Key to their plan was Tom Shepard, like Hoover a former member of the Del Mar City Council and longtime Hedge aide, who had set up a political-consulting firm in preparation for Hedge 's 1983 race for mayor against former city councilwoman Maureen O'Connor.
O'Connor planned to put at least a million dollars of her wealthy husband's money into the race. As would later come to light, Dominelli and Hoover had made a secret plan to launder their own six-figure contributions to Hedge , cir venting the city's $250 limit on individual contributions.
After Hedge 's victory in the spring of 1983, Shepard briefly became the crown prince of San Diego political consultants. He triumphed again that year in Hedge 's well-funded campaign for voter approval of the downtown convention center next to the waterfront hotels of a key financial backer, millionaire Doug Manchester. By then, however, Dominelli's empire of fraud had already begun to come apart, and an army of investigators were digging through the records of J. David & Co., Dominelli's firm. A year later, Shepard faced indictment, along with Hedge , Dominelli, and Hoover, for conspiring to funnel thousands of dollars of illegal Dominelli money into Hedge 's mayoral campaign.