Commerce mayor agrees to $15,500 in state ethics fines
Commerce Mayor Ivan Altamirano has agreed to pay $15,500 in fines for multiple violations of the state’s political ethics law, including conflicts of interest, failure to timely file campaign finance reports and inaccurate recording of campaign expenditures.
According to the California Fair Political Practices Commission, Altamirano had conflicts of interest when he voted on three occasions from 2012 to 2015 to appoint his sister Julissa Altamirano to the city’s planning commission. The agency pays a $50 stipend and Julissa Altamirano had been paying rent as a tenant at Ivan Altamirano’s property, making his sister a source of income.
Ivan Altamirano also had a conflict of interest when he voted with the City Council to place a stop sign at Fidelia Avenue and Jillson Street, within 150 feet of his home, according to FPPC documents.
The decision “also included an improvement to a street that altered traffic close to Altamirano’s home and rental property,” the documents state.
Altamirano, in supporting the stop sign, said at a council meeting that the intersection was the only one on Jillson Street without a stop sign, creating a “dangerous situation,” according to the documents. “Altamirano knew or should have known … he had an impermissible conflict of interest.”
As for the disclosure violations, the documents state that Altamirano did not file a pre-election campaign finance statement for the March 2013 Commerce council election until three months after. And when the statement was filed, it underreported Altamirano’s expenditures by more than $3,000, the documents said.
Altamirano said he couldn’t comment immediately on the fines until he gathered more information.
Altamirano’s fines and agreement are scheduled to be ratified at the FPPC’s Sept. 15 meeting.
On the same agenda, Commerce Councilwoman Tina Baca Del Rio is facing a $55,000 fine for failing to timely file campaign finance reports, accurately record spending and for personal use of campaign funds.
Baca Del Rio’s possible fine was reduced from the originally proposed $104,000 penalty. The lower fine was set to be approved at the Aug. 18 FPPC meeting, but the commissioners deadlocked in a 2-2 vote and it was held over. At $55,000, the penalty is still the largest ever against a sitting local elected official, according to an FPPC spokesman.
Baca Del Rio could not be reached for comment.
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