A complaint alleges a city councilwoman did not report that her lobbyist friend helped to pay for her breast augmentation surgery
One was a lobbyist and the other was a City Council member, but they also were best buddies who thought they had a special bond.
In interviews with The Times, Martinez Muela did not deny accepting the financial assistance, but also said she did nothing wrong. Lopez, she said, was a generous friend who also drove her to and from the procedure, and cared for her afterward. They both insist theirs was a real friendship: Lopez said any gifts or money she bestowed were not meant to influence decisions by Martinez Muela and the councilwoman said she voted on principle and did not favor her friend.
Lopez, 52, and Martinez Muela, 48, met at a political event in Sacramento in 2011, after the councilwoman was first elected. Lopez said she agreed to cover the gap. On Dec. 29 that year, she said she drove Martinez Muela to the clinic of Dr. Daniel J. Casper, a cosmetic surgeon in Pasadena, for the procedure. While there, she said she paid $1,100 to Casper using a debit card.The declaration included an attached bank statement showing a payment from one of Lopez’s business accounts to Casper. The doctor did not respond to requests for comment.
There are some exceptions, such as gifts from long-time personal friends and acts of human compassion. But Stern said those exceptions didn’t apply because Lopez first met Martinez Muela when she was an elected official, and Lopez was representing a company with business before the council. Also in 2017, a cannabis business hired Lopez as a lobbyist to secure the City Council’s support for an ordinance that would allow cultivation in the city, Lopez said.