Sanders Breached Law, Judge Finds

A Superior Court judge tentatively ruled Tuesday that former Los Angeles mayoral candidate J. Stanley Sanders violated state law by using campaign funds to pay the rent on his law office, tapping his client trust account to pay political consultants and failing to properly report some contributions.

The tentative decision by Judge Paul Boland in a case brought by the state Fair Political Practices Commission could potentially subject Sanders to fines up to $220,000. A January trial date was set to determine the amount of penalties and to decide other remaining issues.

Sanders said he had not seen the ruling and would not make any comments.

The judge rejected Sanders’ arguments and found that he had violated the state’s campaign finance laws by using funds raised for the mayor’s race to pay the rent on his Wilshire Boulevard law office.

Sanders also was found to have used $20,000 from his client trust account instead of his campaign account to pay consultants just weeks before the 1993 election.

In addition, the judge concluded that Sanders’ campaign failed to report 31 contributions totaling $23,500 and did not disclose properly $7,000 in late contributions.

The late contributions came from a Metropolitan Transportation Authority subcontractor who was fined $20,000 by the FPPC in June for making laundered campaign contributions to Sanders, who later served as a member of the MTA board, and to another candidate.

The judge denied the FPPC’s contention that Sanders failed to report campaign loans and some campaign expenditures.

The decision comes almost a year after Sanders agreed to pay a $31,000 fine to the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission on a similar charge of using campaign funds to pay the law office rent.