Foundation Run by Councilman Got Card Club Money : Funds: Contributions to the Willie C. Velasquez Center began after Rodolfo (Rudy) Garcia voted with four colleagues to lease city property to the Bicycle Club casino.

BELL GARDENS —  A foundation run by a Bell Gardens city councilman was promised thousands of dollars in donations by a card club operator shortly before the councilman voted to allow the club to lease city property next to the club, documents show.

In mid-July, George G. Hardie, general manager of the Bicycle Club casino, promised in writing to contribute $1,000 a month to the Willie C. Velasquez Center, which is headed by Councilman Rodolfo (Rudy) Garcia.

Within two weeks, Garcia joined four other council members in approving the leasing arrangement with the Bicycle Club, which plans to use the vacant city property for parking and temporary storage while the club is being expanded. A $1,000 check from the club was written to the foundation three days after the vote, and two more $1,000 checks were written by Oct. 1.

The key parties in the Bicycle Club donation say they were not aware of any possible conflict. Garcia said he was unaware that the foundation had asked the Bicycle Club for donations and was surprised when the first check arrived. He said the foundation’s volunteer president, Hector A. Chacon, included the casino in a mass mailing that requested donations from dozens of sources.

In any event, the councilman said, his vote on the card club’s proposal was proper because it occurred before the foundation received the first Bicycle Club contribution.

Hardie said he did not learn that Garcia was connected with the foundation until after he had starting making contributions. Hardie said he had not heard of the foundation, which has its headquarters in neighboring Bell, before receiving the request for contributions in mid-June. He said he decided to contribute because he thought that the foundation was involved in a worthwhile cause. Among other things, the Velasquez Center helps immigrants through the process of gaining U.S. citizenship.

“We were just trying to be a good neighbor,” Hardie said.

Garcia is executive director of the foundation and its highest paid official. He earned $51,290 in 1991, according to foundation returns filed with the IRS. The foundation’s budget that year was $205,000.

State law requires that council members abstain from voting on matters where a potential conflict of interest exists. The law also prohibits council members from taking more than $250 annually from anyone who may benefit by a council vote within a 12-month period.

A city ordinance also prohibits card club officials from contributing to local elected officials or city employees.

But Garcia allowed the contributions to continue after checking with special counsel Henry Barbosa, who told him that the donations were legal as long as he refrained from voting on club issues.

Later in October, Garcia again voted in favor of a proposal involving the Bicycle Club, but changed his vote to an abstention at the end of the council meeting after being reminded by City Manager William Vasquez of the potential conflict of interest. Garcia said he had forgotten about the potential conflict of voting on matters involving the card club, which is the largest single source of revenue for the city. The other four council members voted in favor of that proposal, which allowed the club to set up 25 to 30 additional gaming tables in the club’s banquet rooms during the expansion project.

When he first agreed to contribute to the foundation, Hardie promised monthly payments of $1,000 through the end of the year and said the club might increase donations in 1993. But the contributions stopped after the Oct. 1 check.

Hardie said he halted the contributions when he “sort of realized” that Garcia was involved in the foundation. He refused to elaborate.

“We are not going to be involved with (the center) anymore, we don’t need the aggravation over it,” he said. “It’s small money, and it’s stupid.”

Questions about the propriety of the contributions are ridiculous, he said, adding, “If I wanted to give a bribe to someone, I would do it in a different way, wouldn’t you think?”

Documents show that the club was ordered to stop the contributions in November by the U.S. marshal’s office, which has been monitoring card club finances since the federal government seized a portion of the club three years ago as part of a federal drug case in Florida.

“The feds became aware of the payments (to the foundation) and decided it was not an appropriate club expense,” said Bell Gardens Finance Director David Bass, who acts as trustee for the federal court on card club matters. A spokesman for the marshal’s office declined comment.

Hardie said, however, that he had stopped contributing weeks before the marshal’s office ordered that the donations be halted.

Bass said Hardie contributes regularly to charities, but that the size and frequency of checks to Garcia’s foundation were unusual. He could recall just one other instance--when St. Gertrude’s Church began building a new church in Bell Gardens two years ago--in which the casino promised similar regular contributions. The club manager agreed to contribute $12,500 per year to the church for five years, said the pastor, Father Art Velasco.

At the foundation, Garcia said he has since tightened guidelines for soliciting donations. He has ordered Chacon to provide him with a list of all people or companies being solicited, and a list of new contributors.

Chacon said he had sought contributions from Hardie because of the club manager’s reputation for giving generously to area charities. Chacon said it was the first time he had approached the club.

“When (Garcia) found out about the Bicycle Club, he was very upset,” Chacon said. “He thinks in terms of politics, I think in terms of getting money for the foundation.”

Garcia isn’t the first councilman who has had to abstain from voting on club issues. When he was first elected, Councilman George Deitch abstained on Bicycle Club matters because of a real estate venture with Hardie. He has since ended his financial relationship with the casino operator.