Ed official’s $13M in hidden income exposed by retired Newport Beach judge

Last month, Orange County Board Trustee Mari Barke was ordered by a county judge to pay $101,800 in fines, the third highest award in state history for failure to comply with economic disclosure, along with hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees.

The determination concluded three years of legal proceedings initiated against Barke by Lynne Riddle, a former U.S. bankruptcy judge who learned about the omissions in 2022.

Retired judge Lynne Riddle at a swearing-in ceremony for Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris in 2018. (Spencer Grant) Riddle recalled Friday how her review of Form 700 financial disclosures submitted by members of the Orange County Board of Education led to the discovery that Barke had reported no income and a single $99 gift over a four-year period, from 2018 to 2021.

That seemed odd to the retired judge, given Barke’s colleagues had listed pages of salaries, investments and sources of income.

“When I came to Ms. Barke, it simply said zero for every question,” Riddle said Friday. “She said she had absolutely nothing to disclose.”

The disclosure became more suspect when Riddle looked into corporate filings pertaining to Barke’s then-husband, Dr. Jeff Barke, affiliated with numerous enterprises and properties worth several million dollars.

Riddle sounded the alarm in February 2023, alerting the Orange County district attorney and the Fair Political Practices Commission, a state watchdog agency.

When prosecutors declined to pursue the matter as a criminal violation, the retired judge took matters into her own hands, teaming up with Orange County attorney Lee Fink to launch a civil lawsuit that would force the issue into open court.

“It’s not fun to bring a lawsuit,” Riddle said, describing the litigation as a sort of moral imperative. “But it’s really the people who are harmed when our electeds don’t tell the truth.”

Mari Barke represents Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach and parts of Newport Beach on the O.C. Board of Education. Barke was ordered to pay $101,800 by a judge for failing to disclose economic interests from 2018 to 2021. (Don Leach | Staff Photographer) FPPC officials investigated Barke while the case was pending, penalizing the trustee in September 2024 for failing to file an initial candidate assuming office form in 2018, along with false annual disclosures. For those five counts, Barke was fined $3,200.

But Riddle’s case continued and, as it did, details about the education officials’ own affiliations and assets came to light.

Amended filings provided by Barke in 2023 pointed to her paid position with the nonprofit California Policy Center, a conservative think tank that helped launch the countywide charter school Orange County Classical Academy, on whose board Jeff Barke serves.

Court filings indicate Mari Barke’s amended disclosures revealed annual earnings from the center between $10,000 and $100,000 along with a stream of joint spousal wealth amounting to more than $300,000 in annual income and another $2 million per year tied to shared business interests and real estate.

In a statement to the Daily Pilot, Mari Barke said she takes her disclosure obligations very seriously.

“When errors in my filings were identified, I corrected them and resolved the matter with the Fair Political Practices Commission. This separate lawsuit, brought by a private party, sought additional penalties,” she wrote. “I respectfully disagree with the outcome and am reviewing my options, including an appeal.”

Last month, Orange County Superior Court Judge Shaina Colover issued a final statement of decision that challenged Mari Barke’s claims, noting the FPPC’s administrative proceedings and penalty did not fully address the extent of the omissions.

“The undisclosed interests and income were of a magnitude that would have been material to members of the public evaluating potential conflicts of interest and transparency obligations of an elected official,” Colover concluded.

Mari Barke testified in February she was advised by her husband she need only disclose economic interests directly conflicting with the O.C. Board of Education and, more specifically, her trustee area, which includes Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and portions of Newport Beach.

“The case itself obviously hewed closely to the Forms 700. The question in front of the judge was the culpability for it,” Fink said Friday. “Judge Colover did comment it was far more than careless, it was reckless.”

Colover’s statement points out Mari Barke never attempted to call the FPPC helpline, consult a professional and “admittedly never even read the Form 700 instructions.”

Riddle found that fact troubling, given the breadth of the OCBOE, which provides oversight to more than 600 public schools in 30 districts.

“If someone is unwilling to do the hard work, even with something they file under penalty of perjury, it undermines my confidence in the electoral system and the people who are serving in governance” she said.

While attorney’s fees owed to Riddle have yet to be calculated, half of the penalties Mari Barke will pay will go to the state’s general fund, while the remaining half goes to Riddle herself for her work undertaken on behalf of the public, according to Fink.

The retired judge said she’s already arranged to give all funds to Orange County nonprofits that support education. What’s more important to her is that Riddle v. Barke establishes a precedent that can be used by others like her who may discover similar unreported interests.

“Our faith in our representative democracy … depends upon our representatives working diligently, listening to our thoughts and needs and telling us the truth,” Riddle said. “My hope is our judgment will further that mission along.”

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Sara Cardine covers the city of Costa Mesa for the Daily Pilot. She came from the La Cañada Valley Sun, where she spent six years as the news reporter covering La Cañada Flintridge and received a first-place Public Service Journalism award from the California News Publishers Assn. She’s also worked at the Pasadena Weekly, Stockton Record and Lodi-News Sentinel, which instilled in her a love for community news. (714) 966-4627