Inglewood Mayor Repays Improper Expenses

Inglewood Mayor Edward Vincent has acknowledged that almost $5,000 in campaign fund expenditures violated state law and has repaid the fund, Vincent’s accountant said Wednesday.

Vincent’s latest campaign disclosure statement, which was filed with the Inglewood city clerk on Tuesday, shows that the mayor reimbursed his campaign fund $1,871 for a 1987 trip and 1988 car repairs. Those expenses, which are being investigated by the state attorney general’s office, violated state law on personal use of campaign funds, said David Gould, a campaign consultant who prepared the new campaign statements.

The mayor also repaid his campaign fund this week about $2,900 to cover expenses over the last six months for travel, clothes and a veterinarian’s bill, Gould said. Vincent has acknowledged that those campaign expenses were improper, Gould said, either because city records show that the mayor also received city reimbursements or because they were not legitimate campaign expenses.

“Some were obviously billed to the city and others were personal items that did not belong on there,” said Gould, who said he believes that the improper expenses were not intentional and resulted from “sloppy bookkeeping.”

Vincent could not be reached for comment. In the past, he has either defended his use of campaign funds or said the improper expenditures were inadvertent.

The mayor may have improperly charged other personal expenses or city-paid travel to his campaign fund since taking office in 1983, said Gould, who recently took over Vincent’s campaign accounting and is reviewing expense records.

Records show that Vincent has failed to itemize $50,000 in campaign funds paid to American Express and to a travel agency for travel between 1983 and 1988, a period during which the city paid for about $39,000 in travel to conferences and other events.

Vincent has not responded to requests by the attorney general and the Inglewood city clerk that he itemize the $50,000 to reflect the amounts and recipients of campaign payments, as required by state law. The state Fair Political Practices Commission is also investigating the failure to itemize the statements. Itemization will permit the campaign expenses and city reimbursements to be cross-checked for double billing.

Gould said he will soon file amended campaign statments to supply that information and said the mayor will repay his campaign fund if any improper expenses are determined.

Gould blamed the repeated double billing of travel and the personal use of campaign funds on sloppy bookkeeping and ignorance of campaign laws.

“I would think it’s been going on for a while,” Gould said. “I would think it’s plainly and simply oversight. It should have been looked at more scrupulously and carefully than obviously he’s done. I really don’t think he was aware that something was out of line until somebody looked at it.”

The mayor has agreed to let Gould reorganize his system of campaign spending and will now use separate credit cards for personal and political spending, Gould said.

Bill Paid With Campaign Funds

The attorney general’s investigation began after The Times, citing campaign statements and city records, reported in September that the city reimbursed Vincent $933 for a 1987 trip to the Morro Bay area and that Vincent had paid his American Express bill for that trip with campaign money rather than personal funds. In 1988, Vincent used $1,078 in campaign funds to pay for repairs to a truck he owns, records showed. Vincent later justified the expense by saying he used the vehicle exclusively for political purposes. But Gould said Wednesday that the mayor reimbursed the fund because the expense was improper.

State law on personal use of campaign funds, which officials admit allows for broad interpretation, prohibits use of campaign funds for expenses that do not have a “reasonable relationship to political, legislative, or governmental purposes.”

An attorney general’s investigator met with Vincent, Gould and Vincent’s lawyer in late December. According to Gould and Chris Foley, an attorney general’s investigator, the mayor offered to repay his campaign fund for improper expenditures and said any double billing was unintentional.

Officials say Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp has not yet decided whether his office will close the case now that the mayor has acknowledged the improper expenditures and repaid his campaign fund. The agency could file a lawsuit against Vincent, alleging misuse of campaign funds. The offense is punishable by a fine of $500 or twice the illegal expenditure, whichever is greater.

Foley said Wednesday that he made it clear to Vincent in December “how important it was that this not happen again. They did assure me that they are implementing a system that would take care of it in the future.”

The campaign statement filed Tuesday acknowledges that at least $2,980 of Vincent’s total $28,000 in campaign spending between July and December of 1988 was improper. Those expenses will be reimbursed by Vincent, the statement says. Gould said Vincent wrote a check for the amount to his campaign fund Tuesday afternoon when he was informed of the expenditures that violate state law.

Hotel Expenses

The campaign statement says Vincent intends to repay his campaign fund $1,968 of the $2,654 he spent on hotels in Washington, Salt Lake City and Philadelphia. Gould said those amounts will be repaid because records show the expenses were charged to the campaign fund and to the city.

Records also show that Vincent spent $374 in campaign funds on clothing at a men’s store in Salt Lake City, an amount the mayor should have paid with personal funds and will repay, Gould said.

Vincent paid $128 to a “Dr. Kumar,” the campaign statement shows. Gould said the doctor is a veterinarian whom Vincent paid with campaign funds for treatment of a pet.

“Obviously, that’s a personal expense” that will be repaid, Gould said.

Vincent will also return $509 of a reported $923 in miscellaneous expenditures under $100 because they were not justified campaign expenditures, Gould said.

The campaign statement reflects Vincent’s penchant for wide-ranging travel and other diverse expenditures, all charged to his campaign fund. For example:

Vincent spent more than $9,000 in travel to destinations including Hawaii, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Philadelphia. Gould said all of those trips had some political or governmental purpose, but he did not provide specifics.

The mayor spent $1,222 on Los Angeles Raiders tickets. Gould called that a justified campaign expense because the mayor either gives the tickets to others or takes people to football games to conduct official business.

Campaign Contributions

On the contribution side for the six-month period, Vincent received $51,255 from the usual roster of major Inglewood developers and others who do business with the city. Topping the list was Inglewood Park Cemetery, which contributed $3,000 in August and September. The mayor supported the cemetery’s ballot measure for an expansion that won easy victory in the November elections.

Other big contributions included $2,500 from Alamo Rent-A-Car and $1,000 each from the Lusk Cos., the Klabin Co. and Harlan Lee & Associates, all development firms.

Vincent, who was reelected in 1986, returned to work recently as a Los Angeles County probation officer after an unpaid leave of absence of at least four years. As Inglewood’s part-time mayor, he earns $10,800 a year plus car allowance and other expenses.