Hoge Agrees to $1,700 Fine in Conflict-of-Interest Case

Former Republican Assemblyman Bill Hoge has agreed to pay a $1,700 fine and admitted he violated state law when he initiated a raise for a staffer who loaned him $10,000.

The Fair Political Practices Commission today will decide whether to approve the proposed agreement recommended by its staff. Hoge, a two-term assemblyman defeated last November amid questions over conflicts of interest, acknowledged violating the conflict-of-interest provisions of the State Political Reform Act last year.

According to the proposed agreement, Hoge received a $10,000 loan from staffer Brent ten Pas in 1995, and the amount was still outstanding when he left office in December 1997. In February 1996, Hoge signed forms initiating a pay increase for ten Pas of $2,000 a month, the agreement said.

The agreement states that ten Pas’ loan was in effect a source a income for Hoge. State law prohibits officials from making a decision that affects anyone who has been a source of more than $250 in income in the prior 12 months.

Hoge could have faced a fine of up to $2,000. But the commission staff recommended a $1,700 fine, citing mitigating factors including the fact that ten Pas’ raise was one in a block of raises given to Assembly Republican staff.