Fair Political Practices Commission confirms investigation into county supervisor over financial disclosure allegation
The Fair Political Practices Commission said in a letter Thursday it’s looking into a complaint lodged against Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez alleging she violated the Political Reform Act’s campaign disclosure provisions.
A letter from Bakersfield resident David Brust to the FPPC dated April 5 alleged that Perez “blatantly flouted State campaign disclosure laws, failing to file any campaign statements since 2018 for her active supervisorial campaign committee.”
The Secretary of State’s Cal-Access website that lists financial disclosures for political candidates does not show any filings available for either of the campaigns listed under the name Leticia Perez for Supervisor 2020. One committee reportedly terminated in 2017; the other is listed as active on the Cal-Access website.
Perez is currently running for the 35th Assembly District seat, which has a number of financial disclosures listed, with some filed as recently as Thursday.
A spokesman for Perez said Thursday by phone that he was unaware of the specifics of the allegations, but he confirmed that Perez was aware of the FPPC complaint lodged by Brust.
“She was notified that there was a complaint filed and so she’s just waiting to hear from the FPPC,” said Christian Romo, Perez’s campaign manager, while adding that she did not have any further comment at this time. The spokesman was unable to direct The Californian to where such filings might be listed.
A spokesman for the FPPC declined to comment on the complaint Thursday except to confirm that it was now part of an active investigation.
In a response to Brust, the FPPC noted in an April 6 letter that the agency would contact him within two weeks to let him know whether it would: investigate the complaint; refer it to another agency; consider it outside of its jurisdiction; or take no action, if that’s what the agency deemed appropriate based on the evidence presented.
On April 19, a follow-up letter from the FPPC to Brust indicated an investigation was underway. The FPPC provided a copy of the letter to The Californian.
The incident is not the first time Perez has been accused of wrongdoing with respect to financial disclosures.
Brust’s complaint letter cites a January 2020 story in The Californian, headlined “Court settlement reached in Supervisor Perez case,” regarding two misdemeanor conflict-of-interest charges regarding her role as supervisor, which were ultimately
dismissed in January 2021.
In that incident, Perez reached an agreement with the Kern County District Attorney’s Office that called for the charges to be dismissed if Perez met certain criteria.
Perez’s alleged conflict of interest arose between her role as supervisor and the California marijuana industry, according to previous reporting in The Californian. The first allegation against Perez said she “did make, participate in making or attempt to use her official position to influence a governmental decision in which she knew or had reason to know she had a financial interest.”
She was the lone vote in opposition to a measure that would ban commercial cannabis sales in Kern. Her husband, Fernando Jara, operated a firm that consulted on marijuana policy for several clients.
The second allegation stated in April 2017 she failed to file a disclosure of “her investments, interests in real property, and income during the period of 2016.”
Perez paid $30,000 in penalties, plus a $4,000 administrative fine to the FPPC as part of the settlement. She was also to perform 100 hours of community service, take an ethics course and correct her 2016 and 2017 financial disclosure forms to reflect the previously unreported income from the marijuana industry.
It was believed to be the first time an elected official was criminally charged in Kern County, according to previous reporting.