Skip to content

Campaign Finance Audit Report: Ahsha Safai for Supervisor 2020

English

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

Public disclosure of election campaign activity is essential to voters making informed decisions. The Political Reform Act (California Government Code [CA Gov Code) Section [Sec.]81000 et seq) and supporting regulations, and the San Francisco Campaign Finance Reform Ordinance (San Francisco Campaign & Government Conduct Code [SFC&GCC] Sec. 1.100 et. seq.) and supporting regulations, were established to impose reasonable disclosure requirements to reveal information about election campaign activity. By requiring proper and timely disclosure of campaign activity pertaining to contributions, loans, expenditures, and accrued expenditures, the laws and regulations are designed to inform voters and deter improper practices.

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 RaisedTotal 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:

Monetary Contributions

  1. 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 DateContribution AmountExcess Amount Excess Returned
1.California Teamsters Public Affairs Council10/25/2019 08/27/2020  $500.00
$500.00
$1,000.00
$500.00No
2.International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers – Local 606/20/2019 9/23/2020$500.00
$500.00
$1,000.00
500.00No
3.Thomas Hart06/20/2019 09/26/2019$500.00
$500.00
$1,000.00
500.00No
4.Sonia Koujakian05/16/2020 08/14/2020$500.00
$500.00
$1,000.00
500.00No
5.Diane Morris08/25/2020 08/31/2020$500.00
$500.00
$1,000.00
500.00No
6.Jahangir Massoudi11/06/2019 10/06/2020$500.00
$500.00
$1,000.00
500.00No
7.Cynthia Birmingham10/01/2019 08/28/2020$500.00
$500.00
$1,000.00
500.00No
8.Edward Wong11/22/2019 10/01/2020$500.00
$500.00
$1,000.00
500.00No
9.Launce Gamble08/24/2020 09/14/2020$250.00
$500.00
$750.00
250.00No
10.Nima Rahimi11/22/2019 07/01/2020$500.00
$100.00
$600.00
100.00No
11.David Ewing06/16/2020 09/24/2020$100.00            $500.00
$600.00
100.00No
 Totals $9,950.00$4,450.00 
Table 1
  1. 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.

Expenditures

  1. SFC&GCC Sec. 1.109(a) states, “All candidates and committees that are required to file statements prescribed by this Chapter shall maintain detailed accounts, records, bills, and receipts as necessary to prepare those statements. Each candidate or committee shall retain for a period of four years detailed information and original source documentation supporting those statements.”

    Out of 62 expenditures examined, 3 canceled checks were not maintained for expenditures totaling $3,450.
 Check #PayeeAmount Description
1.#1012United Educators of SF$200Meetings and Appearances
2.#1072SF Firefighters Slate Card$1,000Campaign Paraphernalia
3.#1125Mission Childcare Consortium$2,250Office Expense – Rent
   $3,450 
Table 2
  1. Bank statement that includes the period October 21 through October 31, 2020 was not maintained. Due to this the auditor was not able to verify that the following checks were negotiated through the campaign bank account. A bank transaction report for the period September 24 through October 20, 2020 was maintained.
Check #DatePayee Amount
#106910/02/2020Clifford Moss$25,000.00
#108510/12/2020World Journal$3,888.00
#108810/21/2020Inandout Printing$2,293.78
#109010/27/2020Ross Turner Design$2,500.00
#109310/27/2020Lauren Chung$1,222.11
#109510/27/2020Autumn Press$11,072.73
  Total$45,976.62
Table 3
  1. 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 AmountDate Expenditure Incurred Reported Period
1.Fall Line Analytics$3,000.0007/30/202010/29/2020 – 12/31/2020
2.Joe Jaber$5,561.2909/01/20209/20/2020 – 10/17/2020
3.Clifford Moss$25,000.0009/10/20209/20/2020 – 10/17/2020
4.Inandout Printing$2,293.7810/15/202010/18/2020 – 10/28/2020
5.Inandout Printing$1,155.5810/23/202010/29/2020 – 12/31/2020
 Total$37,010.65  
Table 4
  1. 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.

Campaign Disclosure Statements

  1. 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 LevelDate ReachedDate FiledDays Late
$10,0005/7/20192/5/2020273
$210,0007/26/20209/5/202040
$220,0008/31/20209/5/20204
$290,0009/10/20209/21/202010
$330,0009/20/2020Not FiledN/A
$350,00010/5/202010/10/20204
Table 5
  1. 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 Date01/21/2020
Date $2,000 threshold was met04/26/2019
Days Between Filing and Meeting Threshold270
Days Late260
Table 6
  1. 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 MailingDue Date for
Form 161
Date of Form 161 SubmissionDays Late
9/24/202010/1/202010/5/20204
Table 7

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

Audit Respondent did not provide a response to the audit findings.

We are continuously increasing the number of translated pages on this site. Materials on this website that are not currently translated may be translated upon request. Contact us to provide feedback on this page.

Estamos aumentando continuamente el número de páginas traducidas en este sitio. Los materiales de este sitio web que no están traducidos actualmente pueden traducirse previa solicitud. Contáctenos para proporcionar comentarios sobre esta página o solicitar traducciones.

我們正在不斷增加本網站翻譯頁面的數量。本網站上目前未翻譯的資料可根據要求進行翻譯。聯絡我們以在此頁面上提供回饋或要求翻譯。

Patuloy naming dinaragdagan ang bilang ng mga isinalin na pahina sa site na ito. Ang mga materyal sa website na ito na hindi kasalukuyang isinasalin ay maaaring isalin kapag hiniling. Makipag-ugnayan sa amin para magbigay ng feedback sa page na ito o humiling ng mga pagsasalin.