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Chula Vista Official Reprimanded Over Web Use

City Manager Accused Of Looking At 'Inappropriate Images'

POSTED: 12:10 pm PDT August 19, 2008
UPDATED: 12:27 pm PDT August 20, 2008

At least two Chula Vista councilmen called for a debate this week as to whether City Manager David Garcia should keep his job, it was reported Wednesday.

Garcia, who was hired a year ago, was reprimanded this summer for his computer usage and asked not to retaliate against two employees who reported that he was looking at "inappropriate images" while at work, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

This week, Councilmen Steve Castaneda and Rudy Ramirez said Garcia's future with Chula Vista should be debated, the newspaper reported.

"He should be an exemplary symbol for everyone who works for the city of Chula Vista," Castaneda told the Union-Tribune. "I think I will ask for this to be discussed by the council. We have to decide as a group how we are going to proceed."

Garcia was hired last year despite a very public scandal involving his relationship with a subordinate while he was city manager in Corpus Christi, Texas. He was ultimately asked to resign, according to the Union-Tribune.

Garcia is paid a base salary of $225,000 a year, the newspaper said.

Ramirez told the newspaper that he had read articles about Garcia's past before he was hired to work in Chula Vista.

Garcia's private attorney, Bob Ottilie, told the newspaper that the complaint arose out of Garcia's viewing of vacation pictures on his personal laptop. But Castaneda told the newspaper that Garcia spent an inordinate amount of time viewing the Pamela Anderson Web page and downloaded pictures of women to his computer.

This is Chula Vista's second scandal involving a high-ranking city official. In April, Castaneda was acquitted on some counts during a perjury trial related to whether he lied about his personal interest in a development project before the council. A mistrial was declared on the other counts.

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