Mayor’s campaign accused of finance violations

An ethics complaint filed with the city accuses Mayor Ron Nirenberg’s campaign of illegally accepting or improperly reporting more than $160,000 in campaign contributions for two years leading up to the May 1 election.

Bert Santibañez, one of the campaign’s advisers, said they are hurrying to correct the violations — the majority of which, he said, are bookkeeping errors. Santibañez, who works with fundraising and day-to-day operations, said money will be refunded where necessary.

“The campaign almost two years ago underwent a leadership change,” Santibañez said. “After that leadership change, our previous donors did not get updated into the donor database system. That’s where the confusion kind of happened within that time.”

The complaint, which Santibañez believes the campaign was made aware of Wednesday, pointed out potential errors they were already reviewing.

Any refunds could stem from allegedly accepting more than the allowed $1,000 in donations per person per election cycle, he said.

That could be up to $24,550. Nirenberg was not immediately available to discuss the alleged violations himself.

Annette Brewster, who filed the complaint with the city clerk’s office, did not respond to a phone call for comment.

“I don’t think it was nefarious in any way,” Santibañez said. “It was something the campaign was already internally doing. The campaign is remedying any issue as fast as possible.”

According to the complaint, Nirenberg’s campaign received $3,240 from prohibited entities like corporations or nonprofits, $6,050 in contributions during a pre-election contribution moratorium and $129,294 in donations that do not include the donor’s employer or occupation.

The complaint also details

$24,550 in campaign donations supposedly greater than the $1,000 per person limit.

All told, the complaint lists $163,134 in alleged violations from June 2019 through last month.

Nirenberg’s campaign is working to retrieve any employer or occupation information that it needs to update, Santibañez said.

“As for any sums that were over the allotted limit, we are speedily getting refunds to those for any overages,” he said.

Additionally, the campaign did make a couple of amendments to reports as far as prohibited entities like corporations or nonprofits were concerned, Santibañez said.

In regard to the accusation about donations received during the pre-election contribution moratorium, Santibañez said the campaign is allowed to accept contributions during that time as long as it doesn’t deposit them. After checking the bank account, he said it doesn’t appear the campaign made any deposits during the moratorium.

“From our end, it looks like we’re in compliance with that,” he said.

Candidates cannot accept or deposit donations in the four days before an election, according to city campaign finance code. The mayor’s July 15 semiannual campaign finance report shows $6,050 in contributions from April 27 to May 1, during the prohibited days. The city code also states if a candidate does receive donations during that time, they may be deposited during the next election cycle.

Anyone who believes there’s been a violation of ethics laws may file a sworn complaint with the city clerk’s office for the Ethics Review Board to examine.

The board can dismiss the complaint or find that it needs further consideration. It can — but is not required to — hold a hearing to investigate the accusations.

The board or a designated panel has 90 days after the complaint is filed to issue a written opinion that either dismisses the complaint or finds a violation. If the members determine there has been a violation of ethics laws, the board can recommend some form of penalty or explain why they don’t think a penalty is needed.

The City Council ultimately considers any recommended sanctions.

A city spokesperson was not immediately able to provide the status of Brewster’s complaint.

Santibañez said the responsibility to make corrections primarily sits with the campaign.

“We’re reviewing anything else that may be necessary to amend,” he said.

Nirenberg