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E-mail StoryRegulators order Weir to comply
Order threatens 'enforcement action' if terms aren't met
| Monday, Mar 19 2007 10:25 PM
Last Updated: Tuesday, Mar 20 2007 7:53 AM
State political regulators ordered Bakersfield's new city councilman, Ken Weir, to disclose names of his most lucrative accounting clients -- or prepare an adequate request to keep them anonymous -- within a week.
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The Fair Political Practices Commission on Monday issued an order saying Weir must name clients who paid his private accounting firm $10,000 or more during the year before he took office on Dec. 13.
Weir can ask to keep large clients anonymous by the same deadline of 5 p.m. March 26, the order says. Each name requested needs separate legal justification.
"We are in a dialogue with the FPPC," Weir said before heading into the joint city-county meeting Monday evening.
Weir had spoken with the commission Monday, he said. He also said he was contacting clients to get permission to disclose their names.
"We'll see how it goes from there," he said.
Weir is a certified public accountant. He was elected to the council's Ward 3 seat in November.
Public officials must annually disclose certain information about income sources, investment, property and gifts in so-called "economic interest" statements.
The information -- along with campaign and lobbying reports -- is meant to keep government transparent.
Disclosure includes names of $10,000-plus clients of companies an official owns at least 10 percent of, state law says.
Last week Weir filed an updated statement that did not disclose names of a dozen $10,000-plus customers of his business, Weir and Associates Accountancy Corp.
The filing referred to those customers as clients A through L and claimed accounting regulations allowed them to remain anonymous.
Commission rules and case law show a public official's large clients can stay secret only in special circumstances. Even doctors and lawyers must disclose names except in highly unusual circumstances that require commission approval on a name-by-name basis, rules say.
Weir served on the board of the Bakersfield City School District for about 13 years before winning his council seat. That elected position also requires the economic interest form. None of Weir's annual statements since 1997 -- all of the records still on file -- included client names.
Complex code
It wasn't immediately clear Monday whether an accountant's customer names are confidential under the state business code.
Carol Sigmann, executive officer of the the California Board of Accountancy, which regulates the profession, said as far as she knows the board has never had to answer that question.
"It depends on how a person reads" the code, Sigmann said, as to how to apply it.
Accountants must keep client information confidential, the code says, though it makes clear certain circumstances call for disclosure -- as when information is "specifically required by law."
State law calls for public officials to name their $10,000-plus clients.
Representatives of the Fair Political Practices Commission said the agency does not comment on cases.
They would neither confirm nor deny Monday whether they have started an investigation of Weir.
Monday's order threatens "enforcement action" if terms aren't met.
The commission has four enforcement options in its quiver, documents show.
n A fine of up to $5,000 for each violation;
n A civil action for inadequate reports;
n Civil action, including financial penalties, for violations of conflict-of-interest rules;
n Civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation brought by the commission or the district attorney.
-- Staff writers James Burger and Robert Price contributed to this story.