For information: Michael Canning; Policy and Legislative Affairs Manager michael.a.canning@sfgov.org; (415) 252-3100.
October 31, 2024
At its monthly public meeting on Friday, September 27, 2024, the San Francisco Ethics Commission unanimously approved a stipulated agreement fining Neighbors for a Better San Francisco Advocacy (“Neighbors”) and its Executive Director, Jay Cheng, $53,916 for seven counts of campaign finance violations and one fining Access Appeals Commissioner, Walter Park, $350 for failing to comply with Form 700 financial disclosure rules.
In the Matter of Neighbors for a Better San Franciso and Jay Cheng, the Committee acknowledged responsibility and agreed to pay the monetary penalty for failing to report over $100,000 in nonmonetary contributions to the Ethics Commission. As detailed in the stipulation, Neighbors paid its independent contractor, the political communications firm Riff City Strategies (“Riff City”), to provide services to the San Franciscans for Public Safety Supporting the Recall of Chesa Boudin (“Recall Committee”). When an employer pays an employee or contractor whose political activity constitutes over 10% of their work in any given month, the employer is required to report those payments as either expenditures or nonmonetary contributions. In this case, Neighbors failed to make the required disclosures.
The violations by Neighbors occurred between October 2021 and June 2022, when Neighbors paid Riff City Strategies $20,000 per month under a contract for strategic communications and media relations. As part of this work and under the direction of Neighbors Director Jay Cheng, Riff City coordinated interviews for the Recall Committee; drafted and edited press releases put out by the Recall Committee; prepared Recall Committee leadership and spokesperson Brooke Jenkins for interviews; and conducted other work for the Recall Committee. Riff City’s work for the Recall Committee exceeded the 10% threshold in each month from October 2021 through June 2022, triggering the requirement that Neighbors report payments to Riff City as nonmonetary contributions, pro-rated for the amount of work spent on political activity. Neighbors failed to report these contributions on semi-annual and pre-election statements, and further failed to report three payments in April, May, and June 2022 as late contributions. Finally, Neighbors failed to notify the Recall Committee of its late nonmonetary contributions as required by law.
The violations in this case were first identified by Commission investigators in response to a complaint submitted to the Ethics Commission. As authorized by the City Charter, the resolution of violations through a public stipulated agreement enables Respondents and the Ethics Commission to resolve enforcement matters without the need of a full hearing. The Commission is authorized to assess a monetary penalty of up to $5,000 for each violation or three times the amount which the respondent failed to report properly or unlawfully contributed, expended, gave or received, whichever is greater.
In the Matter of Walter Park, the Commission approved $350 in penalties through a settlement agreement with Commissioner of the San Francisco Access Appeals Commission (“AAC”) Walter Park for one count of failure to timely file the Statement of Economic Interests (Form 700), one count for failure to file a Certificate of Ethics Training and an Annual Sunshine Ordinance Declaration, and one count of participating in matters at meetings before the AAC while disqualified from doing so because of failure to file the Form 700. Although the penalty amount is significantly lower in this matter compared to other matters with similar violations, the penalty amount was determined to be appropriate because Respondent demonstrated substantial inability to pay under the Commission’s Enforcement Regulations.
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The San Francisco Ethics Commission was created directly by the City’s voters with the passage of Proposition K in November 1993 and is responsible for the independent and impartial administration and enforcement of laws related to campaign finance, public financing of candidates, governmental ethics, conflicts of interests, and registration and reporting by lobbyists, campaign consultants, permit consultants, and major developers.
Our mission is to practice and promote the highest standards of integrity in government. We achieve that by delivering impactful programs that promote fair, transparent, and accountable governmental decision making for the benefit of all San Franciscans. Public service is a public trust, and our aim is to ensure that San Franciscans can have confidence that the operations of the City and County and the decisions made by its officials and employees are fair, just, and made without any regard to private or personal gain.