Ward Agrees to $13,000 Fine on Violation in ’86 Campaign

Bellflower school board member Larry Ward and the treasurer of his 1986 campaign for the state Assembly have agreed to pay a $13,000 fine to the Fair Political Practices Commission for falsifying campaign reports during Ward’s unsuccessful legislative bid.

In urging the commission to accept the proposed agreement, the agency’s staff issued a sharply worded report, saying: “This is not a mere technical reporting violation. It is a serious and reprehensible act which violates the public trust and undermines confidence in the political process.”

The commission is scheduled to consider the staff report and recommendation at a meeting on Tuesday.

Last May, the commission rejected a proposed $9,000 settlement in the case, citing concerns that the figure was too low considering the nature of the violations, said commission spokeswoman Sandra Michioku. The maximum fine could have been $14,000.

Ward, who has been on the board of the Bellflower Unified School Board since 1977, could not be reached for comment last week.

The case is the second commission investigation to arise from the hotly contested 1986 Democratic primary in the 54th Assembly District, which includes Bellflower, Compton, Paramount, Lakewood and parts of Long Beach. The nine-candidate race was won by Edward Waters, who lost the general election to Republican Paul Zeltner of Lakewood. Zeltner was defeated in 1988 by Willard Murray (D-Paramount).

Last October, the commission fined Murray and his treasurer $12,500 for campaign reporting violations that also occurred in the 1986 primary. Murray agreed to pay the fine for not revealing $75,000 in contributions he received in the last two weeks of the campaign.

According to documents in the Ward case, the candidate told a commission investigator that he never received expected financial support from the Democratic Party. As a result, Ward told the investigator, he “scrounged and did whatever I could” to attract funds. That was the only explanation offered for Ward’s actions.

The commission staff alleged that Ward violated the Political Reform Act by reporting two $10,000 campaign contributions even though he “knew or had reason to know that there was no actual monetary contribution to him or his committee. . . . “

The staff further alleged that Ward overstated expenses paid to Ingram Industries of Bellflower on his campaign statement and improperly verified that the treasurer, Christine Hinton, had “used reasonable diligence” in preparing campaign statements. Two other counts alleged that Ward and Hinton, a personal friend who volunteered to be the treasurer, improperly labeled campaign statements as “true and complete.” The staff report concluded that entrees by Hinton “upon campaign statements were made at the direction of Mr. Ward.”

Financial statements filed by Ward’s campaign committee reported that the candidate received $10,000 contributions from Jess Ingram on May 5, 1986, and again 10 days later.

But according to the commission documents: “Internal records kept by the Ward Committee do not show receipt of any $10,000 contributions from Mr. Ingram at any time.”

In the commission documents, the staff described Ward as being “less than candid during the review and investigation . . . ,” telling different stories to a state auditor, a commission investigator and Ingram.

“It is clear that once Mr. Ward falsified $20,000 in contributions, he falsified expenditures to balance the campaign books,” the staff alleged.