top
Santa Cruz IMC
Santa Cruz IMC
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature

State Fair Political Practices Commission Opens Investigation of Greenway Campaign Finance Violations

by Coastal Rail & Trail
The California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) has opened an investigation of Greenway Capitola for finance and disclosure violations in connection with the recent Measure L campaign in the City of Capitola.
california_fair_political_practices_commission.jpg
Potential violations to the State’s disclosure laws include: intentionally attempting to avoid contributor disclosure laws by filing as a general purpose campaign committee instead of a measure-related committee; intentionally failing to disclose significant legal and canvasser expenditures as required by State reporting requirements; intentionally mischaracterizing campaign expenditures; and intentionally misleading the voters and the public by not fully disclosing the financial role of Santa Cruz County Greenway in the Capitola Measure L campaign.

The Capitola First-No on L campaign committee filed a complaint with the FPPC October 29, 2018, one week prior to the November 6th election. This complaint and subsequent additions include information obtained from the Capitola City Clerk’s office via the California Public Records Act which indicate that office had been in ongoing communication with Greenway Capitola since early in the campaign questioning the committee’s status and campaign disclosure reports.

On November 5, the day before the election, Greenway Capitola amended its campaign committee filing to change its status to a measure-related committee, and submitted delinquent, mandatory 24-hour disclosure forms for campaign contributions of $1,000+. That same day, a report was also filed identifying Santa Cruz County Greenway as a “major donor” for contributing [at least] $14,000 toward the Greenway Capitola campaign.

Greenway Capitola and Santa Cruz County Greenway have so far refused to disclose expenditures related to the substantive cost of defending the initiative measure against the City of Capitola’s legal challenge, and the cost of canvassers who were paid to collect signatures for the initiative and distribute campaign materials throughout Capitola’s neighborhoods. State law requires that these and all other types of campaign expenditures be disclosed once they are incurred.

For additional information:

FPPC Enforcement Division: complaint [at] fppc.ca.gov, Case #2018-01259
City of Capitola, Linda Fridy, City Clerk: 831-475-7300
Dennis Norton, Treasurer, Capitola First-No on L, 831-818-0335
Add Your Comments
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$110.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network