenteeism rate for Planning Commission meetings she was obligated to attend, and her misrepresentation of her Planning Commission record in her campaign literature.
2. Much of Fellhauer’s campaign assistance is coming from Mayor Eric Busch, who took $10,900 in campaign cash and other support from the Police and Fire Unions in 2008, and paid them back with millions of extra tax dollars per year in a back-room sweetheart deal, and more than 11 to 23 percent pay raises during a recession when they were already grossly overpaid.
3. Fellhauer knowingly accepted a $700 contribution from a local businessman who tried to cheat the City out of $55,000, and who was bounced off the Planning Commission by the City Council before his first Planning Commission meeting because a majority of the City Council did not trust him. He tried to steer the Golf Course Construction Management contract to a friend who bid $120,000, when the lowest and more qualified bidder bid only $65,000 for the same job.
4. Fellhauer got caught in a lie where she tried to cover up her Police Union campaign contribution money at the League of Women Voters Candidates Forum.

Planning Commission Ethics Lapse

Marie Fellhauer’s known ethics lapses start with her Planning Commission appointment.

Excerpt from Marie Fellhauer’s Campaign Literature.

Fellhauer claims in her campaign literature that her appointment to the El Segundo Planning Commission is an example of “Marie’s Proven Commitment to Community.”

However, Fellhauer has been absent for a third (32%) of all the Planning Commission meetings she was obligated to attend over the last two years, and absent for a fourth (25%) of all her obligated meetings over the last four years.

There are several problems here.

First, Fellhauer failed to meet her commitments for a very important city function for at least four years.

Second, once she realized she could not or would not meet her commitments, she should have resigned but failed to do so. It appears that Fellhauer retained her seat on the Planning Commission solely to use it as a stepping stone to higher office, i.e., City Council.

And third, Fellhauer misrepresented her record in writing in her own campaign literature to gain trust and confidence from voters. … Continue reading →