from California guard dog in the chosen position fined this month Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins $3,000 for a conflict of interest violation in 2019.

The fine comes from a $20,000 grant that Supervisory Board awarded Dec. 17, 2019, to local nonprofit LandPaths, which employed Hopkins’ husband at the time. The grant was one of several approved by the board by a single vote that day.

The Fair Political Practices Commission, an independent body that regulates campaign finance, conflicts of interest, lobbying and government ethics in California, determined that Hopkins was “negligent” and should not have been on the ballot given the connection with her husband.

State law prevents public officials from participating in any government decisions in which they have a financial interest.

“Such conduct runs counter to the Act’s mandate that public officials should serve the needs of all citizens in an impartial manner — free from bias caused by their own financial interests,” attorneys for the law enforcement commission wrote in their November finding against Hopkins .

Hopkins said he didn’t realize LandPaths was among the grant recipients because it was added to a list for supervisors’ approval after Hopkins had already reviewed the grant proposals.

“I am grateful to the FPPC for the opportunity to right an honest mistake,” Hopkins said in a statement Thursday, later adding that he had paid the fine.

According to the findings, Hopkins previously disclosed her husband’s work for LandPaths, a 501(c)3 focused on environmental education and conservation in Sonoma County.

While it cited Hopkins’ negligence, the finding said the investigation found “no evidence to suggest that Hopkins knowingly voted for a government decision in which Hopkins knew to be a prohibited conflict of interest.”

Hopkins had no prior violations and her husband had no direct involvement in the LandPaths program that was to receive county funding.

Hopkins said her husband left the organization “for unrelated reasons” in 2020 and was no longer working there when the grant funding advanced.

Although Hopkins has already paid the fine, the commission is set to vote on whether to approve the findings on November 21. Lindsey Nakano, the commission’s senior legislative counsel, said it is common for the commission to collect fines before the meeting, “but the commission has the authority to reject the stipulation.”

Nakano also confirmed that the FPPC opened an investigation into Hopkins in response to a complaint by Adina Flores, who has a the history of polling local elected officials and filed more than 250 complaints with the FPPC since February 2022.

In her complaint, filed on February 3, 2022, Flores questioned why the board approved contracts with LandPaths in 2019 given Hopkins’ personal connection. The complaint did not specify the Dec. 17, 2019 vote, but referred to several contracts approved that year.

FPPC notified Hopkins of the complaint the day after it was filed.

But Hopkins said that in February 2022 she notified the FPPC of the specific error after asking staff to identify each time a LandPaths contract appeared on the board’s agenda so she could document her recusals.

“This made me realize I missed one,” Hopkins wrote in a text. “I immediately came to the FPPC about my mistake and explained what had happened. I brought the error to their attention.”

You can reach writer Emma Murphy at 707-521-5228 or [email protected]. On Twitter @MurphReports.