The Ontario City Council appointed a new mayor pro tem and reassigned a slate of regional board seats Tuesday after Councilman Alan Wapner stepped down from those roles, as Mayor Paul Leon called for new campaign finance rules and term-limits.
Mayor Paul Leon said he wanted “to explain plainly” the reason for the shakeup — Councilman Alan Watner stepped down as mayor pro tem as well as from regional and local boards and commissions last week after the FBI raided his home in late July. Federal agents also searched San Bernardino County Supervisor Curt Hagman’s home along with the home and office of a West Covina-based media executive James Su, who owns Chinese-language websites and radio stations including a newspaper that required him to register as an agent of the People’s Republic of China.
“That’s what we’re doing — to name a mayor pro tem and to appoint representatives to those regional boards and commissions so that Ontario’s voice on them continues without interruption,” Leon said, adding that “public office is a public trust, not a career and not a payday” and the council should “reconsider contribution limits” and “take up the question of term limits” in Ontario.
Wapner remains on the council but no longer represents the city on the Omnitrans regional transportation board, Ontario International Airport Board of Commissioners and the airport’s Mediation Board. He also gave up his post as the council’s Recreation and Parks Department liaison and a seat on the San Bernardino County Transit Authority.
Leon said the action was “not a punishment and it’s not a judgment about anyone’s guilt or innocence,” and that Wapner “is entitled to the presumption of innocence and to the full protections of due process”.
The mayor assigned himself to most of the vacated seats, while Councilwoman Debra Porada was appointed Mayor Pro Tem and to the Ontario International Airport board.
The appointments drew sharp public comment.
One speaker, the founder of a local watchdog group, said reassigning Wapner’s board seats was “administrative housekeeping” rather than true accountability and reported that Wapner’s two campaign committees raised more than $652,000 over a 12-month period.
Another commenter, a former city auditor, supported removing Wapner from his positions and repeated allegations that Wapner made racist remarks during a previous council meeting.
Porada asked residents for patience, noting that an FBI investigation is active and that campaign finance reports are publicly available online.
“We cannot get ahead of the process,” she said.
“I know that patience is a difficult part because we all want answers,” Porada added. “I’m asking everyone to please give this process time that it needs and that the facts, once they have been established, we will address them in a very responsible way and take whatever action is appropriate.”
The appointments were made by resolution after the City Attorney noted the draft resolution did not reflect the Mayor Pro Tem appointment and recommended amending it to include the action. The Mayor Pro Tem appointment passed, as did the broader appointments resolution voted 4-1, with Wapner voting “no.”
Wapner did not speak during the public hearing.
Federal agents searched the EDI Media office in West Covina as well as the home of owner James Su on July 28 in addition to a mansion in Beverly Hills and the homes of Wapner and Hagman.
The raids were the latest development as federal investigations intensify into allegations of connections between city and county officials and intelligence agents for the People’s Republic of China.
Ex-Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang is awaiting sentencing after she pleaded guilty earlier this year to concealing her SGV-based propaganda work directed by the PRC intelligence community.
The Los Angeles Times reported Su contributed $500 to Wang’s campaign on Oct. 10, 2022, but a one-page disclosure document on the city’s website indicating Oct. 10 donations do not show a contribution from Su. A hyperlink to the contribution document with the online version of the Times story was inoperable Tuesday.
Financial disclosure records also show EDI made financial contributions to and produced campaign media for other Arcadia City Council campaigns.
The AI platform Civilio assisted this report.
