Police Assn. Faces Fine for Violations by PAC

A political action committee controlled by the Irvine Police Assn. faces a possible $10,000 fine from the state Fair Political Practices Commission for failure to file campaign statements and report late independent contributions on several occasions in the early 1990s.

Though the police association has agreed to pay the fine, the penalty must be approved by the commission at its Feb. 1 meeting.

Union officials would not comment, but one person close to the association said the fine was the result of unintentional oversights by officers unfamiliar with the myriad paperwork that must be filed under state elections law in regard to political contributions.

A report by the FPPC staff lists 11 union violations of state election rules, all involving failure to file the proper paperwork. The report found no evidence of intentional misconduct and noted that “this was the Irvine Police Association’s first foray into political activity.”

It said the union also failed to meet deadlines for filing organizational papers for the political action committee it formed in 1987.

The union also filed a notice terminating its political committee in 1990 but continued to contribute to candidates. In addition, it improperly transferred $3,860 from the committee to the union general fund account in 1994, the FPPC staff said.

The police association did not file the proper semiannual campaign statements and preelection campaign statements on several occasions from 1990 through 1992.

The union also failed to report properly on late independent expenditures totaling more than $16,000 on behalf of several Irvine council candidates during those same years.

The candidates who got union support were former Mayor Larry Agran and current Mayor Mike Ward and City Council members Paula Werner and Christana Shea. The union also didn’t properly report spending more than $1,000 on a newspaper ad in support of the 1991 vote on Measure B, a growth initiative, the FPPC staff said.