Official Fined for Ethics Conflict : Penalty: California transportation commissioner admits voting on projects that were likely to generate income for his Caterpillar dealership.

The state’s political watchdog agency fined California Transportation Commissioner J. Thomas Hawthorne of Escondido $165,000 on Tuesday for voting on San Diego County freeway projects that translated into additional business for his Caterpillar heavy equipment dealership.

The fine is the second-largest ever assessed against a public official by the Fair Political Practices Commission, according to the commission. It was approved by the agency’s five-member board as part of a settlement in which Hawthorne admitted that his dealership and a related firm grossed at least $148,000 from $61.5 million worth of San Diego transportation projects he voted to approve between 1987 and 1989.

The settlement of the 18-count civil lawsuit also concludes a two-year investigation by the agency into a bizarre case in which the influential San Diego County Republican for years had openly defied FPPC warnings to refrain from voting on local projects because of the overwhelming probability that construction firms chosen for the work would rent or buy Caterpillar equipment from his firms--the exclusive Caterpillar dealership in San Diego County since 1956.

“This case demonstrates an egregious conflict of interest, one of the most flagrant examples we have seen at the commission,” said FPPC Chairman Ben Davidian, who negotiated the settlement with Hawthorne during a July 30 meeting in Sacramento.

On Tuesday, Hawthorne continued to defend his voting actions, saying that he only authorized the San Diego work, not which company would get the contract. Awarding the highway and trolley bids is up to the California Department of Transportation.

“I have no influence nor can I do anything to determine who gets the job,” said the 62-year-old Escondido businessman, who is president and majority owner of Hawthorne Machinery Co., the dealership, and Hawthorne Rent-It Service, an equipment rental yard.