Mayor fined over campaign disclosure laws
San Anselmo Mayor Ford Greene has been fined $3,000 by a state ethics board because his election committee failed to disclose campaign information to state officials on time.
Greene, a San Anselmo attorney, was elected to his fourth term on the Town Council last year. The California Fair Political Practices Commission alleges that his election committee violated state campaign laws in connection with his 2015 and 2019 campaigns.
Greene’s committee was more than three and a half years late in filing a campaign statement that was due in February 2015, the FPPC alleges. Such statements include information about campaign contributions and expenditures.
The committee filed the statement in September 2019, according to a proposed settlement between the FPPC and Greene, his election committee and its treasurer, Laurie Berger. Greene has paid $2,000 for not filing the statement on time, according to the agreement.
The FPPC also said Greene did not provide proper notice to state officials in connection with his 2019 campaign for a seat on the San Anselmo Town Council. Candidates must provide notice to the secretary of state in order to continue operating an established campaign committee for a subsequent election.
Greene filed a notice with San Anselmo officials, but did not file it with the secretary of state, according to the FPPC. Greene has paid $1,000 in connection with the violation, according to the settlement.
“It was a clerical error, with a substantial financial cost, which I won’t make again,” Greene said.
The FPPC is set to consider approving the settlement at its meeting at 10 a.m. Thursday. Greene’s alleged violations come with a maximum fine of $5,000 each, according to the FPPC.
“In this case, the evidence supports there was no intent to conceal, deceive ormislead the public as to the committee’s campaign activity,” the FPPC settlement says.
The settlement says that the violation “appears to be negligent” because Greene is familiar with state laws governing political campaigns.
“The violations committed herewere isolated as Greene, the committee, and Berger have not had prior enforcement history,” the settlement says.