Pacific Beach resident Clyde Fuller has been approved as a commissioner on the City of San Diego Ethics Commission by a vote of the City Council that took place Tuesday, June 5.
District 2 Councilman Kevin Faulconer nominated Fuller.
Fuller, a retired FBI agent, will complete the term of Commissioner April Riel, who recently left the position and whose term will expire on June 30, 2009.
While Fuller has yet to attend his first full meeting, he said his job isn’t to catch politicians who might be up to no good.
“We are not investigators who are pounding the pavement on a daily basis,” he stated. “We are volunteers who meet once a month and are trying to help the community.”
Yet Fuller believes his career, which began in the United States Navy and culminated with 27 as an FBI agent before he retired in 1998, will help his commission duties and responsibilities.
His experience as an FBI agent is definitely welcomed after the city has been plagued by a number of ethics problems at many different levels of government, which include the Sunroad building, Strippergate, the pension debacle and Mission Bay’s mysterious addition of 50 acres of land to allow increased development.
“With the FBI I had extensive experiences investigating white collar crimes and political corruption,” he said. “I also ran for public office (unsuccessfully for the school board), so I have added insight into the election process.”
Fuller, who spent most of his 27 years with the FBI in San Diego in addition to some time in San Francisco, hesitates at noting the most interesting case he ever worked on.
“It is a question I get all the time and it is very difficult to answer,” he said. “What may appear interesting to people inside the FBI may sound uninteresting to the general public or vice versa.”
Fuller does know there is one resource available today which would have made his job much easier while he was with the FBI ” the Internet. His retirement came in the early years of the Internet going “prime time.”
“Now I could find out so much more information without ever having to get a subpoena,” he said. “For some of that information it used to take me months and months of work to obtain.”
As well, Fuller since his retirement has experienced what happens to many people ” unreturned phone calls or messages.
“When I was with the FBI, I would always have my phone calls returned immediately,” he chuckled. “All I had to do was say ‘This is Clyde Fuller from the FBI calling,’ and people, even if their wife was having a baby, would return the call right away. Now, I can better empathize with those in the general public who wait days to hear back from someone, because that is what happens to me now.”
The Ethics Commission is not a first-time foray for Fuller into the realm of community service. He and his wife have been very active over the years in helping San Diego. Many residents will recognize him from chairing the BeachFest for five years and having a similar position for the U.S National Lifeguard Championships in 2000 and 2002. He has served on numerous boards, and in 2000 the San Diego Lifeguard Association honored Fuller as Citizen of the Year.
“I like to be involved in the community,” Fuller said. “I am retired, and I have the time to give.