During the 2018 election cycle, the Pomona Police Officers Association PAC (PPOA) made campaign contributions to three Pomona City Council candidates for around $9,000 each - Victor Preciado, Steve Lustro, Christina Carrizosa. Preciado and Lustro won their election that year and are currently sitting members of Pomona’s City Council today.

In recent days, it has come to the attention of the Pomonan editorial Board that these campaign contributions were not properly reported.

In the fall of 2018, the PPOA paid more than $41 thousand to the Freedman Public Affairs for mailers to support the campaign of Victor Preciado, Steve Lustro, who won their election, and Christina Carrizosa, who lost hers.

According to CalAccess, District 2 council member Victor Preciado received a total of $9,689.12, and District 5 council member Steve Lustro received $9.396.56 from the PPOA through contributions and late independent expenditures.

Before assuming office on Dec. 3, 2018, both officials filed a California Form 700, also known as Statement of Economic Interests form, but neither reported the amount received from the PPOA. The form is meant to prevent decisions made by public officials from being influenced by their personal financial interests.

Pomona Ordinance No. 4298 states any person holding a position in Government Code Section 87200 needs to file any required Statement of Economic Interests report online or electronically with the City Clerk.

The PPOA made 83 donations to Preciado’s campaign and 72 donations to Lustro’s campaign of different totals ranging from $72.54, $27.67, $26.86, $1,436.07 and $678.59 from Sept. 2018 through Nov. 2018.

On his 700 form, Preciado reported his salary working with the Kellogg Company and from the San Gabriel Valley Conservation Corps as in the range from $1,001 to $10,000, but did not report the amount donated to his campaign by the PPOA.

Lustro did not report any of the donations from the PPOA or any other salary that might influence his decision making. See both Form-700

Under the Pomona City Code, Article II, Sec. 10-34, it stated that a candidate shall not solicit or accept any contribution which will cause the total amount contributed by such person with respect to a single election in support of or opposition to a candidate that exceeds $500.00.

However, Section 10-36 of the same code states that all contributions, including campaign contributions, exceeding $25 needs to be reported.

During the same election, the PPOA also made 72 donations that equated to $9,449.49 to the campaign of Council member Christina Carrizosa of District. Carrizosa was currently on the Council at the time, but lost her position to current Pomona City Council member, Nora Garcia.

The Police Oversight Starts Today (POST), a coalition of Pomona and area residents, filed a complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission in Aug. 2021 claiming the PPOA caused a conflict of interest when it donated sums of money to certain council members and not equally to every potential candidate.

Council member Preciado, recently contacted, said he wasn’t aware of the money. He also stated that, the form does not need to have that kind of payment on it: 

“While [the PPOA] have to state who they are using it for, they actually can’t legally coordinate or talk to the candidate about it. In this example I wasn’t aware of this expenditure or what they used it for.”

To date, Pomona city council member Lustro has not responded to this reporter’s request for comment.