CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO
Campaign Finance Audit Report
Rafael Mandelman for Supervisor 2022
FPPC ID #: 1439601
January 1, 2021 – 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 Rafael Mandelman for Supervisor 2022 #1439601 committee (hereinafter “the Committee”) covering the period of January 1, 2021 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 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 Rafael Mandelman to the Board of Supervisors, District 8, 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 Stacy Owens. The Committee is ongoing and was established on July 15, 2021.
| Total Funds Raised | Total Expenditures Made | |
| Private Contributions | $230,877 | $333,884 |
| Public Funds Received | $144,006 |
The Committee activity totals were taken from disclosure statements filed with the Commission covering the period January 1, 2021 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.
Marissa Quaranta
S. E. Owens & Company
312 Clay Street Suite 300
Oakland, CA 94607
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(b) and Regulation 1.114-1, no corporation, limited liability company, or limited liability partnership shall make a contribution to a candidate committee. Under SFC&GCC Sec. 1.114(f), candidate committees that receive contributions that do not comply with the contribution requirements shall forfeit the amount received to the Commission for deposit in the General Fund.
Three monetary contributions totaling $1,250 were received from prohibited sources. One $500 contribution was returned to the contributor. None of the three contributions were forfeited to the Commission.
| Contributor | Date | Amount |
| Grassy Castro LLC, DBA Eureka Sky (Ray Connolly) | 11/15/2021 03/22/2022 | $500 $(500) returned |
| North Point Mergers and Acquisitions, Inc. | 06/13/2022 | $500 |
| Stanton Architecture (Michael Stanton) | 04/16/2022 | $250 |
| Total Received | $1,250 |
Campaign Disclosure Statements
- Under SFC&GCC Sec. 1.152(a)(2) and Regulations 1.152-1(b), and Regulation1.152-1(c), candidate committees are required to file Form SFEC-152 disclosing when they have received contributions or made expenditures that in the aggregate equal or exceed $100,000 within 24 hours of reaching or exceeding the threshold. Thereafter, committees are required to file and additional Form SFEC-152 within 24 hours of every time they receive additional contributions or make additional expenditures that in the aggregate equal or exceed $10,000.
A SFEC 152 Form was not filed to disclose that the committee had reached the $360,000 threshold on October 26, 2022. - Under SFC&GCC Sec. 1.161(b)(3)(A) and Reg. 1.161(a)-1, each candidate committee that pays for a mass mailing shall, within five working days after the date of the mailing, file a copy of the mailing and an Itemized Disclosure Statement (SFEC-161) with the Commission for that mailing. Information disclosed on SFEC-161 may include the title or description, date, and total cost of the mailing. Information pertaining to vendors used in the creation of the mailing, such as vendor name, services provided, and cost of service provided by vendor, may also be disclosed. SFC&GCC Sec. 1.161(b)(3)(B) reduces the filing period to 48 hours if the date of the mailing occurs within the final 16 days before the election.
Out of 5 SFEC Form 161: Itemized Disclosure Statement for Mass Mailings filed with the Ethics Commission, four were filed late. In addition, none of the 5 SFEC Forms 161 filed disclosed required information such as name of vendor, service or item provided and cost of each service or item provided.
| Date of Mass Mailing | Due Date for Form 161 | Date of Form 161 Submission | Total Cost | Days Late |
| 10/03/2022 | 10/11/2022 | 10/26/2022 | $23,790.92 | 12 |
| 10/06/2022 | 10/14/2022 | 10/26/2022 | $13,224.54 | 9 |
| 10/11/2022 | 10/18/2022 | 10/26/2022 | $15,447.82 | 7 |
| 10/26/2022 | 10/28/2022 | 10/31/2022 | $6,325.50 | 2 |
| 11/01/2022 | 11/03/2022 | 11/03/2022 | $8,740.12 | Timely Filed |
| TOTAL | $67,528.90 |
Campaign Advertisements
- SFC&GCC Sec. 1.161(a)(3) states, “Any disclaimer required by the Political Reform Act and by this section on a mass mailing, door hanger, flyer, poster, oversized campaign button or bumper sticker, or print advertisement shall be printed in at least 14‑point, bold font.”
Of the 5 written campaign advertisements published by the Committee, 2 advertisements had disclaimers in 12-point, regular font, which did not meet the minimum font requirement.
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.
Auditee Response
Ms. Quaranta stated: “The items listed in the audit report are so few in number that they are immaterial to the campaign’s overall compliance profile. Any errors in contribution reporting or acceptance, the missing report, and voter communications were inadvertent.”