Four S.F. supe candidates will appeal denial of public funds
Standing between four supervisorial candidates and tens of thousands of dollars in city campaign funds for the November election is a little box they failed to check.
The candidates — Uzuri Pease-Greene in District 10, Arthur Tom and Trevor McNeil in District Four and Sonja Trauss in District Six — were denied matching funds from the city’s public financing program this month because they didn’t file paperwork stating their intent to participate in time. All four candidates plan to appeal their decisions to the San Francisco Ethics Commission Friday — and most of them say they need the money desperately.
The public financing program helps eligible candidates offset campaign costs, such as hiring consultants and printing mailers, by matching contributions up to $155,000. To qualify, nonincumbent supervisorial candidates first must complete and sign the official Statement of Participation or Non-Participation by June 12. They would then have until Aug. 28 to raise at least $10,000 from 100 San Francisco residents.
To complete the form, candidates must fill out a one-page document with their full name and the title of their campaign committee. They must also check a box that they intend to participate in the public financing program and then sign the form.
Candidates like McNeil, a public schoolteacher, said the matching funds are integral to competing in November’s election, but that he didn’t know he had to sign the participation statement until after he was denied matching funds.
McNeil, who said he skipped a family trip to the East Coast to attend Friday’s hearing, said so far he has raised “just shy of $8,000,” a paltry amount compared with one of his competitors, Gordon Mar, who raised $25,460 as of June 30, according to his latest filing. McNeil said because of his tight budget he has leaned on friends to help him with things such as Chinese translation and creating door hangers at reduced cost.
“My opponents are raising three times as much as I am,” McNeil said, adding that it’s unfair other candidates will have an advantage because “they signed one piece of paper that they knew about at the time.”
After candidates complete the Statement of Participation, they must then file supporting documents in the Qualifying Request. Trauss said the fact that she filed the Qualifying Request on June 6 should be enough to indicate her intent to participate in the program.
Since announcing her candidacy, Trauss said, she has raised about $165,000 in contributions. According to her latest filing, some of her contributors include Sam Altman, president of Y Combinator, a startup incubator, and Danny and Chris Conway, relatives of tech mogul Ron Conway.
Trauss declined to say how her campaign might be impacted if her appeal is denied by the Ethics Commission, saying there is “no point” in worrying until Friday.
But the three other candidates said they had plenty to worry about.
An Ethics Commission staff report this week recommended denying all of the appeals, contending that allowing the candidates to bypass the deadlines would give them “preferential treatment.” The report cited a 2010 case in which the commission denied the appeals of two supervisorial candidates who also failed to file the Statement of Participation before the deadline.
Pease-Greene, who said she has raised between $3,000 and $4,000 for the District 10 seat so far, was hoping for the extra money from the city to help pay for everything from staff to mailers.
Pease-Greene and Trauss both blamed the accounting firm they used — Dean & Co. — for what seemed to them like a simple administrative mistake. Dean & Co. is a Sacramento firm that helps political campaigns with day-to-day fiscal operations, such as filing disclosure reports, and has been affiliated with Progress San Francisco, a super PAC that supported Mayor London Breed’s campaign.
“The only person who is getting paid out of my whole campaign, is the treasurer,” Pease-Greene said. “This has taught me to do my own due diligence.”
Dean & Co. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tom, who is running against McNeil for District Four, said he is knocking on doors and cold-calling constituents, and some extra money would always help. After raising only $2,000 to $3,000 so far, he said the matching funds are important to “leveling the playing field” between opponents.
“I’m not wealthy,” he said, adding that if his appeal is denied, “it would be heartbreaking and it would be unfair, and it would not be a service to the people.”