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San Francisco Ethics Commission Audit Report: San Francisco Chamber of Commerce 21st Century Committee, FPPC ID #891575

English

I. Introduction

This Audit Report summarizes the audit results of the committee, San Francisco Chamber of Commerce 21st Century Committee, Identification Number 891575 (“the Committee”), for the period from January 1, 2005 through December 31, 2006.  The audit was conducted to determine whether the Committee materially complied with the requirements of the Political Reform Act (“the Act”) (California Government Code section 81000, et seq.) and San Francisco’s Campaign Finance Reform Ordinance (“CFRO”) (San Francisco Campaign and Governmental Conduct Code section 1.100, et seq).

II. Audit Authority

San Francisco Charter section C3.699-11 authorizes the Ethics Commission (“the Commission”) to audit campaign statements that are filed with the Commission along with other relevant documents to determine whether a committee complied with applicable requirements of State and local laws. 

III. Audit Scope and Procedures

This audit was performed in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards.  The audit involved a review of the Committee’s records for the period covered by the audit.  This review was conducted to determine:

  1. Compliance with all disclosure requirements pertaining to contributions, expenditures, accrued expenditures, and loans, including itemization when required;
  2. Compliance with applicable filing deadlines;
  3. Compliance with restrictions on contributions, loans, and expenditures;
  4. Accuracy of total reported receipts, disbursements, and cash balances as compared to bank records;
  5. Compliance with all record-keeping requirements.

The Commission posts audit reports to its web site and, in cases of apparent violations of law, forwards them to the appropriate enforcement agency.

IV. Committee Information

The Committee is a general purpose committee that was formed prior to the period covered by the audit to oppose and support local ballot measures.  Jim Lazarus and Melissa A. Mikesell served as the treasurers.  The Committee was active as of December 31, 2006.

V. Audit Findings

For the period covered by the audit, the Committee received $271,663 in contributions (including $457 of non-monetary contributions) and incurred $207,019 in expenditures. 

The Commission determined that there was one material finding with respect to the audit of the Committee.  The Committee did not timely send major donor notice letters to twelve contributors who contributed $5,000 or more, in violation of Government Code section 84105.

A committee who receives contributions of $5,000 or more from any person must inform the contributor that he or she may be required to file campaign reports.  The notification must occur within two weeks of receipt of the contributions but need not be sent to any contributor who has an identification number assigned by the Secretary of State issued pursuant to Section 84101.

The details of the major donor contributions are as follows:

Major Donor

Amount

Date of Contribution

Notification Due Date

Date Notification Was Sent

Days Late

Gap Inc.

$10,000

02/03/05

02/17/05

03/24/05

35 days

GreenLeaf

$5,000

01/01/06

01/15/06

05/10/06

114 days

Charles Schwab

$10,000

01/29/06

02/12/06

05/23/06

100 days

Degenkolb Engineers

$5,000

01/29/06

02/12/06

05/23/06

100 days

Gap Inc.

$10,000

01/29/06

02/12/06

05/23/06

100 days

Pacific Telesis Group & Affiliates of SBC Communications Inc.

$10,000

01/29/06

02/12/06

05/23/06

100 days

Bechtel Corporation

$5,000

06/27/06

07/11/06

07/13/06

2 days

Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas, Inc.

$5,000

07/14/06

07/28/06

10/24/06

88 days

CH2M Hill Companies, Ltd

$5,000

07/21/06

08/03/06

10/24/06

82 days

California Pacific Medical Center

$5,000

10/25/06

11/08/06

01/17/07

70 days

URS

$5,000

11/06/06

11/20/06

01/17/07

58 days

CB-1 Garage Co LLC – Millennium Partners

$10,000

11/07/06

11/21/06

12/07/06

16 days

VI. Committee’s Response to Finding

The Committee was provided an opportunity to review and comment on this audit report.  The Committee’s comments are as follows:

The Committee sent the notification memorandum to all of these contributors before the filing deadline for the contributor’s Major Donor report.  Because the PAC notified all of these contributors that they may have to file a Major Donor report before these reports were actually due, sending the notification memorandum more than 15 days after receiving the contribution did not cause any harm to the public.

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Posted in Audits, Audits 2006, Campaign Finance

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