City Council member John Machisic lies in financial declarations

For years Banning City Council member John Machisic has been filing  false declarations under penalty of perjury, lying about the true nature of his economic interest.

In particular, Machisic failed to publicly disclose certain “consulting” activities he was engaged in.

As a Banning City Council member,  Machisic is required by law to disclose his personal economic interests by  filing of a Form 700 “Statement of Economic Interest” each year. This declaration requires –  among other things  – disclosure of any income from activities, any gifts, salaries, compensations and the like.

The Banning Informer has obtained documents that show that John Machisic failed to disclose his activities as a private “consultant” for the Banning Unified School District. In the years 2006, 2007 and 2008 Machisic had contracted with the District acting as a private contractor performing consulting services as a “ Expulsion Hearing Panel Member ” ( view contract ) . The activity yielded him  $ 100.68  in 2006, $ 1,120.02  in 2007 and $ 1,542.60 in 2008  ( view invoices ) ; in total Machisic received $2,763.30 .

Form 700’s filed by Machisic for those years  show no such activity whatsoever ( view his 06/07/08 Form 700’s ). By hiding  income from his “consultant” activities, Machisic appears to have violated public disclosure laws . Worse, since all three declarations were filed under “Penalty of Perjury” Machisic may have committed a felony by filing these false statements.

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MACHISIC IS AWARE OF FORM 700 DISCLORURE REQUIREMENTS

Machisic has always been aware of his obligation to publicly disclose his financial interest, as evidenced by the fact that he has filed Form 700 declarations for years. For 2006 he even declared receiving a $ 38 pizza as a gift  ( view page 2 ).

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RECENT VOTE BEFORE CITY COUNCIL

Very recently, on  January 12,  2010 , John Machisic voted in favor of giving City office space for $ 1/year  to the Boys and Girls Club. The Club’s CEO is Amy Herr. So far so good. But here’s the problem :  Amy Herr is also the President of the Banning School Board – and therewith she is John Machisic former boss.  Since Machisic failed to disclose his financial relationship with the Banning School District ( and Herr as its President ) , how could the public possibly  “connect the dots” and address the issue ?

Rarely is undisclosed income of politicians ever detected, but sometimes the odds work in our favor :  Machisic got caught. For an elected official to file false declarations under penalty of perjury is no laughing matter.