Nursing manager faces $5,000 political fine

A nursing administrator at Ventura County Medical Center has been fined $5,000 over failure to file a state-required financial statement, despite what officials say were close to 20 attempts to get her to comply.

The state Fair Political Practices Commission last month approved the maximum fine for the violation against Shannon Matlock, assistant director of hospital nursing. Matlock, the night shift nursing supervisor at the public hospital in Ventura, was faulted for failure to file the annual statement showing her economic interests in 2014 until the deadline had long passed.

Elected officials and public employees who make or influence governmental decisions in California are required to file the annual statements showing reportable assets. The fine she incurred is a civil penalty for violating the state Political Reform Act, passed in the mid-70s to regulate campaign finance and governmental ethics.

Matlock, 74, who has worked at the medical center for 52 years, declined to be interviewed.

It's a mystery why she did not file the statement for the 2014 year until 18 months after it was due or heed the notifications. She had filed the statements regularly in the past, recalled former hospital administrator Cyndie Cole, who retired in 2014. The record also shows that Matlock filed the statement for 2015 early last year and on time. A search of the commission's website shows no other violations.

County officials provided a copy of the overdue statement that shows it was filed in September, but the state report says it still had not been filed by November.

As of Wednesday, she had not paid the fine approved a month ago, said Jay Wierenga, spokesman for the commission. In most cases, public officials settle cases before they go into default as this one did, he said.

After finding that an individual has defaulted, the commission turns the matter over to its administrative office for collection of the money, Wierenga said.

"We do go after every single default case to recover as much money as we can for the state," he said in an email. "We can and have placed liens on property. We can and do go after tax refunds, both state and federal. We will make every reasonable attempt to gain the penalty imposed on someone who has been found in violation of the Political Reform Act."

In the one-page form Matlock ultimately filed for 2014, she did not claim any financial interests that the state requires to be reported.

Kim Milstien, CEO of the medical center, said she could not say whether she had discussed the matter with Matlock because that would be a personnel matter. Matlock remains an employee in good standing, she said.

County Human Resources Director Shawn Atin said there have been cases in the past of employees filing the forms late, but he knew of none of this severity.

The forms yield information about financial assets to assure the public that the officials are making decisions in the citizens' interests rather than their own. Included are income, gifts, investments and property other than the individual's home. They are submitted by an array of appointed and elected officials, including several hundred in the county government. The holders of scores of managerial positions in the Ventura County Health Care Agency are required to make the disclosures. Matlock is one of them.

The Fair Political Practices Commission approved the penalty at a meeting in mid-December in Sacramento following failed attempts to get her to comply via requests made by mail, email and phone calls, a state report says. The agency also offered to settle the case for a fine of $200 in July 2015, which increased to $400 the next month when she did not respond, according to the report. As the case dragged on with no response from Matlock, the agency notified her of the charge and right to a hearing. She did not request one by the deadline in late October.