Alhambra Councilmembers Jeffrey Koji Maloney and David Mejia Warned by State Commission (Photos – Jeff Maloney & David Mejia, cityofalhambra.org – Alhambra City Hall, Frank Qiu)
In August 2018, Colorado Boulevard.net reported that then-Alhambra Mayor (Alhambra mayors are rotating), Jeff Koji Maloney, had spent $5,000 in campaign funds to retain legal services from the Kaufman Legal Group, a boutique law firm in Los Angeles specializing in election and campaign finance law. Mayor Maloney declined to comment at the time about why his campaign needed legal services.
By Sean McMorris
It now appears that the $5,000 legal retainer was used to defend against multiple Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) investigations into Maloney’s 2016 campaign for Alhambra City Council.
The FPPC sent the mayor’s lawyer, Stephen Kaufman, a warning letter in June 2018. The letter cited multiple instances in which the mayor and his campaign treasurer, Charles Kim, improperly reported campaign contributions on the mayor’s election-year campaign finance reports (Form 460). A warning letter from the FPPC does not result in a fine, but it is kept on file and can be referenced if fines result from repeat offenses.
One of the contributions in question was the infamous $5,000 Maloney received from developer, Armand Gabay (also known as Arman Gabaee), who was indicted in 2018 on federal bribery charges. According to the FPPC:
…the Enforcement Division found that Mr. Maloney, the Committee and Mr. Kim inadvertently disclosed Armand Gabay, owner of Excel Property Management Services Inc., as the contributor in the applicable campaign statement, when the contribution was made by Excel Property Management Services Inc. Further, the Enforcement Division found that Mr. Maloney, the Committee and Mr. Kim failed to disclose certain information required for contributions of $100 or more, including street addresses and employer/occupation information.
Connecting the dots
Ironically, Maloney’s improper disclosure of Gabay’s name may have helped community members connect the dots as to why a management company from West Hollywood would be giving so generously to an Alhambra City Council candidate’s campaign. Gabay was seeking entitlements at the time to build a Lowe’s and a two six-story office buildings in Alhambra. Armand and his brother, Mark Gabay, own and operate numerous LLCs. Excel Property Management, Inc. was not the company Gabay used to file for entitlements for his development projects in Alhambra. Thus, it is more likely that Gabay’s large campaign donations would have gone under the radar in Alhambra if Gabay’s name had not been disclosed on Maloney’s Form 460.
Maloney’s then-opponent, Mark Nisall, was first to point out the connection during the 2016 city council race during which campaign contributions from developers and city contractors were hot button issues.
Gabay also gave $5,000 to another 2016 Alhambra City Council candidate, David Mejia, who also won. Councilman Mejia received the same FPPC warning letter in November 2018, five months after Maloney received his. The FPPC noted in both warning letters that there was no evidence of ill intent on either candidate’s part.
In 2017, then-councilman Maloney and councilman Mejia voted with the rest of the city council to approve Gabay’s Lowe’s development project after residents appealed the planning commission’s decision to move the project forward. A local nonprofit, Grassroots Alhambra, later sued Gabay and the City over the development and won, citing a bogus traffic report and other flaws in the project’s Environmental Impact Report (EIR).
After news broke of Gabay’s arrest on federal charges of bribing an L.A. County employee, Mayor Maloney promised to donate Gabay’s $5,000 campaign contribution to charity. Councilman Mejia would not do the same, stating that he had already spent the money during his 2016 campaign.
Money in Alhambra politics
Large campaign contributions from special moneyed interests have been a topic of debate for years in Alhambra, which does not have campaign donor limits. That could soon change. The Alhambra City Council was informed in November 2018 that proponents of an election and campaign finance reform initiative acquired enough signatures to have the measure put on Alhambra’s 2020 ballot. The charter amendment initiative, amongst other things, would institute by-district voting and limits on how much a person or entity could give to a city council candidate’s campaign.
Not so uncommon trend
Other Alhambra City Councilmembers who have been warned or fined for violating the Political Reform Act include: recently termed-out (for the second time) councilwoman, Barabara Messina, who was fined $14,000 by the FPPC in 2010 for operating an illegal PAC; recently termed-out councilman, Gary Yamauchi, who was fined $232 by the FPPC in 2017 for not reporting required donor information on $3,200 in donations; recently termed-out councilman, Steven Placido, who was warned by the FPPC in January 2017 for not reporting all required donor information and fined $950 the same month by the L.A. County Registrar for filing campaign finance reports 95 days late; and former Alhambra Councilman and current San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District Board Director, Mark Paulson, who was fined $100 by the FPPC in 2019 for not disclosing consulting income on his statements of economic interest (Form 700).
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