The Del Mar Fairgrounds Board of Directors wants city officials to appear at the November fair board meeting to apologize for making conflict of interest allegations against board member Mark Arabo based on an email sent by someone whose existence no one has been able to verify.
“No one could verify the person exists, including the prosecutors,” Arabo said during the Oct. 13 meeting. “Why wouldn’t the city check? And then why would they take the public route to do this? They wouldn’t think before you damage someone’s character, reputation, business?”
In July, the city received an email signed by a Debrah Barnes. It does not describe any particular wrongdoing. But the letter implied that state Attorney General Rob Bonta, who has urged the city to comply with state housing law and work with the property owner behind the 259-unit Seaside Ridge proposal in Del Mar, was acting at the behest of Arabo due to Arabo’s campaign contributions.
It alleged that Arabo has an interest in Seaside Ridge because he bought a house in 2024 through a local real estate agent who happens to work with the Seaside Ridge applicant.
Arabo denied that he had any stake in Seaside Ridge or any influence in Bonta’s enforcement of state housing laws.
In a 10-minute meeting on Aug. 3, with no discussion or consideration of Arabo’s three-page rebuttal to the Barnes email, the Del Mar City Council voted 3-0 to send criminal referrals to District Attorney Summer Stephan and U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon. Councilmember Dan Quirk was absent.
In an Oct. 1 letter, San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan took the fairly unusual step of not only announcing that her office is not bringing charges, but also calling Del Mar’s publicity-seeking efforts “very irregular.”
The DA’s Public Integrity Unit wrote in the letter that they couldn’t verify Barnes’ identity or legitimacy as a complainant. It also said Bonta’s communications with Del Mar on Seaside Ridge were in line with his overall enforcement of housing law.
A spokesperson for Gordon, whose federal court district includes San Diego, declined to say whether his office has made a decision on the referral.
“Imagine the chilling effect it has when we have to make tough decisions for the best interest of the fairgrounds and we worry that someone is going to unfairly, slanderously, defamatory attack us and our character,” Arabo said.
The other board members called for an apology to Arabo and for more answers from city officials, including whether they might handle things differently in the future if receiving vague allegations about a public official from a pseudonymous sender.
Councilmembers Tracy Martinez and John Spelich, who joined Councilmember Terry Gaasterland in voting to send the referrals, have appeared during public comment urging the fair board to continue to negotiate with the city on a housing project on fairgrounds property.
The fair board voted in August to discontinue talks with the city over a proposed 61-unit project on the property.
Fair board member Donna DeBerry said there first needs to be an apology.
“I don’t understand why the city of Del Mar can continue to come for public comment without doing that first,” DeBerry said.
The Del Mar Times has reached out to City Manager Ashley Jones and the council for comment.