Deadlines matter

John Glidden’s Feb. 5 article about money in the District 2 supervisor’s race should have included the fact that Supervisor Monica Brown was the only District 2 candidate who turned in her paperwork on time.

The California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) is the agency that requires campaigns to tells us where their campaign donations came from so we can vote smarter by knowing who supports whom in elections. The report for donations received from Jan. 1-18 was due on Jan. 23; the semi-annual report for the last half of 2019 was due Jan. 31. (It’s a little convoluted this year because we moved our primary up to March.)

Supervisor Brown filed both of her FPPC reports on Jan.

23. K Patrice Williams turned her Jan. 23 report in a day late on Jan. 24; Rochelle Sherlock didn’t turn in the report due on Jan. 23 until Jan. 31, when she filed her semi-annual report.

Ms. Sherlock also doesn’t seem to understand what a Year-to-Date total is — her numbers changed in people’s entries in the same form. When you’re filing a form in January that covers the last six months of the previous year, the year to date total for any given individual is the same number, regardless of when that person gave your campaign money. Ms. Sherlock’s numbers are all over the place.

Ms. Williams’ forms are equally sloppy and inaccurate. In one case, she paid someone $200 for a fundraiser-related expense, but the payee information is completely missing. Numerous pages were included that contained no information at all.

Details matter. Timeliness matters. Everyone playing by the same set of rules matters. You can look at all of the county’s financial disclosure forms here: campaign.solanocounty.com/

Full disclosure: I know that Supervisor Monica Brown’s paperwork was filed correctly and timely because I am her treasurer and I filed it.

Supervisor Monica Brown works hard for us. In addition to having the good sense to let me be her treasurer, she opposed Regional Measure 3 and its unfair bridge toll increases. She actively opposed the cement plant and deep water port that would have brought few jobs but much pollution to District 2. She has been available to her constituents, keeping monthly evening office hours in her three cities of Vallejo, Benicia, and Cordelia. Supervisor Brown got Laura’s Law and home-based kitchen ordinances passed. Unlike previous supervisors, she shows up in our district, she looks out for us, and she gets stuff done.

Please vote to re-elect Monica Brown for District 2 supervisor.

— Paula Bauer/Vallejo