FPPC Investigates Possible Double-Billing for Mojonnier Trip

The state Fair Political Practices Commission opened an investigation Monday into the question of whether Assemblywoman Sunny Mojonnier (R-Encinitas) double-billed her campaign funds for a trip to Spain last year.

Sandra Michioku, a spokeswoman for the political watchdog agency, said Monday that the FPPC began the investigation after receiving a complaint about Mojonnier’s disclosure of campaign finances.

Michioku said she could not release the name of the person who filed the complaint or specifics about the new case.

$6,600 Trip

“We have received a complaint, but we have made no decision and will have no comment until the conclusion of the matter,” said Michioku, adding that the agency is in charge of ensuring that legislators’ campaign and financial affairs are properly disclosed.

But a source close to the investigation said that at least one of the matters involved in the complaint is a contention that Mojonnier may have billed her campaign for all or part of a $6,600 trip taken to Spain in November to help plan for the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ discovery of America.

The tab for the trip, which Mojonnier took from Nov. 10 to Dec. 2 as the sole representative from the Legislature’s Quincentennial Committee, came to $6,648.53 for her air fare, rental car, lodging and telephone bill. It was paid in public funds through the Assembly’s Office of Travel, documents show.

At the same time, Mojonnier’s campaign reports show travel reimbursements worth $8,239.90 from late October to the end of 1988.

Mojonnier, who did not return repeated telephone calls made Monday, told The Times earlier this month that she could not recall whether any of the money from her campaign funds were used for the trip.

She also said she has asked her campaign treasurer to investigate a double-billing of $1,115 in travel and eating expenses last year from her political funds. Charges for that amount appear in two different reporting periods and were reimbursed to Mojonnier, the reports show.

$845 for Beauty Advice

In the first six months of this year, Mojonnier used $845 of her campaign funds to pay for fashion and beauty consultants to advise her staff members, records show.

In April, the records show, she treated her staff to a $405 hair styling and beauty make-over at the Beau Monde beauty salon in Mission Valley, an expense she classified as “travel, accommodations or meals.”

State law says that campaign funds, which are distinct from public money that state legislators receive to run their offices, can be used for anything that is “substantially related” to an officeholder’s job or political campaign.

A spokesman for the attorney general’s office said Monday that the agency is reviewing Mojonnier’s use of campaign funds, including the hiring of beauty and fashion consultants, to determine whether it was proper under the law.