Hawthorne Should Quit

The state Fair Political Practices Commission has told California Transportation Commissioner J.T. (Tom) Hawthorne that he must stop voting on construction projects that will materially benefit his business. It’s such an obvious decision that it never should have had to go to the FPPC in the first place.

Hawthorne, who lives in Escondido, is the principal owner of Hawthorne Machinery Co. in Kearny Mesa, the only Caterpillar dealership in San Diego County. Another division of his business leases the popular heavy equipment to contractors. As one of nine members of the Transportation Commission, Hawthorne votes to approve transportation projects around the state and to determine at what level they will be funded. Hawthorne and others maintain that this is not a conflict of interest because the Transportation Commission only approves the projects, not the contractors for them.

The FPPC began looking into the situation last year after The Times reported that Hawthorne Machinery customers had received more than 90% of the $55.6 million in contracts let for San Diego County during Hawthorne’s first 15 months on the commission. In its recent letter to Hawthorne, the FPPC said that, given Hawthorne’s exclusive Caterpillar dealership, “it is substantially likely, indeed it is almost a certainty, that any decision to allocate funds for San Diego projects will benefit your business.”

If he continues to vote on projects on which he has a conflict, the FPPC will take legal action against him, Enforcement Chief Roger Brown wrote. In response, Hawthorne has said he will no longer vote on San Diego County projects, and if that proves too limiting, he will resign from the commission.

Hawthorne should resign now. Even though no one has suggested that he has voted in ways that have altered the amount of business his company receives, it is self-evident that there should be an arm’s-length relationship between those who make governmental decisions and those who profit from them. And, as nice as it is to have a local representative on the Transportation Commission, it won’t do the area much good if he can neither vote nor lobby for San Diego County projects.