When it comes to the ties that bind, it’s business, not political issues, that appear to cement Temecula’s five-member City Council.

City, county and state records as well as business marketing materials suggest land development ties between Mayor Chuck Washington and Councilmen Jeff Comerchero and Mike Naggar. Comerchero is the president and chief executive of the Rancon Group of development companies, which is at the center of much of the interconnected business activity.

The records also cite Rancon business dealings with Mission Oaks National Bank, where Councilwoman Maryann Edwards works as a vice president and has been granted stock options. Naggar has owned stock in the bank, as has Councilman Ron Roberts’ wife.

For the most part, the councilmembers declined comment on the documents that span several years.

Edwards and Comerchero initially agreed to answer a reporter’s e-mailed questions. But they did not reply after separate sets of questions were prepared and e-mailed to them a day later. Roberts clarified one of his public records but did not comment further.

Naggar did not respond to a reporter’s query sent to his city e-mail address. Washington would not answer questions and instead referred a reporter to state-mandated financial disclosure forms that detail the mayor’s employment and business holdings.

"My Form 700 meets or exceeds all rules and regulations provided by the [state] Fair Political Practices Commission and, as a public record, speaks for itself," Washington said in an e-mail statement.

Many of the documents were obtained in recent months as public records and in Internet searches by Al Rattan, a developer who built the Renaissance Estates homes tract in rural De Luz and has proposed two commercial projects in Old Town Temecula.

Rattan said he began to question potential conflicts of interest after Comerchero and Naggar participated in meetings on his plan to develop a condominium project along Pujol Street in Old Town. Rattan said he had done business with Rancon at Renaissance Estates in 2004 and later in Old Town.

Those connections, along with city planning support of his Old Town proposals, prompted Rattan to conclude that he would likely receive approval of a land swap with the city and obtain redevelopment funding for his condominium plan at a per-unit level similar to that granted to another developer’s affordable housing project.

Rattan said he began to question the ties of Comerchero and Naggar when city officials said no redevelopment funds would be available for his project. Rattan said he was perplexed why Comerchero and Naggar had seemingly become redevelopment gatekeepers and whether they were doing so as councilmembers or Rancon representatives.

"I was more than shocked with what was going on here," Rattan, who has since founded the Rescue Temecula watchdog group, said in an interview. His Pujol Street condominium project has not moved forward and his Third Street commercial building plan remains under review by the city.

Rattan took on a high-profile helper, former Temecula Councilman Karel Lindemans, in July 2006 to help gain traction for his projects and their shared vision to turn Murrieta Creek into a visitor attraction.

Meetings with Naggar, Comerchero and city redevelopment officials prompted Lindemans to send a frustration-laced e-mail to Councilmen Naggar and Roberts in September 2006. In the message, Lindemans questioned Comerchero’s involvement and intimated that Naggar had failed to follow through on commitments he had made.

Lindemans described the city’s redevelopment agency as "in financial trouble" and concluded his note by asking, "Who runs this city?"

Temecula responded 12 days later with a two-page letter from City Attorney Peter M. Thorson to Rattan’s lawyer.

Thorson’s letter cited prior communications between city redevelopment officials and Rattan. The letter said Comerchero had not known Rattan had done business with Rancon until the issue surfaced in Lindemans’ e-mail. The letter flatly stated that Comerchero had no business conflicts pertaining to Rattan’s condominium plan.

"Please be advised that Councilmember Comerchero has no conflicts of interest with respect to Mr. Rattan’s projects and, specifically, the Pujol Street project," Thorson said in the opening line of his Sept. 27, 2006, letter.

Comerchero worked as a toy distributor and consultant when he was elected to the council in November 1997. In February 2003, he was hired by Rancon founder Daniel L. Stephenson as a development consultant. At that time, Comerchero became the manager of the Winchester Hills project in Menifee. A year later, he was named president and chief executive of the Rancon Group of development companies.

In his most recent financial disclosure statements, which are required by state law, Comerchero lists income from several development partnerships in the Menifee, Perris and Romoland areas that have ties to Naggar.

Naggar, who was elected to the council in November 1999, worked in a variety of jobs prior to entering the development services industry by early 2003. Those prior positions include zoning investigator for the city of San Diego in late 2002, according to city election records.

Many of the development partnerships that surfaced in documents connect Comerchero, Naggar and Stephenson to John D. Motte, who serves on the Perris City Council and whose family owns large tracts of land in that area.

At least two of the limited liability corporations listed on Comerchero’s financial disclosure forms also appear on the forms filed by Motte. Rancon marketing materials also reveal business ties between Comerchero, Naggar, Stephenson and Motte.

