Ontario Airport Board Locks Down Travel Rules After Wapner's $185,000 Bill

The Ontario International Airport Authority voted on October 19 to establish an internal auditing program that includes hiring a full-time auditor. The move follows a Sept. 24 approval of stricter bylaws capping monthly stipends at $1,000 and restricting member travel. These rules now limit members to one domestic conference annually and one international conference every two years, each requiring advance approval. Spouse travel is no longer funded.

The changes respond to records released under the California Public Records Act. Councilman Alan Wapner billed the authority $184,997 for 72 trips between March 2021 and June 2026. He served on the board until recently. Across five agencies where he held seats, Wapner reported 132 trips over the same five-year span. The agencies spent a combined $283,630 on his travel. The airport authority portion is 64 times the amount reimbursed to the other four board members together.

Board president Ron Loveridge received $2,865 for travel during that period. The other three members did not request reimbursement. Wapner traveled to Hong Kong, Rio de Janeiro, the Bahamas, Istanbul, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Madrid. He also made repeated visits to Hawaii. In January 2023, he charged $8,939.40 for a 17-day conference trip to Maui. That bill included a $7,000 rental for a three-bedroom house in Lahaina. A trip to Rio de Janeiro in April 2026 cost $14,325. A September 2025 trip to Hong Kong cost $12,701, with airfare alone at $7,437.

Wapner defended the spending in an email. He stated his travel was necessary for him to be effective in his position and added that none of the trips were junkets. He said the trips gave him access to airline executives, concession operators, and federal officials. Loveridge said the spending met authority rules at the time but that commissioners did not know about the trips. Wapner did not report back to the full board, so other members were unaware of the frequency or cumulative cost.

The FBI searched Wapner's Ontario home on July 28. Agents also searched the homes or offices of Supervisor Curt Hagman, attorney Frank Lizarraga, and others tied to businessman James Su. Subpoenas went to the airport and City Hall. No charges were known to have been filed as of October 22. The City Council removed Wapner from all committee appointments, including the airport board. He dropped a planned mayoral run and is seeking another term on the council, where he has served since 1994.

Wapner earned about a quarter of a million dollars in meeting stipends from the authority over the past decade. That amount is almost double the sum paid to Hagman. Costs for his other boards included $62,855 from the City of Ontario, $17,578 from Omnitrans, $12,574 from the Southern California Association of Governments, and $5,625 from the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority. Wapner said the board was scapegoating him and that travel was a budget line item members could have questioned.

Catherine Lhamon of UC Berkeley's Edley Center on Law and Democracy said personal profit from public service is the definition of corruption. She called for clear rules and public scrutiny of officials.