Draft Minutes – February 7, 2025 – San Francisco Ethics Commission

Draft Minutes of the Regular Meeting of
The San Francisco Ethics Commission
Friday, February 7, 2025

Hybrid meeting conducted in-person in City Hall Room 400, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, San Francisco, and also held online as a Remote Meeting via WebEx and aired live on SFGovTV

Note: SFGovTV provides a continuous archive of audio, video, and Caption Notes recordings of Ethics Commission meetings that allows viewers to watch those meetings online in full at the viewer’s convenience. These archives of Ethics Commission meetings may be accessed at SFGovTV at http://sanfrancisco.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=142.

(Note: A complete recording of this meeting can be found on SFGovTv.)

COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: With Chair Theis Finlev, Vice-Chair Argemira Flórez Feng, Commissioner Yaman Salahi, and David Tsai participating, a quorum was present. Commissioner Karen Bell Francois had an excused absence.

STAFF PRESENTING: Kevin Kincaid, Online Meeting Moderator; Pat Ford, Executive Director; Zachary D’Amico, Senior Investigative Analyst; Audit Manager, Eamonn Wilson

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Kathleen Radez, Deputy City Attorney.

MATERIALS DISTRIBUTED:

Item 1. Call to Order and Roll Call

Chair Theis Finlev called the meeting to order at 10:09am and stated that members of the public may participate in-person or remotely.

Meeting Moderator Kevin Kincaid summarized the procedures for participation by members of the public for the meeting.

Item 2. Public comment on matters not appearing on the agenda.

Public Comment: No public comment was received, and the item was closed.

CONSENT CALENDAR: Item 3, 4, and 5

Under its Consent Calendar, provided the opportunity for public comment on the following Consent Calendar items, which were all informational and required no action by the Commission:

Item 3, Executive Director’s report dated February 3, 2025
Item 4, Audits Manager’s report dated February 3, 2025
Item 5, Electronic Disclosure and Data Analysis (EDDA) Division Report

Public Comment:

No public comment was received on the item.

REGULAR CALENDAR

Item 7, Discussion and Possible Action Regarding Proposed Stipulation, Decision and Order In the Matter of Labor & Working Families Slate and Daniel Anderson. Senior Investigative Analysis Zachary D’Amico presented the proposed stipulation. This case involves the Labor and Working Family Slate committee and their consultant, Daniel Anderson, who coordinated spending with Supervisor Dean Preston’s campaign. This matter includes two violations: a contribution exceeding the limit by $2,113 and the improper reporting of the spending as an independent expenditure.

Chair Finlev asked Mr. D’Amico to elaborate on why it was deemed appropriate not to focus on the Preston campaign, given there’s no indication his campaign knew about the coordinated communications. Mr. D’Amico responded, stating there was no evidence that the respondent’s involvement in coordinating timing and mode of communication, or the spending on the communication, benefited the supervisor’s campaign. The communication opposed the DCCC, was targeted to a specific district where the respondent was running, and clearly identified the opposition. The violation stemmed from the content of the communication, not the coordination itself. No evidence showed that the supervisor’s staff had knowledge or input on the substance of the communication.

Vice Chair Flórez Feng questioned whether or not the respondent ever expressed any part of the law being confusing or being unaware of certain information that would have been vital in this matter. Audit Manager, Eamonn Wilson replied, stating the consultant in this case was aware of the coordination line and its location, as well as factors that might lead to coordination. However, there was some confusion regarding the importance of both the content and dissemination of communication, which may have been overlooked.

Public Comment:

No public comment was received on the item.

Motion 250207-01 (Finlev / Flórez Feng): Moved, seconded, and approved unanimously (4-0) to adopt the stipulation In the Matter of Labor & Working Families Slate and Daniel Anderson.

Item 8, Presentation, public hearing, and possible action on Ethics Commission budget proposal for the Fiscal Year 2025-26 and Fiscal Year 2026-27,

Executive Director Patrick Ford presented the FY25-26 and FY26-27 Budget Overview. The attached overview was presented for informational purposes only as background on the Ethics Commission’s departmental budget proposal. The budget proposal included a potential 15% cut in costs for the department which would mainly come from salary savings by vacating positions within the department. A secondary proposal was talked about which included no cuts to the budget as to keep the department running efficiently. No action was taken on this item.

