Political Conflicts Can Be Family Affair : Laguna Beach Mayor’s Fine Is Expensive Way to Learn of Husband’s Business Dealings

Mayor Lida Lenney has run previously for public office in Laguna Beach on the theme of trust in government, and she aspires to have local government be a symbol that “not all politicians are dirty.” She is described by Councilman Robert F. Gentry as someone of “impeccable integrity.” So what was she doing getting a $3,000 fine from the state Fair Political Practices Commission, which docked her for voting on a trash-hauling firm’s rate increase while her husband was a stockholder in the parent company?

According to the FPPC, Lenney did not break the law intentionally, and the report supported her claim to that effect.

The problem, according to the FPPC, was that Lenney “had not sufficiently familiarized herself with her husband’s assets.” Nor did Lenney’s vote on the trash contract, part of a unanimous City Council approval of the budget, have much effect on the value of the 1,000 shares held by her husband.

But here’s a lesson for a working couple, where one of the parties is a public official. She runs a city and he has his business interests. It is quite conceivable that a trash-rate increase mentioned in a thick budget might not catch her attention. And one spouse might not know that the other has 1,000 shares of stock in a particular corporation. A detail of stock ownership thus could fall over the transom. It’s an unintended violation.

It’s also a sign of the times, when a busy couple’s interests might come up in a public vote before they come up at the breakfast table.

This is not to excuse the lack of familiarity. But it is a cautionary tale. Indeed, it is incumbent upon government officials to know not only when they themselves may have a conflict, but when there may be a conflict involving a spouse.

Lenney, though calling the problem a technical offense, readily agreed to pay the $3,000 fine. It was an expensive lesson in the perils of conflicts in modern times.