CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO
Campaign Finance Audit Report
Danny Sauter for Supervisor 2020
FPPC ID #:1424479
January 1, 2020 – December 31, 2020
Introduction
Public disclosure of election campaign activity is essential to voters making informed decisions. The Political Reform Act (California Government Code [CA Gov Code) Section [Sec.]81000 et seq) and supporting regulations, and the San Francisco Campaign Finance Reform Ordinance (San Francisco Campaign & Government Conduct Code [SFC&GCC] Sec. 1.100 et. seq.) and supporting regulations, were established to impose reasonable disclosure requirements to reveal information about election campaign activity. By requiring proper and timely disclosure of campaign activity pertaining to contributions, loans, expenditures, and accrued expenditures, the laws and regulations are designed to inform voters and deter improper practices.
To promote campaign compliance with laws and regulations, the San Francisco Ethics Commission (hereinafter the “Commission”) engaged Macias Gini & O’Connell LLP (MGO) to assist in assessing election committees’ compliance with applicable requirements. This report summarizes the assessment results on the Danny Sauter for Supervisor 2020 #1424479 committee (hereinafter the “Committee”) covering the period January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020.
Authority
The Commission has a duty and responsibility under San Francisco Charter Sec. C3.699-11(4) to audit campaign statements and other relevant documents that are filed with the Commission to ensure compliance with applicable state and campaign finance laws and regulations. Under SFC&GCC Sec. 1.150(a), all candidate committees whose candidates have received public financing must be audited and committee that have not received public financing may be randomly selected for audit at the discretion of the Executive Director of the Commission.
Objectives and Scope
The objective of the audit was to reasonably determine whether the Committee substantially complied with requirements of the Political Reform Act Sec. 81000 et. Seq. and supporting regulations, and the San Franscico Campaign Finance Reform Ordinance Sec 1.100 et. Seq. and supporting regulations. The audit was performed based on a review of the Committee’s filing and records covered by the audit period to determine, among other things:
- Compliance with applicable campaign activity limits, restrictions, and prohibitions.
As a recipient of public financing, the Committee was subject to mandatory audit.
Nothing in this report shall be interpreted to prevent an enforcement action by the Commission or another appropriate agency for conduct in violation of the law, whether or not that conduct is covered in this report.
The report will be forwarded to the Commission’s Enforcement Division for review to determine whether any further action may be warranted.
Committee Information
Background
The Committee’s primary purpose was to support the election of Danny Sauter to the Board of Supervisors, District 3, of the City and County of San Francisco (“City”) in the November 3, 2020 election. During the period covered by the audit, the Committee’s Treasurer was Danny Sauter. The Committee was established on January 17, 2020 and terminated effective August 13, 2021.
Committee Reported Activity
| Total Funds Raised | Total Expenditures Made | |
| Private Contributions | $88,562 | $310,129 |
| Public Funds Received | $234,381 |
The committee activity totals were taken from disclosure statements filed with the Commission covering the period January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020.
Audit Respondent
The audit respondent identified below was the primary audit contact during the audit and responded to audit inquiries and requests on behalf of the Committee.
Patricia Mar
View Avenue Group, LLC
393 7th Avenue, Suite 301
San Francisco, CA 94118
Audit Findings
The CA Gov. Code Sec. 81000 et. Seq and supporting regulations, and SFC&GCC Sec. 1.100 et. Sec and supporting regulations, require campaign committees to timely disclose information about election campaign activity and adhere to applicable campaign activity limits, restrictions, and prohibitions.
The following findings were noted during the audit:
Expenditures
- Under CA Gov. Code Sec. 84211(b), committees are required to report the total amount of expenditures to all persons during a reporting period. CA Gov. Code Sec. 84211(k) further states that if the cumulative amount expended to any one source is $100 or more, committees must also disclose that person’s full name, street address, amount of each expenditure, and brief description of the consideration. Per CA Gov. Code Sec. 84211(k)(6) the term “expenditure” means any individual payment or accrued expense.
Accrued expenses totaling $2,035 incurred with View Avenue Group throughout June 2020, were not disclosed in the Semi-annual Statement filed for the period ending June 30, 2020. It was disclosed late on the subsequent statement filed for the period July1 through September 19, 2020.
Ms. Mar stated, “The Committee used its best practices to accrue all expenditures when received. The reporting of an invoice in the amount of $2,035 for professional services in a later period is immaterial as it accounted for 0.62% of total expenditures for the duration of the Committee.”
Rebuttal to Audit Respondent’s Statement.
Audit Respondent is not disputing the audit finding. Her statement serves as a mitigating factor.
Campaign Disclosure Statements
- CA Gov. Code Sec. 84101(a) states, “A committee that is a committee by virtue of subdivision (a) of Section 82013 shall file a statement of organization. The committee shall file the original of the statement of organization with the Secretary of State and shall also file a copy of the statement of organization with the local filing officer, if any, with whom the committee is required to file the originals of its campaign reports pursuant to Section 84215. The original and copy of the statement of organization shall be filed within 10 days after the committee has qualified as a committee. The Secretary of State shall assign a number to each committee.”
Under CA Gov. Code Sec. 82013(a), “Committee” means any person who directly or indirectly receives contributions totaling $2,000 or more in a calendar year.
The Committee did not file Form 410 – Statement of Organization within the required 10-day period of meeting the $2,000 qualification threshold. The Committee filed 15 days after qualification. Thus, the required form was filed 5 days late.
| Form 410 Filing | |
| Form 410 File Date | 2/12/2020 |
| Date $2,000 Threshold was Met | 1/28/2020 |
| Days Between Filing and Meeting Threshold | 15 |
| Days Late | 5 |
Ms. Mar did not provide a response to the finding.