Public Comment:

Letter – Office of the Clerk of the Board

Edward De Asis, Deputy Director of Administration of Finance for the Office of the Clerk of the Board for the Board of Supervisors spoke on behalf of the Office of the Clerk of the Board and Board Clerk Angela Calvio. He distributed a letter from the Clerk of the Board submitted the previous day for review. Mr. De Asis urged the Ethics Commission to maintain the current Form 126 process and DocuSign system, as outlined in the letter. He emphasized that the system is essential for departments to enter critical data, such as contract amounts, which ensures transparency in government and meets public disclosure requirements. Mr. De Asis warned that discontinuing the system would not result in budget savings, as any savings would be offset by additional costs for other departments, particularly IT. He also noted that Supervisors would face added workload, overtime, and staff strain to collect data for the Ethics Commission. Mr. De Asis urged the Ethics Commission to continue managing the system and offered to answer any questions.

Commissioner Salahi asked Director Ford to clarify if the proposed halting of the program is only if the budget is cut by 15%? Director Ford responded if staff positions were lost, the office would need to reduce its activities and reassign work, impacting it’s capacity to support the current tasks. Additionally, the Ethics Commission helps support the disclosure requirements imposed on the Mayor’s Office and the Board of Supervisors, but these are not the Ethics Commission’s responsibilities and will need to be handled by their own departments.

Commissioner Salahi asked if the Mayor’s Office and Board of Supervisors approve the larger budget, will the Commission continue to support the program, to which Director Ford stated, yes.

Mr. De Asis mentioned the letter’s final paragraph suggests a potential change to the current system that could improve efficiency and reduce costs. The proposal involves having departments submit a single Form 126 to the Board then the Mayor for approval, which could lighten the workload for both the Ethics Commission and the Board of Supervisors while achieving savings.

Item 9, Recognition of Chair Theis Finlev upon the End of his Service on the Ethics Commission. Under this item, Executive Director Patrick Ford recognized Chair Theis Finlev on his time served on the Ethics Commission. Director Ford thanked Chair Finlev for his dedication and hard work as well as highlighting his many accomplishments while serving on the Ethics Commission. Each Commissioner spoke wishing Chair Finlev well and gave thanks to his guidance and mentorship while on the Board.

Chair Finlev gave thanks and mentioned his gratitude for the staff and the hard work they do. He thanked the Commissioners for their continued dedication to the Commission and mentioned it is very gratifying to give back to the community.

Public Comment:

No public comment was received on the item.

Item 6, Election of Commission Officers for 2025 per Ethics Commission Bylaws, Article IV, Section 1 This item was taken out of order by the direction of Chair Finlev. Under this item, Chair Finlev nominated Vice-Chair Flórez Feng to serve as Chair, Vice-Chair Flórez Feng accepted the nomination and was elected unanimously (4-0).

Motion 250207-02 (Finlev): The Commission voted unanimously (4-0) to elect Vice-Chair Flórez to be Chair of the Commission.

Vice-Chair Flórez Feng nominated Commissioner Yaman Salahi to serve as Vice Chair, Commissioner Salahi accepted the nomination and was elected unanimously (4-0).

Motion 250207-03 (Flórez Feng): The Commission voted unanimously (4-0) to elect Yaman Salahi to be Chair of the Commission.

Public Comment:

No public comment was received on the item.

Item 10. Items for Future Meetings (Discussion)

Commissioner Salahi disclosed he received a call from Supervisor Connie Chen asking if the Commission has any guidance or view on how the Board of Supervisors exercises their authority under subsection 3.620(f) of the Campaign & Governmental Conduct Code with respect to when waivers for the behested payment rules are granted. Commissioner Salahi mentioned this might be worth engaging with members, the Board of Supervisors and other interested stakeholders and be useful for the public as well as the Board.

Director Patrick Ford stated the Commission would be more than happy to engage with Supervisor Connie Chan or other members of the Board of Supervisors, the Mayor’s Office, or any other elected official that is interested and always happy to help inform on any processes regarding the campaign governmental code.

Item 11. Additional Opportunity for General Public Comment

No public comment was received on the item.

Item 12. Adjournment

The Commission adjourned at 11:20am.