State Board OKs Fines Against Ex-Councilman

The state Fair Political Practices Commission on Thursday approved $7,900 in fines against former Moorpark City Councilman Scott Montgomery, who violated state election law in a failed bid for a seat on the county Board of Supervisors.

The five-member panel returned a unanimous decision against Montgomery after a one-hour, closed-door hearing in Sacramento, according to commission spokesman Gary Huckaby. The commissioners made no further comment.

Montgomery, who works for a computer printing company in Chatsworth, did not attend the hearing and was not available for comment. He has 30 days to appeal the decision.

On May 14, Administrative Law Judge Milford A. Maron ruled that Montgomery failed to disclose numerous campaign contributions in his run for the county Board of Supervisors in 1994. The most serious charges included three contributions from Moorpark-based A-C Construction.

Montgomery has said that the failure to disclose the contributions was simply an oversight caused by the size of his campaign.

Authorities said that in May 1994, Montgomery accepted $250 from the company and $250 from its president, Stephen Anderson. Later that year, after voting in favor of a special use permit for A-C Construction, Montgomery took a $1,000 donation from the company.

Maron imposed the maximum fine of $2,000 on each of the charges related to the construction company, as well as additional penalties of $100 each for other violations of state election law.

Montgomery is serving a three-year probation stemming from a charge of criminal conflict of interest while he was a Moorpark city councilman in 1995.

In that case, Montgomery accepted a $3,500 loan from a local businessman, and later voted on a contract between the city and the donor’s company. In addition to the probation, Montgomery received a suspended sentence of one day in jail.

As a result of the case, he resigned his seat on the City Council.