Griftin' on the Dock of the Bay

Ernst tells a very different story. He claims Eber told him it would cost $200,000 to set up a series of meetings with Brown -- which Eber strongly denies. "That is patently absurd," he says. "Ernst was involved in a war with Joe and Hinckle and he wanted me to get involved. Ernst's problem is that he always thought that if he gave someone some money, the mayor would deliver the [Port Commission] votes. [I] tried to explain that there was no guarantee of anything. I can [only] show you how to present a case, or make the case better.

"I would have done that, or negotiated the lease," the attorney continues. "But he never gave me the list. I sent him a bill for $5,000 for working on that and the nude beach. He paid it."

Ernst then turned to one of his pier subtenants, Doc McDonald, a software developer who occasionally lunches with Brown at Le Central. Ernst claims McDonald asked him for $100,000 to pitch the lease amendment to Brown. McDonald says he did lobby the mayor -- but never demanded any money for his services.

"I was doing it for Carl," McDonald recalls. '"I saw [Brown] at lunch and said, "This guy is trying to get this work done.' Willie said, '"I'll look into it.' Carl was put on the agenda for the next [Port Commission] meeting. Carl never paid me a dime. He doesn't even have $100,000."

After the lease amendment was put on the agenda, Brown assigned Ken Harrington, his special assistant for business and economic development, to look into the matter. Harrington says McDonald told the mayor that it would be a "win-win" and the city would get "fabulous berthing," but that the amendment had to be put on the Port Commission agenda before June 30, 2001, to get the state loan. "So the mayor told [Port Executive Director] Doug Wong, 'This guy talked to me, get this on the calendar to get the loan, it's a good deal for the city,'" says Harrington.

The lease amendment was calendared for June 26. In the days before the meeting, Harrington nosed around the Pier 38 deal. "I called the head guy at [the state Boating Department]," he says. "He told me there was no urgency about the loan. Ernst was not being truthful; he had two years to get the loan.

"I looked at the lease; I found it to be the most incomprehensible lease I ever saw," Harrington continues. "Couldn't understand what the city gets in return for 36 years. Wong told me [Ernst] was parking cars and charging, which is in violation of the lease. In five years he had not done a single thing: no dry-boating, no restaurant, failed on public access, had nonmaritime tenants."

The morning of June 26 rolled around. At City Hall, Harrington received a fax of a portion of the lease amendment with a note scrawled across the top: "Willie, City pays 0 out of pocket! [Signed] Doc." Harrington says he never talked to McDonald, but he remembers the note. It was too little, too late. Harrington told the mayor Pier 38 was a problem. "The mayor said tell [Wong] to take it off the calendar and crunch the numbers."

In response to Ernst's assertion that O'Donoghue is responsible for what happened next, Harrington says, "I'm a friend of Joe's, but he had nothing to do with this." Harrington says he went to Port Commission headquarters at Pier 1 and told port officials to take the amendment off the calendar and to look into the problems with the lease. Noreen Ambrose, the commission's general counsel, says Wong removed the item shortly before the meeting was called to order.

Ernst's luxury yacht scheme appeared to be doomed.

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The physical state of Ernst's pier reflects the financial condition of his business.

Wooden pilings that support the pier are rotting away. Most of the shed has no fire sprinklers, though its interior is littered with construction debris, rusting machinery, car engines, and barrels of flammable asphalt. Port engineers say the pier is a danger to the public.

Instead of cleaning up the mess, Ernst spent the summer of 2001 lobbying midlevel port officials for rent breaks. The port allowed him to go into arrears, asking only that he raise a sunken vessel, fix numerous fire safety and building code violations, and return to his original plan of building boat storage racks. Ernst declined to do any of these things; he had found a way to squeeze more money out of the state.