BURBANK OFFICIALS FINED FOR FLIERS.Byline: Donna Huffaker Staff Writer BURBANK - The state Fair Political Practices Commission on Friday fined current and former Burbank officials $6,000, upholding an administrative law administrative law, law governing the powers and processes of administrative agencies. The term is sometimes used also of law (i.e., rules, regulations) developed by agencies in the course of their operation. judge's decision that they improperly used public funds See Fund, 3. See also: Public to mail fliers on the Burbank Airport's proposed expansion. Commission Chairman Karen Getman said members voted 5-0 Friday to approve Jaime Rene Roman's decision Wednesday that six city officials violated the state Political Reform Act with three mass mailings. The fliers urged residents in Glendale and Pasadena to pressure their elected officials to meet with Burbank officials and resolve the ongoing dispute over the expansion of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport. ``There was no question to us that the Burbank (officials) should not have done this. There are alternative ways of getting the word out,'' Getman said, adding the commission members felt the council's actions ``fell squarely within the prohibition of mass mailers The term mass mailer can refer to those computer worms that spread themselves via e-mail. More generally, the term is synonymous to (possibly legitimate) bulk email software. .'' Burbank City Attorney Dennis Barlow bar·low n. An inexpensive, one- or two-bladed pocketknife. [After Barlow, the family name of its makers, two brothers in Sheffield, England.] was vacationing in Utah on Friday and could not be reached for comment. Burbank City Manager Robert ``Bud'' Ovrom said the ruling, and the commission's subsequent approval, was ``kind of a stretch.'' ``The flaw was that the council members signed their individual names on the mailers. If they had signed `City Council,' it would have been OK. You cannot use public money to gain personal name recognition,'' he said, explaining that the use of names creates an identity for future election purposes. ``The council did this with the city attorney and a consultant telling them it was OK - they were not doing it to gain personal fame or fortune in Glendale,'' Ovrom said. Named in Roman's decision were current Mayor Bill Wiggins William David Wiggin (born June 4, 1966) is a British Conservative Party politician, Member of Parliament and Shadow Minister for Agriculture & Fisheries. He has held the seat of Leominster since the 2001 election. , Vice Mayor Bob Kramer, Councilman Dave Golonski and Councilwoman Stacey Murphy as well as former Councilman Ted McConkey and former Councilwoman Susan Spanos. The judge's decision said the letters in the mass mailing ``focused on a stalemate stale·mate n. 1. A situation in which further action is blocked; a deadlock. 2. A drawing position in chess in which the king, although not in check, can move only into check and no other piece can move. tr.v. between the city of Burbank and the Airport Authority'' and were ``born of a clear frustration with ... the lack of collaborative cooperation by fellow elected officials in the cities of Pasadena and Glendale, Airport Authority intransigence in·tran·si·gent also in·tran·si·geant adj. Refusing to moderate a position, especially an extreme position; uncompromising. [French intransigeant, from Spanish intransigente : and a multitude of lawsuits.'' Roman rejected the city's contention that the mailings were ``essential to the functioning of the (Airport Authority) program.'' |
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