REGION: Dispute at assemblyman's office leads to police call

Ex-candidate for supervisor says he only wanted assistance

By EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer | Friday, June 13, 2008 11:13 PM PDT ∞

Police were called to Assemblyman Martin Garrick's office in Carlsbad last week after a former candidate for county supervisor and a receptionist got into a heated exchange.

John Van Doorn, who recently ran unsuccessfully for Supervisor Pam Slater-Price's seat, said he went to Garrick's office on June 6 to ask for the assemblyman's assistance in a legal matter involving a child support dispute with his former wife.

Van Doorn, who is not related to the North County Times columnist of the same name, said he was trying to explain his situation to the receptionist when the exchange began.

"She was the loudest of the two," Van Doorn said Friday. "I was there to ask for help."

Mike Zimmerman, Garrick's chief of staff, said that the matter was just a misunderstanding. Garrick's 74th Assembly District stretches from Carlsbad south to Del Mar and east to parts of Escondido.

"There was a situation where the staff was concerned because the volume of the man increased, but it has been taken care of," Zimmerman said Friday. "Everything is fine."

Carlsbad police responded to a call from the assemblyman's office at about 3:44 p.m. June 6, said Carlsbad police spokeswoman Lynn Diamond. She said the call was in response to a "disgruntled customer" who was being "belligerent."

Diamond, who did not disclose the name of the individual, said no one was arrested or cited in the incident.

California Highway Patrol officers also were called to the scene by workers in Sen. Mark Wyland's office, which is next door to Garrick's office in the same building.

Garrick's receptionist reported that she became uneasy and "did not feel safe" when she "smelled the stale odor of alcohol" on his breath, according to a CHP incident report provided by Supervisor Pam Slater-Price's office.

Van Doorn, 50, said CHP officers visited his home on Wednesday to determine whether he was a threat to the assemblyman. He said in a phone interview Friday that he told the officers that he had not been drinking the day of the incident.

Van Doorn was cooperative when officers visited him and "was not considered a threat," according to the CHP report.

Van Doorn said he has been in a bitter legal battle with his former wife since the couple divorced in 1999. He said the state's Department of Child Support Services recently seized about $60,000 from his bank account, and he wanted Garrick to intervene on his behalf.

His personal experience with the courts, state and local agencies were partly the reason why he ran for supervisor, Van Doorn said. He lost the nonpartisan race, receiving 29.5 percent of the vote to Slater-Price's 70.4 percent.

Van Doorn, an electrical engineer from Encinitas, said Friday that the incident at Garrick's office was "no big news."

"We were both emotional," he said. "It was just that everybody was a little tired."

Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-3511 or esifuentes@nctimes.com.