MICHAEL GATES, former Huntington Beach City Attorney (OC Tribune photo).

For the decade and more that Michael Gates had served as city attorney for the City of Huntington Beach, he has been a controversial figure.

But now he’s in the middle of a controversy all his own.

Elected by the public and therefor esomewhat independent of the rest of city government, he fenced with liberal members of the council – when there were any. When a hardline conservative council was elected, he pushed forward on a variety of initiatives including battling the state government on issues of housing mandates, voter ID, etc.

He left city hall in February for Washington to serve in the Civil Rights division of the U.S Department of Justice. Now, 10 months later, he’s back in city hall as chief assistant city attorney, effective Nov. 24.

In a statement he said that he left his post because he learned “how much I love Huntington Beach and how much spending these month away from my family has been pretty unbearable.”

But several days later, the Orange County Register published an article claiming that he had been fired “for cause,” the “cause” being that he was “creating a hostile environment.”

Gates has replied that it was the department that had created the problem. “They were angry I resigned,” he was quoted as saying. He vowed to sue his former employers and the City of Huntington Beach has promised to look into the issue.