California Coastal Commissioner Pat Kruer will face a $1,000 fine for not disclosing a financial interest in his brother’s construction firm, J.T. Kruer & Co.—a key contractor on a controversial project that needed the state agency’s blessing.
During a February commission hearing on a plan to overhaul San Diego’s waterfront, Pat Kruer made a motion to approve the project, saying he thought “everybody should jump up and down” to support it. But he didn’t disclose his brother Jonathan’s involvement until inewsource asked about it in April.
Ultimately, Kruer recused himself from the final vote on the project, and it was defeated. The state’s Fair Political Practices Commission then opened an investigation into Kruer’s financial ties to his brother’s firm.
State law requires commissioners to recuse themselves from any vote that could affect their own financial interest or that of an immediate family member, including a spouse or children but not siblings. It also requires commissioners to fully disclose their financial interests in annual statements.
Yesterday the FPPC announced that Kruer had failed to report “income from J.T. Kruer & Co.” and leasehold interest in his brother’s company on disclosure forms he submitted to the state from 2005 to 2009.