CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO
Campaign Finance Audit Report
Gordon Mar for Supervisor 2022
FPPC ID #: 1437853
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 Gordon Mar for Supervisor 2022 #1437853 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 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 Gordon Mar to the Board of Supervisors, District 4, 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 Cecelia Wong. The Committee was established on April 11, 2021, and terminated effective June 30, 2023.
| Total Funds Raised | Total Expenditures Made | |
| Private Contributions | $189,813 | $446,533 |
| Public Funds Received | $255,500 |
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.
Nancy L Warren
Assistant Treasurer
454 Las Gallina Ave, #282
San Rafael, CA 94903
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 contributions totaling $700 were received from two prohibited sources. These contributions were not forfeited to the Commission.
| Source | Date | Amount |
| Montessori Children’s Center | 06/30/2021 | $300.00 |
| Montessori Children’s Center | 04/29/2022 | $200.00 |
| Lindsey Creative | 11/09/2022 | $200.00 |
| Total | $700.00 |
Ms. Warren stated “Up until June 30, 2022, there was a volunteer treasurer who processed the Montessori contributions apparently unaware they were not acceptable. A professional treasurer was engaged in July of 2022”. Ms. Warren further added “Lindsay Creative contribution was an error on my part, mistook the business name as an individual not as a business.”
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), 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 an 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 Form SFEC-152 required to be filed at the initial $10,000 threshold was filed 17 days late. An additional supplemental notice required to be filed at the $410,000 threshold was filed 4 days late. Two other supplemental Form SFEC-152: Threshold Notices were not filed.
| Threshold Level | Date Reached | Date Filed | Days Late |
| $10,000 | 6/11/2021 | 6/29/2021 | 17 |
| $140,000 | 7/18/2022 | Not Filed | N/A |
| $400,000 | 10/22/2022 | Not Filed | N/A |
| $410,000 | 10/28/2022 | 11/2/2022 | 4 |
Ms. Warren stated “Up until June 30, 2022, there was a volunteer treasurer. She was late in filing the initial $10k report. A professional treasurer was engaged in July 2022.”
Regarding the supplemental notices Ms. Warren stated “we filed 12 threshold reports. These were crafted by taking the detail of contributions from deposit batches (checks and credit cards) processed, plus credit card contributions received but not yet deposited, and then we would contact all of the agents of the committee and ask them what contributions they had in hand. This is a very fluid and chaotic process.” Ms. Warren further stated “The contribution totals sometimes changed after the threshold reports were filed. A check an agent may have reported at the time, once delivered to us, might be deemed unacceptable (e.g. from a business) so the actual deposits at the end of the campaign may not reflect what we cobbled together to make the 1-day reporting requirement. Due to this we contest the list of unfiled threshold reports and assert that the reports we filed were accurate at the time filed. E.g., we did not file a $140k report we filed a $150k report. We did not file a $350k report but we did file a $300k and a $419k and a $420k report.”
Rebuttal to Audit Respondent’s Statement.
Respondent states that although a Form SFEC-152: Threshold Notice was not filed for the $140,000 threshold, one was filed for the $150,000 threshold. This threshold notice was filed on July 25, 2022. As stated, the $140,000 threshold was reached on July 18, 2022, triggering a required filing within 24 hours. Only when multiple thresholds are reached on a single day, Candidates need to file a single Form SFEC-152 indicating the highest threshold reached. Since the $140,000 and $150,000 thresholds were reached on different dates, two separate Form SFEC-152 were required to be filed for each of these thresholds.
- 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 11 SFEC Form 161: Itemized Disclosure Statement for Mass Mailings filed with the Ethics Commission, three were filed 5 days late.
| Date of Mass Mailing | Due Date for Form 161 | Date of Form 161 Submission | Days Late |
| 10/31/2022 | 11/2/2022 | 11/8/2022 | 5 |
| 10/31/2022 | 11/2/2022 | 11/8/2022 | 5 |
| 10/31/2022 | 11/2/2022 | 11/8/2022 | 5 |
Ms. Warren stated “Toward the end of the campaign, it was more difficult to get the necessary information from vendors to fill out the mass mailing notices for the final round of small-batch mailers. During this final stretch, vendors are maxed out. The committee operated under the understanding that there were 5 business days to file a mass mailing notice—rather than a more strict 2-day requirement within the final 16 days of an election. Consequently, the notices in question were filed late.”