FPPC fines Huntington Beach elected officials for not disclosing air show perks
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Five elected officials from Huntington Beach have been fined by the California Fair Political Practices Commission for failing to disclose VIP passes given to them during the 2022 Pacific Airshow.
At its monthly meeting on Thursday, the FPPC approved enforcement decisions against current Huntington Beach Mayor Casey McKeon, Councilman Pat Burns, Councilwoman Gracey Van Der Mark, former City Atty. Michael Gates and former Councilman Erik Peterson. The fines range from $100 to $700, with Van Der Mark fined $100 and McKeon and Burns both fined $700.
The fines were issued, according to FPPC documents, because the officials violated the Political Reform Act by failing to disclose either one or two VIP passes they were given to the 2022 Pacific Airshow on their Form 700, also known as a Statement of Economic Interests.
The passes were issued by Pacific Airshow LLC and Twining Inc., the latter being the family company of current Huntington Beach Mayor Pro Tem Butch Twining.
Mark Bixby, Huntington Beach resident and publisher of the online news page Surf City Sentinel, filed a complaint with the FPPC in 2023.
Bixby characterized the fines as “wrist-slap fines” in a post on his page on Thursday night.
“While today’s fines are small, I hope the FPPC won’t let them off so easy if they commit future violations,” he wrote.
McKeon said Friday, following an event at the beach announcing the lineup for this year’s Pacific Airshow, that at the time the city didn’t have the template with the Pacific Airshow that it had with other events.
“As dignitaries, we go to events all the time,” McKeon said. “All of the other events had that protocol in place, whether it’s the AVP or the U.S. Open of Surfing ... and the air show did not. It’s been corrected.”
He added that the value of the VIP pass was not known, because it’s not a ticket available for purchase. McKeon said the FPCC came up with the value of $150, then the officials submitted the Form 700, but the FPPC still came down with a fine.
“The city allows events to invite city officials or dignitaries just to come to the event for a little bit,” McKeon said. “It’s a fluid situation, where you can walk in and out. As long as it’s done through the city, then there’s no problem. The air show wasn’t part of that back then; it is now.”
At the time of the 2022 Pacific Airshow, McKeon, Burns and Van Der Mark were each running for City Council. McKeon was on the city’s finance and charter review commissions.
Roughly six months after they were elected to council, Gates announced a controversial nearly $5- million settlement with Pacific Airshow LLC as a result of the 2021 oil spill off the coast of Huntington Beach, which caused the cancellation of the final day of that year’s air show.
“We campaigned on saving [the air show],” McKeon said Friday. “We put out mail saying we were going to save the air show, and we did. I would hope people want to be proud of our premiere event, would want us to highlight it, market it and showcase it. That’s all we’ve ever done.”
Gates, currently running for California attorney general, did not return a call Friday seeking comment.
The city did not release the full Pacific Airshow settlement until July 2024, following a lawsuit against the city filed by Ocean View School District Trustee Gina Clayton-Tarvin.
Clayton-Tarvin said Thursday night that the FPPC fines were part of a larger pattern of deception, and that “saving the air show” equated to grift.
“The public had the right to know, and continues to have the right to know, what their elected officials are doing behind closed doors,” she said. “It doesn’t surprise me at all that these people have been caught red-handed ... It’s just going to take a little bit more time for this investigation from the state with the audit and other things to come back, before I hope we see indictments against the people who have defrauded Huntington Beach.”
