{"id":65560,"date":"2015-08-11T12:30:47","date_gmt":"2015-08-11T19:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=65560"},"modified":"2015-08-11T12:50:12","modified_gmt":"2015-08-11T19:50:12","slug":"former-lancaster-councilwoman-agrees-to-1500-fine-for-2012-campaign-disclosure-violations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2015\/08\/11\/former-lancaster-councilwoman-agrees-to-1500-fine-for-2012-campaign-disclosure-violations\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Lancaster councilwoman agrees to $1,500 fine for 2012 campaign disclosure violations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sandra<\/a>
Sandra Johnson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LANCASTER – Former Lancaster Council Member Sandra Johnson<\/strong> agreed to a $1,500 fine for failing to comply with state campaign reporting requirements in her 2012 City Council re-election campaign, the Fair Political Practices Commission announced Monday.<\/p>\n

According to the stipulated agreement proposed by the FPPC’s Enforcement Division<\/a>, Johnson violated the Political Reform Act by failing to disclose occupation and employer information on campaign statements for 20 individual contributors.<\/p>\n

A Franchise Tax Board audit of “Sandra Johnson for City Council 2012” (for the period of January 2011 to June 2012) found that the 20 contributors to Johnson’s campaign accounted for $14,600 in donations, representing approximately 28 percent of the total contributions received.<\/p>\n

“This is a significant amount of the total contributions received,” the FPPC’s Enforcement Division stated in the agreement, claiming the omissions represent “part of a pattern of non-disclosure; as occupation and employer information was not provided for individual contributors on three successive campaign statements.”<\/p>\n

However, the FPPC said Johnson’s committee “by in large, complied with the Act\u2019s campaign reporting requirements,” revealing through the audit that her campaign had received contributions of approximately $52,301, while making expenditures of approximately $27,747.<\/p>\n

The Enforcement Division also noted in the agreement with Johnson that no evidence suggests a deliberate concealment of contributor information or an intent to deceive the public, rather “just a misunderstanding of the law by a group with little prior experience with the Act.”<\/p>\n

FPPC officials outlined the severity of campaign reporting requirements, explaining that candidates are required to itemize contributions totaling $100 or more on each semi-annual and pre-election campaign statement, disclosing a contributor’s full name, street address, occupation, employer’s name, and the date and amount of each contribution.<\/p>\n

“The Enforcement Division works diligently to investigate a wide range of abuses in order to expose violations of the law,” FPPC Chief of Enforcement Galena West stated in an email to The AV Times.<\/em> “Whether it\u2019s laundered campaign contributions or candidates trying to get around contribution limits, these illegal activities deprive voters of vital information and we will hold the violators responsible.”<\/p>\n

Jaycob T. Bytel, the FPPC’s External Affairs Coordinator, told The AV Times<\/em> that the commission will not vote to finalize the stipulated agreement until its next meeting on Aug. 20. “Until then, the stipulation is proposed language and not finalized,” he said.<\/p>\n

Kimberly Underwood, an accounting specialist at University of Antelope Valley, was also named in the agreement for her role as treasurer in Johnson’s campaign.<\/p>\n

The stipulation agreement resolves “all factual and legal issues raised in this matter,” while also reaching a final disposition to determine the liability of the respondents, the FPPC stated.<\/p>\n

Related story<\/span>: L<\/a>ancaster council member Ken Mann agrees to FPPC fine for 2012 campaign fund violation<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

About the author<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Jim Winburn is a Los Angeles area news writer, sharing samples of his work at JimmyNewser.com<\/a>.<\/address>\n
–<\/address>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LANCASTER – Former Lancaster Council Member Sandra Johnson agreed to a $1,500 fine for failing to comply with state campaign reporting requirements in her 2012 City Council re-election campaign, the Fair Political Practices Commission announced Monday. According to the stipulated agreement proposed by the FPPC’s Enforcement Division, Johnson violated the Political Reform Act by failing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":9463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65560"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}