Nearly $15,000 in checks have been endorsed by Desert Hot Springs Councilman Karl Baker. The checks, written to Chryss Home Automation, normally, wouldn’t raise so much as an eyebrow. However, Pete Chryss, the owner of the company, rents a room from Baker and has worked on his re-election campaign.

This potential conflict of interest could be sufficient to put Baker in trouble with Government Code 1090. The District Attorney, who was forwarded copies of the checks and other evidence from this city last week, declined to comment as to whether an investigation had been opened.

Government Code 1090 prevents any government employee from being part of securing a contract which he or she is financially interested. The breadth of “financially interested” is not defined.



From My Desert.com:

Desert Hot Spring City Councilman Karl Baker’s name is signed on the back of nearly $15,000 in checks the city wrote to a local businessman.

Baker appears to have endorsed all 22 checks paid to Chryss Home Automation, as recently as a $1,200 check dated Oct. 6.

The owner, Pete Chryss, rents a room in Baker’s house and has worked on Baker’s Nov. 8 re-election campaign.

Read the full article here.

(Editor’s note: This story was updated from a previous version that incorrectly stated that Councilman Baker signed the checks. We apologize for the inaccuracy.)