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Here you had you big bonfire of a scoop, one that was going to send Arcadia into political deep space orbit. Except apparently what Sho Tay said to you, the reporter, and what actually did happen once his mouth and a CityCouncil microphone finally got together, were two very different things.
Shorter version: The Pasadena Star News article was a bust. Sho Tay, especially after a Raymond Burr style cross examination by Attorney Tom Beck, apologized for his campaign transgressions. The result being Sho is now the Mayor of Arcadia.
If you want to get an indication of just how sensitive certain troubled folks were about Sho Tay's apology last night, you need look no further than David Liu's rather bizarre two minutes at the podium. Hearing him try and explain how this apology was not really an apology was the schadenfreude highlight of the evening.
Tip of the hat to outgoing Mayor Peter Amundson for what was quite an elegant move on the timing of public comment. By letting the concerned residents assembled know ahead of time that Sho Tay was about to be confirmed as Mayor defused some of the hot heads planning on sharing their shop worn conspiracy theories with the folks at home one more time.
Who could possibly blame the outgoing Mayor. Would you have wanted to sit through an hour of that nonsense one more time?
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April Verlato on the FPPC investigation
Mod: I asked now Mayor Pro Tem Verlato to review for us her FPPC situation. Here is what she sent in.
City Council has received many emails from residents in regards to an FPPC investigation that was opened against me for failing to report an ownership interest in a business in Arcadia. I wanted to publicly address this issue to clear up the facts surrounding this investigation.
A Form 700 is a mandatory filing under the Fair Political Practices Act that is meant to disclose potential financial conflicts of interest an elected official may have in decisions that are before him or her.
A complaint was filed by David Liu against me for an alleged ownership interest in a company doing business within the city limits of Arcadia. I’ve attached a copy of the email I received from the FPPC alerting me to this complaint. I do not have an ownership interest in this business. This business is a client. I am not required to report this relationship on the Form 700 as it is presumed that my financial interest in this business (my fees for services rendered to them) does not pose a financial conflict. In addition, there has never been a matter before City Council that involved this client.
However, through the process of reviewing my Form 700 filings, and in speaking with the Enforcement Officer of the FPPC, I discovered that I may have been reporting my business on the wrong page of the form. The Enforcement Officer confirmed this and opened an investigation into my misreporting of my income. The email from the FPPC confirming is attached. As you can see from this email, I am being investigated for listing my business on Schedule C instead of Schedule A-2. It’s all the same information, just on a different page.
I have been filing my Form 700s with our Deputy City Clerk since 2014, and had been reporting my income on Schedule C per her instruction. The Deputy City Clerk is the Filing Officer, and as the Filing Officer she was supposed to ensure the proper reporting. Not once did she review my Form 700 and alert me to the mistake. Sometimes we all make mistakes and I was willing to own up to it and correct it. I have amended all my schedules appropriately and I am awaiting a determination by the FPPC.
Thank you for your continued support and I apologize for the reporting error.
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