Matier & Ross:
Mayor Ed Lee purges campaign donations linked to Raymond Chow case.
He can’t send them back, so Mayor Ed Lee has turned over to the city’s general fund $1,500 in questionable contributions that were brought to light in the Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow racketeering case.
The checks were from a Human Rights Commission official and staffer who allegedly were caught on tape talking about a “pay to play” scheme with an undercover FBI agent. According to federal court filings in the case, the scheme involved taking a $10,000 contribution from the agent and breaking it into $500 checks for the mayor’s 2011 campaign, to abide by city limits on individual contributions.
Kevin Heneghan, campaign treasurer for
both Lee’s 2011 and 2015 mayoral runs, sent a letter to the San Francisco Ethics Commission on Friday saying the Lee camp was purging three $500 checks the mayor had received from former Human Rights Commissioner Nazly Mohajer and a former commission staffer, Zula Jones.
“It seems crystal clear that Zula Jones and Nazly Mohajer have engaged in improper activity targeting the mayor, and the mayor’s campaign has decided to donate the contributions they made to the city’s general fund,” Heneghan said.
The move came just days after attorneys for Chow, an alleged Chinatown gang leader, filed court papers asserting that the mayor engaged in pay-to-play politics. Lee likened the allegations to “reading a comic book” and said it was “not the way we run city government.”
Federal wiretaps disclosed by Chow’s attorneys indicate that Jones solicited $10,000 from an undercover federal agent posing as an Atlanta businessman looking to land development and other deals in the city. Jones allegedly said the money would be chopped into legal-size chunks.
She is quoted in one taped conversation with the undercover agent as saying, “Ed knows that you gave the $10,000. ... Ed knows that you are the one who’s the big donor.”
Mohajer and Jones subsequently introduced the undercover agent to the mayor at a pair of meetings — though there is no indication the mayor offered any quid pro quo.
In February, after a citizen’s complaint was filed with the Ethics Commission raising questions about Mohajer’s fundraising activities and reappointment to the Human Rights Commission, the city’s then-ethics boss, John St. Croix, wrote a confidential letter to the complainant saying, “There is reason to believe a violation of law may have occurred.”
St. Croix added that the matter had been referred to the city attorney and district attorney, and “both offices have advised our office that they will investigate the matter.”
Lee’s campaign team said Friday that it can’t tell which other checks might be suspect and that federal prosecutors have not responded to its calls for help in identifying them.
In the meantime, $500 checks from Mohajer and Jones from the 2011 campaign, and another $500 check that Jones gave to the mayor for his re-election effort in November, have been turned over to the city’s general fund.
Mohajer and Jones could not be reached for comment. Neither has been charged with a crime.
Tough turf: All but lost in the Aldon Smith uproar Friday was the news that the 49ers had been forced to cancel a public practice at their pricey, year-old Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara because of turf woes.
With less than six months to go before the stadium hosts Super Bowl 50, the field is having problems handling both football games and the non-gridiron events that the 49ers need to bring in the revenue at their billion-dollar-plus field.
First there was that pair of Grateful Dead concerts back in late June when 70,000-plus fans packed the stadium each night, dancing and frolicking all over the tarpcovered field.
Then came the big July 25 soccer match between Manchester United and FC Barcelona that drew complaints from Barcelona’s coach about the footing on the field.
Two days later, Levi’s hosted a private send-off bash for retiring Cisco Systems chief executive John Chambers that featured a concert by Christina Aguilera and Keith Urban. The 22,000 guests were allowed to hang out on the field.
And the partying doesn’t end there.
On Friday and Saturday, music queen Taylor Swift will headline a pair of sure-to-be-sold-out concerts, and country star Luke Bryan will fill the stadium at the end of the month.
The sod will be replaced six to eight times during the year, including right after both the Swift and Bryan concerts, said 49ers spokesman Bob
Lange.
Lange said the turf problem is typical of stadiums that hold multiple events and is not a repeat of last year’s sod troubles, which were caused by a poor foundation that had to be replaced.
“Once we get into the regular season and do resodding after the concerts, we should be good to go,” Lange said.
There are 50 good reasons to hope so.
“It seems crystal clear that Zula Jones and Nazly Mohajer have engaged in improper activity targeting the mayor.” Kevin Heneghan, Ed Lee’s campaign treasurer