I. Introduction
This Audit Report summarizes the audit results of the committee, Dennis Herrera for Mayor 2011 (“the Committee”), for the period from January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2011. 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. Section 1.150(a) of the CFRO requires the Commission to audit all candidates who receive public financing.
III. Audit Scope and Procedures
This audit was performed in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. It was performed in conjunction with the Controller’s office pursuant to CFRO section 1.150. The audit involved a review of the Committee’s records for the period covered by the audit. This audit was conducted to determine:
- Compliance with all disclosure requirements pertaining to contributions, expenditures, accrued expenditures, and loans, including itemization when required;
- Compliance with applicable filing deadlines;
- Compliance with restrictions on contributions, loans, and expenditures;
- Accuracy of total reported receipts, disbursements, and cash balances as compared to bank records;
- Compliance with all record-keeping requirements;
- Compliance with all provisions related to the Commission’s public financing program; and
- Any unexpended public funds that must be returned to the City up to the amount of public funds received by the candidate.
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 qualified as a committee in August 2010 to support the election of Dennis Herrera for Mayor in the November 8, 2011 election. Stacy Owens served as the Committee’s treasurer. In February 2012, the Committee filed a Statement of Termination.
V. Audit Findings
For the period covered by the audit, the Committee received $829,606 in contributions and $720,690 in public funds and incurred qualified campaign expenditures of $1,549,381. The CFRO provides that any candidate who receives public funds must return unexpended campaign funds to the City up to the amount of public funds received by the candidate (San Francisco Campaign and Governmental Conduct Code (S.F. C&GC Code) § 1.148(d)). The Committee did not have any unexpended funds.
The Commission determined that there were no material findings with respect to the audit of the Committee. The Committee substantially complied with the disclosure and record keeping provisions of the Act and CFRO.