A former city manager falls hard over something truly dumb.

One of the last things I did last year before departing as editor of the Weekly was to completely purge my email box, both outgoing and incoming. Since over the course of five-plus years I never got rid of anything (hate mail, fan mail, sometimes from the same people on the same day), it took awhile. I purged because I didn’t know then I’d be coming back as a columnist and figured I shouldn’t leave a mess behind for anyone to deal with.

Now I’m regretting that purge because it means I can no longer relive the bombastic exchanges I had with former Del Rey Oaks City Manager Daniel Dawson.

Dawson, as the Weekly’s Dave Schmalz reported five months ago, piqued the interest of the Monterey County District Attorney after he filed two applications with the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District. One was to transfer water credits from the former driving range on Rosita Road over to the city’s water allocation, and the other was to open a water permit for an undeveloped property that Dawson owns on Portola Drive in Del Rey Oaks. On the second application, Dawson listed 25.5 proposed water fixtures for a planned duplex and accessory unit on the property, which he bought for $50,000 – and which came without water credits, meaning nothing could happen on it until he obtained an allocation. (And was probably why it was available at that price.)

He sent the email requests to the water district three weeks after he resigned as city manager, yet listed his address as Del Rey Oaks City Hall. In short, he tried to represent himself as a city representative doing city business in order to swing the water credits his way. Allegedly.

“I am City Manager until June 7, 2017,” he wrote in a January email to a water management district specialist, telling her he left some paperwork on her desk regarding the water transfer, “and have been put on ‘Special Assignment’ until then, meaning I have no power or duties of [city manager] until then.”

On Sept. 21, after a seemingly infinite investigation, the DA’s office filed charges against Dawson, a felony count alleging he violated California’s conflict-of-interest law, and a misdemeanor count alleging he violated the California Political Reform Act for failing to disclose ownership on a property as mandated.

The Weekly had a real tendency to tick off Dawson, mostly with requests we filed under the California Public Records Act. To now-Editor Sara Rubin, he tried to muscle her out of filing a PRA request over the funding of the Del Rey Oak Police Department’s big stupid Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle thusly: “You can’t have your editorial cake and eat it too. Either you withdraw the PRA and we talk candidly one-on-one, or we can go down the long and dusty road of the PRA, which could take several months and yield very little.”

I asked former Weekly reporter Ana Ceballos if she had saved any of their correspondence, and she replied, “Like the threats for public records and the names he called me? Unfortunately, no.”

Some truly hinky stuff went on during Dawson’s time in that job. For me, most memorable was the fact that he acted as a cannabis consultant and was on the board of Monterey Bay Alternative Medicine, which opened the first dispensary in the county – in Del Rey Oaks – while also acting as city manager. In response to questions about that back in 2016, Dawson sent the Weekly an email: “I do not have a conflict, one that you would pounce on as scandalous and sell lots of papers!! Sorry, but no conflict or scandal to be exposed here!” But MBAM cut ties with Dawson during its quest to get permits to operate in Salinas, after word of the criminal investigation broke.

In announcing the charges, the DA’s office also announced that a judge had issued a warrant for Dawson’s arrest. Within a day, he posted $25,000 bond. His arraignment is set for Oct. 18, when he’ll enter a plea. I’m told Dawson has retained Juliet Peck as his attorney; I reached out, but as of this writing, had not heard back from her on her client’s next step.

Monterey County isn’t particularly tough on public corruption. If Dawson is convicted, it’s likely he will never see the inside of a cell.

MARY DUAN writes Local Spin for the Weekly. Reach her at mary@mcweekly.com