CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE — Investigators looking into allegations of corruption in San Diego’s City Hall have discovered e-mails thought to have been erased that show City Manager Dupont Jewel has a second job as a salesman for Mary Kay cosmetics.
One e-mail shows Jewel made over $5 million in sales last year, becoming the leading rep in the state. Those who reach this distinction automatically win a new pink Caddillac and a year’s supply of cosmetics.
The e-mails were addressed to a Lamont Ewell, which investigators said was most likely Jewel’s alias, a name he used to hide his second job from his employers.
When confronted with the news, Jewel said he did sell Mary Kay cosmetics for several years while working as a City Manager and as a fire chief in Oakland, but that he has recently given up the job now that he has saved up enough money to buy a house in Santa Monica.
“It was rough working two jobs, but I needed the money to live in the cities where I was working,” he said. “I had plenty of expenses, including college loans, dry cleaning, car polish for the Cadillac. It’s hard keeping that thing pink.”
Elected officials who hired Jewel said they are glad he quit, but would not have prevented him from earning a living as long as it didn’t interfere with city business.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 1, 2006. Read the original PDF.