Materials titled "The Rancon Report" trace the Motte family Advertisement
history and Rancon’s migration north from the Temecula Valley.

The account tells how the Motte farming family dabbled in home development about seven years ago with limited success.

"The homes didn’t sell like we expected and we found ourselves wondering how to make [development] work," John Motte is quoted in the Rancon marketing materials as saying.

"Mike Naggar had the answer," the two-page brochure explained. "As a consultant to the Rancon Group in the Perris/Menifee area, Naggar had been asked by Dan Stephenson to look for prime properties in the area and talk to property owners about their development strategies. Naggar, who sits on the City Council of Temecula, had interactions with John Motte, who is on the Perris City Council. One day, Naggar found a property with the name Motte listed as owner. He called John and asked: ‘Is that you?’"

"The two laugh about it today when recalling the story," the marketing materials continue. "Naggar eventually introduced the Motte brothers to Stephenson and there was an immediate understanding of what each could do for the other."

The article goes on to tell about Rancon and the Mottes working together to develop Menifee North, a 27-acre home tract along Briggs Road, and a residential and commercial project at the Motte Romola Farms properties along Highway 74 in Romoland.

State records show Stephenson as the agent for service for at least six of the development entities listed on Motte’s financial forms. State records separately list Naggar as the agent for service of Mike Naggar & Associates Inc., which is based in the Southern Hotel in Perris. Some of the Mottes’ family enterprises are also based in the historic hotel that has been converted to offices.

Naggar’s business Internet site describes his company as a "land planning, government/community relations firm." The site features numerous projects being planned or developed, including several that involve Rancon partnerships. Naggar’s Internet site identifies Rancon as a company "associate" and lists Stephenson and Comerchero as contacts on certain projects.

One of the projects listed on Naggar’s Internet site is MR 628 LLC, a residential and commercial community planned along the Ramona Expressway between Perris and San Jacinto.

"Motte Lakeview Ranch is a 638-acre-plus project being developed by the Rancon Group," Naggar’s Internet materials state.

The economic disclosure forms filed by Naggar in March 2005 noted that he had earned more than $100,000 a year as president of Mike Naggar & Associates. Two subsequent disclosure forms list that company’s street address as Naggar’s mailing address, but they do not indicate that Naggar & Associates remains a source of income for him.

Disclosure reports filed by Naggar in March 2006 and March 2007 indicate that he earned a consulting salary between $10,000 and $100,000 from Highpoint Monte Verde, a Laguna Woods limited liability corporation.

Naggar’s disclosure forms also show that he has owned Mission Oaks National Bank stock for several years. In 2002, according to disclosure forms, Naggar owned bank stock valued up to $10,000. A year later, the value of the Mission Oaks stock owned by Naggar was valued between $10,000 and $100,000, according to the disclosure forms. That value remained the same on his most recent forms.

Public documents also link Mission Oaks to Rancon and Councilmembers Edwards and Roberts.

Edwards, who was appointed to the council in February 2005, is a vice president and community relations officer at Mission Oaks. She said in an e-mail that she received options to purchase an undisclosed amount of bank stock when she was hired. She said she has not exercised her option to buy the stock. She declined to answer any further questions related to the stock option arrangements.

In an e-mail, Roberts said the Mission Oaks stock listed on his most recent financial disclosure forms belongs to his wife. That report, filed in February 2007, listed the value of the stock between $10,000 and $100,000.

Roberts was elected to the council in November 1992. A retired California Highway Patrol sergeant, he now works as an aide to Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone.

Documents recorded by Riverside County in recent years also detail business between Rancon partnerships and Mission Oaks. Several documents dating from 2001 to 2005 show loans or other business activities between the bank and at least three Rancon-related partnerships.

Mayor Washington’s most recent financial disclosure forms show his ownership of an undisclosed number of shares of Rancon Partners 628, a limited liability corporation, with a value between $10,000 and $100,000. Washington acquired the shares Nov. 28, 2006, according to the document.

Washington, who was elected to the council in November 2003, also lists shares of the Murrieta/Madison XX LLC on his most recent disclosure forms. Those shares, which were valued between $100,000 and $1 million, were acquired April 4, 2006, according to the public document. The Murrieta/Madison partnership did not surface in the records gathered on Rancon, Naggar & Associates or Mission Oaks.

Washington worked as a Delta Air Lines captain until he retired several years ago and was hired as a vice president for 1st Centennial Bank in Temecula.

Meanwhile, Rattan said his conflict of interest questions linger as he waits for the completion of an Old Town study that could clear the way for further review of his Third Street development plan.

"It’s on hold until we can go forward to the City Council," he said.

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