Mayor Discloses More Income Amid State Inquiry : Lancaster: An aide says William Pursley made an honest error in failing to report more than $325,000 in real estate commissions and other revenue.

Lancaster Mayor William G. Pursley, responding to an investigation by the state’s political watchdog agency, has filed documents showing that he failed to report at least several hundred thousand dollars in income and some real estate activities last year.

The discrepancies came to light this month when Pursley, a real estate agent and developer, filed a new and vastly expanded economic statement for 1989 at the behest of the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission and listed previously undisclosed interests.

State law generally requires politicians to disclose their sources of income, property holdings and investments as a way of deterring potential conflicts of interest in their official decisions.

A commission spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday that the agency is investigating Pursley as a result of a complaint filed in July by an unidentified individual. The spokeswoman, Sandra Michioku, said she could not say when the inquiry would be completed or make further comment.

Pursley, elected as a councilman in March, 1989, was in Mexico on a trip this week and unavailable for comment. But Lancaster City Clerk Carla Johnson, who helped Pursley with his new filing, said the mayor made an honest error in originally failing to fully report his interests.

“It just got dropped off inadvertently. It was a very innocent thing,” Johnson said of the omissions. According to Johnson, Pursley contends that he misunderstood the state’s reporting requirements and didn’t think he was supposed to report his various sources of income.

By law, city officials in California are required each spring to publicly report their investments, property holdings and income for the prior calendar year. Pursley filed his in late March and later filed two amendments, but those omitted a large number of interests that surfaced only this month.

In his new filing for last year, prepared under the guidance of the state agency, Pursley disclosed income of $239,827.55 in sales commission earnings from seven Lancaster-area real estate transactions, income in excess of $10,000 from each of nine other sources and several lesser amounts.

In his original March, 1990, filing for the year 1989, Pursley said he had no reportable sources of income--either commission earnings from his job with Mid-Valley Real Estate of Lancaster or any other earnings--and signed the document under penalty of perjury.

Pursley’s new statement lists about 20 sources of income, including money from property loans, real estate partnerships, rental payments and commissions that were not reported on his original statement. Additionally, there was an investment in an Individual Retirement Account and two property loans he took out that were not reported.

Under state law, the agency can fine politicians who fail to properly report their economic interests up to $2,000 per violation. Michioku declined to identify how many potential violations the agency is reviewing.

The new filing does not give specific amounts for Pursley’s income, except for the commission earnings.

The new filing also appears to show Pursley failed in his original March, 1990, statement to fully disclose the details of a multimillion-dollar sale of land to housing developer Kaufman & Broad and his ownership interest in a Lancaster housing tract.

Real estate records show Pursley and his wife had interests in two partnerships--33% in Woodacre Ranch and 20% in Woodacre II--that sold Kaufman & Broad about 320 acres of undeveloped land north of Air Force Plant 42 in mid-June, 1989, and then carried a loan on the property.

His original statements make no mention of his earning a commission on the sale. But the most recent statement shows the sale, Kaufman & Broad’s loan payments and the $109,146.66 commission Pursley received, the largest he reported.

In December, 1989, the Lancaster City Council, with Pursley abstaining as required by state law, since the company was a source of income to him, voted 4 to 0 to grant Kaufman & Broad permission to build about 1,120 homes in the area despite concerns about jet noise.

In the other real estate matter, Pursley’s most recent statement lists his 50% interest since 1986 in the partnership that developed the partially built Carenwood Estates housing tract in Lancaster, and his half-ownership during at least part of 1989 in 14 lots there before some were sold.

Pursley had not made any mention of Carenwood on his original statement for 1989. It had first surfaced only partially on one of his amendments earlier this year. Real estate records show the other partner is former Lancaster Mayor Lou Bozigian, who also works at Mid-Valley Real Estate.

In a related matter, Michioku said the commission’s staff last week cleared Pursley of a complaint alleging that he had a conflict of interest in voting with a majority of the council on July 3, 1989, to endorse the county’s plans to build a new courthouse a short distance from where Pursley owned three parcels.

Lancaster Councilman George Theophanis, who filed the complaint in July, 1989, had questioned whether the courthouse, which the county ultimately decided to build elsewhere, might have benefited Pursley’s land. The political watchdog agency decided Pursley was entitled to vote because the council’s action was only advisory.

PURSLEY’S EARNINGS

Below are Lancaster Mayor William G. Pursley’s real estate commissions for Lancaster-area property sales during 1989. Pursley disclosed the income earlier this month in a special filing spurred by an investigation. He had failed to report the income earlier this year as required by state law.

Seller Buyer Commission A.V. Industrial Park David Packer $10,718.75 Purgold Al Joseph $12,348 A.V. Industrial Park Dennis Pursley $34,398 Woodacre Kaufman & Broad $109,146.66 A.V. Industrial Park Cushman $31,575.60 A.V. Industrial Park First American $18,987.50 Financial Corp. A.V. Industrial Park First American $22,653.04 Financial Corp. TOTAL $239,827.55

Source: Pursley’s amended statement of economic interests as filed with the Fair Political Practices Commission.