CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO
Campaign Finance Audit Report
Ahsha Safai for Supervisor 2020
FPPC ID #: 1420769
January 1, 2019 – December 31, 2020
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 Ahsha Safai for Supervisor 2020 #1420769 committee (hereinafter “the Committee”) covering the period of January 1, 2019 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 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 Ahsha Safai to the Board of Supervisors, District 11, 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 Joe Jaber. The Committee was established on March 5, 2019, and terminated effective on June 30, 2023.
Committee Reported Activity
| Total Funds Raised | Total Expenditures Made | |
| Private Contributions | $267,251 | $403,551 |
| Public Funds Received | $141,050 |
The Committee activity totals were taken from disclosure statements filed with the Commission covering the period January 1, 2019 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.
Joe Jaber
1303 9th Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94122
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 to forfeit 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.
The Committee accepted 11 contributions that exceeded the $500 contribution limit. In addition, these exceeding contributions were not delivered to the City and County of San Francisco. Furthermore, one Form 497 – Contribution Report was not filed to disclose 2 contributions received within 90 days of the November 8, 2022 election from Diane Morris totaling $1,000.
| Contributor | Contribution Date | Contribution Amount | Excess Amount | Excess Returned | |
| 1. | California Teamsters Public Affairs Council | 10/25/2019 08/27/2020 | $500.00 $500.00 $1,000.00 | $500.00 | No |
| 2. | International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers – Local 6 | 06/20/2019 9/23/2020 | $500.00 $500.00 $1,000.00 | 500.00 | No |
| 3. | Thomas Hart | 06/20/2019 09/26/2019 | $500.00 $500.00 $1,000.00 | 500.00 | No |
| 4. | Sonia Koujakian | 05/16/2020 08/14/2020 | $500.00 $500.00 $1,000.00 | 500.00 | No |
| 5. | Diane Morris | 08/25/2020 08/31/2020 | $500.00 $500.00 $1,000.00 | 500.00 | No |
| 6. | Jahangir Massoudi | 11/06/2019 10/06/2020 | $500.00 $500.00 $1,000.00 | 500.00 | No |
| 7. | Cynthia Birmingham | 10/01/2019 08/28/2020 | $500.00 $500.00 $1,000.00 | 500.00 | No |
| 8. | Edward Wong | 11/22/2019 10/01/2020 | $500.00 $500.00 $1,000.00 | 500.00 | No |
| 9. | Launce Gamble | 08/24/2020 09/14/2020 | $250.00 $500.00 $750.00 | 250.00 | No |
| 10. | Nima Rahimi | 11/22/2019 07/01/2020 | $500.00 $100.00 $600.00 | 100.00 | No |
| 11. | David Ewing | 06/16/2020 09/24/2020 | $100.00 $500.00 $600.00 | 100.00 | No |
| Totals | $9,950.00 | $4,450.00 |
Mr. Jaber stated that for most of the stated contributions, the contributors “had different addresses or occupations and that confused our ability to catch these over donations.”
- Under CA Gov. Code Sec. 84211(a), committees are required to report the total amount of contributions received from all persons during a reporting period. CA Gov. Code Sec. 84211(f) further states that if the cumulative amount received from any one source is $100 or more, committees must also disclose, in addition to the date and amount, the full name, street address, and occupation/employer information of the contributor. In addition, per 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.
A $500 monetary contribution received on January 9, 2020, from 1050 17th Street LLC was disclosed as received from Ciaran Haris. The true source of the funds is a prohibited source.
Mr. Jaber did not provide a response to the audit finding.
Expenditures
- Under Cal. Code Regs. Tit.2 Sec. 18421.6(b) an accrued expense shall be reported as of the date on which the goods or services are received.
Five accrued expenditures totaling $37,010.65 were not disclosed timely when incurred; but late when paid.
| Payee | Amount | Date Expenditure Incurred | Reported Period | |
| 1. | Fall Line Analytics | $3,000.00 | 07/30/2020 | 10/29/2020 – 12/31/2020 |
| 2. | Joe Jaber | $5,561.29 | 09/01/2020 | 9/20/2020 – 10/17/2020 |
| 3. | Clifford Moss | $25,000.00 | 09/10/2020 | 9/20/2020 – 10/17/2020 |
| 4. | Inandout Printing | $2,293.78 | 10/15/2020 | 10/18/2020 – 10/28/2020 |
| 5. | Inandout Printing | $1,155.58 | 10/23/2020 | 10/29/2020 – 12/31/2020 |
| Total | $37,010.65 |
Mr. Jaber stated “You site us for not reporting these expenses in a timely manner due to the invoice date. But the invoice date does not mean that the job was completed or goods received in full or that the bill was issues to us on that date. Everyone has different invoice dates. I paid invoices as received on a bi-weekly basis. We should not be dinged based on a date that the auditors have no idea of the vendors’ methods for creating that date.”
Rebuttal to Audit Respondent’s Statement.
Auditors determined that examined invoices provided sufficient information to verify receipt of goods or services before payment.
- Under CA Gov. Code Sec. 84211(b), committees are required to report the total amount of expenditures to all persons during a reporting period.
A $1,500 expenditure made to Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club on June 25, 2019, was disclosed late in the Semi-annual Statement filed for the period July 1, 2019 through December 31, 2019.
Mr. Jaber stated “The Alice B. Tolkas LGBT Democratic Club is not a person. Thus, the payment of $1,500 doesn’t fall under CA Gov. Code Sec 8421(b)”
Rebuttal to Audit Respondent’s Statement.
CA Gov. Code Sec. 82047 states that a “Person” means an individual, proprietorship, firm, partnership, joint venture, syndicate, business trust, company, corporation, limited liability company, association, committee, and any other organization or group of persons acting in concert.
Campaign Disclosure Statements
- Under SFC&GCC Sec. 1.152(a)(1) and Regulation1.152-1(a), candidate committees are required to file Form SFEC-152: Threshold Notice with the Commission disclosing when they have received contributions or made expenditures that equal or exceed $10,000 within 24 hours of reaching or exceeding that amount. In addition, 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.
The SFEC 152 Form required to be filed at the initial $10,000 threshold was filed 273 days late. Additional supplemental notices required to be filed at four other thresholds were filed late and one was not filed.
| Threshold Level | Date Reached | Date Filed | Days Late |
| $10,000 | 5/7/2019 | 2/5/2020 | 273 |
| $210,000 | 7/26/2020 | 9/5/2020 | 40 |
| $220,000 | 8/31/2020 | 9/5/2020 | 4 |
| $290,000 | 9/10/2020 | 9/21/2020 | 10 |
| $330,000 | 9/20/2020 | Not Filed | N/A |
| $350,000 | 10/5/2020 | 10/10/2020 | 4 |
Mr. Jaber did not provide a response to the audit finding.
- 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 270 days after qualification. Thus, the required form was filed 260 days late.
| Form 410 Filing | |
| Form 410 File Date | 01/21/2020 |
| Date $2,000 threshold was met | 04/26/2019 |
| Days Between Filing and Meeting Threshold | 270 |
| Days Late | 260 |
Mr. Jaber did not provide a response to the audit finding.
- 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.
Out of 11 SFEC Form 161: Itemized Disclosure Statement for Mass Mailings filed with the Ethics Commission, one was filed 4 days late.
| Date of Mass Mailing | Due Date for Form 161 | Date of Form 161 Submission | Days Late |
| 9/24/2020 | 10/1/2020 | 10/5/2020 | 4 |
Mr. Jaber 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.