Ferguson Agrees to Pay a Fine in Disclosure Failure

Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) has agreed to pay a $4,000 fine because two political action committees under his direction failed to report nearly $18,400 in contributions during the 1986 election, according to a written agreement released Friday.

The agreement between Ferguson and the state Fair Political Practices Commission comes after the political watchdog agency conducted an investigation that found more than half of the unreported donations came from members of the Segerstrom developer family. The FPPC action does not imply wrongdoing by the contributors.

Reached Friday in his Orange County office, Ferguson said he decided to pay the fine rather than face more publicity on the matter.

“The reason I’m not fighting this like I would everything else is that you would put it in the . . . paper every time,” Ferguson said.

The agreement, which will be considered by FPPC members at their June 6 meeting, stems from unreported contributions given to two political committees controlled by Ferguson. The first, the Friends of Gil Ferguson PAC, was established for his unopposed 1986 reelection bid. The second, the Free Market PAC, was set up by Ferguson and other conservative legislators to direct money to non-incumbent, pro-development candidates.

The campaign panel found that the Friends of Gil Ferguson received three contributions totaling $8,500 shortly before the June, 1986, primary, in which the former Marine was running unopposed. The committee, however, failed to report the donations within 24 hours, as required by law, the campaign panel found.

The campaign panel also found that the Free Market PAC filed a “misleading” disclosure statement in relation to the November, 1986, election when it failed to report four donations totaling $9,890 from the Segerstrom family, which owns a development firm in Costa Mesa.

Ferguson said he is innocent of wrongdoing and blamed clerical mistakes by PAC treasurers. He said the fine will be paid by the PACs, not with money from his personal account.

Ferguson is facing a challenge in the Republican primary from public relations manager Phyllis Badham, 30, daughter of former Rep. Robert Badham (R-Newport Beach).