CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO
Campaign Finance Audit Report
Matt Dorsey for Supervisor 2022
FPPC ID #: 1448851
January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022
Introduction
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 audit results on the Matt Dorsey for Supervisor 2022 #1448851 committee (hereinafter “the Committee”) covering the period of January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022.
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 Francisco 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 review period to determine, among other things:
- Compliance with campaign activity disclosure and record-keeping requirements, and
- 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 Matt Dorsey to the Board of Supervisors, District 6, of the City and County of San Francisco (“City”) in the November 8, 2022 election. During the period covered by the audit, the Committee’s Treasurer was Matt Dorsey. The Committee is ongoing and was established on May 16, 2022.
| Total Funds Raised | Total Expenditures Made | |
| Private Contributions | $250,287 | $501,418 |
| Public Funds Received | $252,000 |
The Committee activity totals were taken from disclosure statements filed with the Commission covering the period January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022.
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.
Tricia Waineo
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:
- Under SFC&GCC Sec. 1.114(a) no person other than a candidate shall make any contribution which will cause the total amount contributed by such person to such candidate committee in an election to exceed $500. In addition, SFC&GCC Sec. 1.114(f) requires forfeiting the unlawful contributions by paying promptly to the City and County of San Francisco the excess amount.
CA Gov. Code Sec. 84203(a) states, “Each candidate or committee that makes or receives a late contribution, as defined in Section 82036, shall report the late contribution to each office with which the candidate or committee is required to file its next campaign statement…” CA Gov. Code Sec. 82036 defines late contributions as any combination of monetary or nonmonetary contributions and loans, including contributions from candidates’ personal funds to their campaigns, that: a) are made to a primarily formed candidate or ballot measure committee; b) total $1,000 or more in aggregate; and c) are made within 90 days of an election.
Total contributions received from Meridee Moore were in excess of the $500 limit. In addition, a Form 497 – Contribution Report was not filed to disclose the 2 monetary contributions received within 90 days of the November 8, 2022 election. The Committee forfeited the exceeding contribution and delivered it to the City and County of San Francisco on November 8, 2022.
| Contributor | Contribution Date | Contribution Amount | Excess Amount | Form 497 Filed |
| Meridee Moore | 9/29/2022 10/02/2022 Total | $ 500.00 500.00 $ 1,000.00 | $500 | No |
Ms. Waineo stated that “The Committee had erroneously accepted an over-the-limit contribution from Meridee Moore on October 2nd, 2022, but it had followed San Francisco Campaign Finance laws and forfeited the additional $500 contribution to the City and County of San Francisco (“City”) on November 8th, 2022.”
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 with the Secretary of State 46 days after qualification. Thus, the required form was filed 36 days late. In addition, a copy was not filed with the City & County of San Francisco Ethics Commission as mandated.
| Form 410 Filing | |
| Form 410 File Date | 7/12/2022 |
| Date $2,000 Threshold was Meet | 5/27/2022 |
| Days Between Filing and Meeting Threshold | 46 |
| Days Late | 36 |
Ms. Waineo did not provide a response to the audit finding.
Conclusion
Except as indicated in the Audit Findings section above, and in our opinion, the Committee substantially complied with the requirements of the Political Reform Act Sec. 81000 et seq. and supporting regulations, and the San Francisco Campaign Finance Reform Ordinance Sec. 1.100 et seq. and supporting regulations.