Alioto may go to court in funds battle

San Francisco mayoral candidate Angela Alioto may be headed to court to protest a ruling by the Ethics Commission barring her from participating in the city’s public financing program, which provides candidates up to $975,000 in campaign funds.

In a letter to the Alioto campaign on Wednesday, the commission’s executive director, LeeAnn Pelham, said that Alioto had again failed to qualify for the program. To do so, mayoral candidates have to prove they’ve raised $50,000 in campaign contributions from at least 500 city residents in amounts of between $10 and $100.

Pelham’s letter indicates that 8 percent of the contributions Alioto submitted were ineligible to count toward her qualification, mostly because of insufficient documentation verifying that they came from San Francisco residents.

The Ethics Commission granted Alioto another chance to apply for public financing money after a hearing last month, but with the condition that it would be the campaign’s last shot. Alioto failed to

qualify on three previous attempts, according to Alioto campaign manager Mike Mallen. The other contenders in the mayor’s race — London Breed, Jane Kim and Mark Leno — have all qualified for public financing.

Alioto’s campaign has blamed its previous troubles on a glitch in the software the Ethics Commission uses to process campaign finance filings, a program called Netfile. The program, the campaign claims, was omitting information from Alioto’s filings when the campaign submitted them.

Mallen said the campaign was contacted by representatives from Netfile, which acknowledged the problem and rectified it with the commission. A Netfile spokesman declined to comment.

Alioto’s campaign claims that the Ethics Commission was aware of the software glitch and failed to speak up about it.

“The fact that you knew the software did not upload, and you knew that fact at the last commission hearing, and you did not tell us or the commissioners, is unconscionable and illegal,” Alioto wrote in an email to Pelham Wednesday.

The campaign has requested another hearing before the Ethics Commission. If the commission doesn’t grant a hearing, Mallen said the campaign is prepared to press its case in court.

“I’m not aware of what the Alioto allegations are, and I’m happy to respond in the appropriate way at the appropriate time, once we understand what the allegations are,” Pelham said.