Give that man a cigar!

Derrick Roach (left), here receiving a prestigious honor.
- Photo courtesy of CityBeat’s Dave Maass

The weekend before Valentine’s Day, newly installed San Diego County Republican Party Secretary Derrick Roach, a private investigator by trade, dispatched an e-mail that attempted to tamp down the hubbub over the local GOP’s recent decision to skip out on its Sorrento Valley headquarters lease six months early.

“Unfortunately,” he wrote, “some individuals have taken a few facts out of context and have twisted them to create a story that sounds horrible.”

If Spin Cycle knows one thing after covering this city for more than a quarter-century, no twisting of tales is required. Only the keenest, most devious minds could make this stuff up, and neither of those adjectives accurately describes Spin.

In his e-mail, Roach lamented, “As for the old office it seems to be a darned if you do and darned if you don’t situation. We have been accused of throwing things away while at the same time not throwing things away.”

Spin Cycle tried to contact Roach to talk about his e-mail, to no avail. It’s a shame, because it would have been interesting to see if by saying “not throwing things away,” he meant simply leaving behind perfectly good furniture and office supplies strewn about the Oberlin Drive office suite, as Spin Cycle documented previously.

Roach goes on to write, “The new headquarters is in the same building as Tony’s office.” That, too, would have been fun to talk about because, while technically true, the statement neglects to mention the new party HQ in Rancho Bernardo is actually in the private offices of Krvaric Capital, the conservatives-only wealth-management firm operated by local GOP Chairman Tony Krvaric.

In his e-mail, Roach does say, “The party has a contract that specifies costs, common area usage, phones, internet and other things.” Unfortunately, it doesn’t spell out exactly whom the party has a contract with, nor who negotiated that contract, nor what those specifics are. Did Krvaric—who’s known to be, shall we say, persuasive among party faithful—negotiate with himself?

Roach, in his e-mail, tried to deflect such speculation by declaring, “Tony is not financially benefiting from this with the exception that he will probably save on the cost of gas since he will not have to travel to Sorrento Valley anymore.”

Some Republicans who seem disturbed by the appearance of self-dealing but are too fearful of political retribution to speak publicly have told Spin Cycle privately that Krvaric faced a dilemma back in December, when the move took place.

As the story goes, Krvaric’s lease on his private suite was up for renewal that month. That same month, another moneymanagement firm, Platinum Wealth Strategies LLC, that shared Suite 208 with Krvaric in the resort-like Rancho Bernardo Courtyard, opted to move to smaller quarters in the office complex.

While Stephen Horvath, Platinum’s founder, did not respond to requests for an interview, even a rudimentary check on Google Maps makes reference to its former location in Krvaric’s suite as of early December.

With Platinum’s departure, would this mean Krvaric would have to give up his 2,220-square-foot corner office in a Spanish-style complex described in leasing promotions as “Rancho Bernardo’s finest, most unique professional office building”?

Apparently not. As reported earlier, filings with the Federal Election Commission show the Republican Party of San Diego County in mid-December wrote a $5,175 check to Rancho Bernardo Courtyard, describing the expenditure as a security deposit on a new office. This came just three days after the local GOP paid $4,565.47 in rent to Antoine Georges, the landlord of the Oberlin Drive office building.

Although the GOP continues to refuse to provide more details on the financial side of the transaction, commercial realestate experts Spin Cycle talked to seem to agree that the security deposit was likely the equivalent of one month’s rent.

This raises the question: How has the local GOP now “cut expenses by over 40%,” as Roach contended in his e- mail? Some Republicans privately say the deal between the GOP and Krvaric splits the lease payment 75/25, meaning the GOP pays 75 percent and Krvaric picks up the remaining 25 percent—meaning that if presumptions are correct, the party pays $3,881.25 a month while Krvaric kicks in $1,293.75.

But even that would represent, by rough estimates, a 15-percent savings from the previous arrangement in Sorrento Valley, not the more than 40 percent cut that Roach and Krvaric have been preaching.

Roach did note that the GOP’s former finance director, Elizabeth Moyer, “has taken another job with a company in San Diego,” so perhaps her $34,000-plus annual salary is included in the mix. Again, it’s all speculation, seeing that party leaders aren’t talking.

In wrapping up his explanation, Roach lamented, “It is unfortunate that our former landlord has made some of the accusations that I have read in the paper and on email. Nearly all of them are not true. If he would like to take legal action that is his right; however, we feel confident we have documented his breaches of contract and would prevail in court.”

Roach also noted that party leaders have “done a cost benefit analysis and even with legal action the party would still be financially better off in the end.”

To which Georges says, “Thanks for the information! At the same time they were telling me they were moving furniture out only to do some remodeling, here they say they analyzed breaking the lease and determined it was a win-win for them. How stupid are these people?”

To top it off, Georges said he received a letter from the local GOP’s legal counsel just days ago alleging that the landlord had actually locked the GOP out of its headquarters and demanding that the landlord pay the GOP more than $11,000 in “relocation costs.” Georges contends the GOP owes him more than $28,000, including lease payments and $5,500 to repair the damaged suite.

“They never returned the keys. I haven’t changed the locks,” he chuckled. “I even checked with SDG&E, and they had the power turned off right at the time they left. Their story just keeps changing. Can’t wait to get them in court.”

Correction: The original version of this story stated, "Perhaps [the local Republicans] took a vow not to spend $800 in party money for cigars as they did last May, according to FEC filings." That is incorrect. The cigars were an in-kind contribution from a local business. We're sorry for the error.

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