Ex-Campbell Aide Didn’t Properly Disclose Gift, FPPC Says

A state Fair Political Practices Commission investigation has found that a one-time Orange County senatorial aide failed to properly disclose a gift three years ago from a City of Industry company that he later helped to win a lucrative state contract, documents released Thursday show.

But the FPPC decided to close the case last month by sending a letter to Jerome M. Haleva, asking him to amend his 1987 public disclosure form with details about the gift, which came in the form of a generous interest rate on a $20,000 loan.

The FPPC investigation was opened after The Times reported last August that Haleva, working for then-Sen. William Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights), received the favorable loan in February, 1987, from United Packaging Inc. The loan was paid back on June 2, 1987.

Slightly more than a year later, Haleva helped the company in its quest for a $1.6-million contract to supply the state with plastic garbage bags. Haleva’s telephone call in 1988 prompted state procurement officials, who had rejected the company’s initial offer, to rewrite their specifications and eventually give the company the contract.

According to documents, the timing of Haleva’s call violated restrictions aimed at preventing a government official from using his office to benefit someone who has given him a large gift within the previous 12 months. His actions, the agency concluded, were not a conflict of interest.

But Haleva failed to properly disclose a gift from United Packaging in the form of a favorable interest rate, the FPPC found. United Packaging and its president, Frank Raper, originally agreed to lend Haleva the $20,000 at 1%.

FPPC notes of an interview with Raper showed that Haleva asked for the loan as a “personal favor” to help him purchase a Sacramento home. A day before the loan was to come due in April, 1987, Haleva asked for an extension, FPPC documents show.

“During the conversation, (Raper) told him that the terms were too generous. They agreed to change the interest rate to 8%. On 5/21/87, the respondent paid the loan off via a lump-sum payment,” the FPPC documents say.

The rate was 2% to 3% lower than the going rate at the time, the commission found.

“There is no doubt that you received a loan on terms that were not available to the general public, and that the total value of the difference in the going-market interest rate and the two discounted rates you received was more than $50,” the FPPC wrote to Haleva in a letter dated last month. “The commission is requesting at this time that you file an amendment to the 1987 Statement of Economic Interests reflecting the gift that you received from United Packaging Inc.”

Haleva could not be reached for comment Thursday.