Firm Fined $20,000 for Laundered Donations : Politics: The state assessed the penalty for violations of Los Angeles’ limits on contributions in a 1987 City Council race.

SACRAMENTO —  The state Fair Political Practices Commission has imposed a maximum $20,000 fine against a Gardena aircraft parts distributor for laundering contributions to the unsuccessful 1987 Los Angeles City Council campaign of Kenneth Orduna.

The company, F.E.A. Logistics Support Corp., acknowledged giving $5,000 to Orduna’s campaign and providing the names of 10 employees in whose names the contributions could be reported on required public disclosure forms, according to exhibits accompanying an agreement reached last week between the firm and the political practices commission.

The exhibits characterized the hiding of the source of the contributions to Orduna as a laundering activity that “was a serious and intentional violation of the (state’s) Political Reform Act.”

The exhibits added that because the “true source of the $5,000 in contributions was not disclosed, the electorate was misinformed” about the identity of the candidate’s supporters.

Further, the commission maintained in the exhibits that the money was reported as coming from F.E.A. Logistics employees in order to avoid a Los Angeles ordinance that restricts campaign contributions to $500 from a single source. The matter was referred to the state agency in 1988 by the city attorney’s office.

Sandra Michioku, a commission spokeswoman, said F.E.A. Logistics has paid the fine. The fine represents the maximum fine of $2,000 that could be levied for each of 10 violations alleged by the commission.

Michioku also said the agency has a separate inquiry pending against Orduna, but she declined to discuss it in detail.

Orduna, an aide to Rep. Mervyn M. Dymally (D-Compton), was an unsuccessful candidate in the April, 1987, election for the Los Angeles City Council’s 10th District seat eventually won by Nate Holden. The district is centered in the Crenshaw area and extends west into parts of Fairfax, Palms and Beverlywood.

Orduna could not be reached for comment.

Orduna’s campaign received F.E.A. Logistics’ $5,000 contribution in October, 1986. At the time, the firm also supplied a list of 10 employes “in whose names portions of the contribution could be disclosed,” according to commission exhibits.

Edward Nagatoshi, a lawyer for F.E.A. Logistics, denied that the contribution was an intentional violation of the law. He maintained that the company’s chief financial officer, Morio Akiba, “is just not versed in the rules and regulations of politics” and “had no malice” when he gave the money to Orduna.