Date: August 10, 2026
To: Members of the Ethics Commission
From: Patrick Ford, Executive Director
Subject: Agenda Item 4 – Executive Director’s Report
Summary and Action Requested
This report provides various departmentwide programmatic and operational highlights since the last report. Updates about divisional operations are provided in quarterly division reports.
No action is required by the Commission, as this item is for informational purposes only.
Staffing Update
I am pleased to announce that the recruitment to fill the vacant Director of Enforcement position has been completed, and Bertha Cheung will begin in this role on August 17. Bertha has been a Senior Investigator with the Ethics Commission since 2024. She has successfully resolved a number of complex enforcement matters and has led key projects such as the ongoing revisions to the Commission’s Enforcement Regulations. Prior to joining the Commission, Bertha served for over nine years as Senior Legal Counsel at Mayer Brown LLP, where she specialized in complex dispute resolution matters. Bertha earned a Postgraduate Certificate in Laws from Chinese University of Hong Kong, a Bachelor of Laws from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and an International Baccalaureate from Li Po Chun United World College.
Streamlining Legislation Project
Staff have continued to meet with advocates and members of the Board of Supervisors to discuss and refine the legislation originating from the Commission’s project to streamline and update various programs and policies. This includes an ordinance amending the City’s campaign finance rules that would strengthen and simplify how expenditure ceilings function within the Public Financing Program and adjust the campaign contribution limit for inflation (File #250868). The second ordinance would discontinue outdated and unnecessary reporting requirements regarding campaign consultants, recusals, and major developers (File #250867). The third ordinance (File #250928) would discontinue the program through which candidates for certain City trustee boards are required to register and file financial reports with the Commission, a program that has seen almost zero reported activity during its existence.
Staff presented on all three of these ordinances at the July 16 meeting of the Government Audit and Oversight Committee (GAO). At the meeting, an amended version of the campaign finance ordinance was introduced (File #250868). All three items were discussed and continued for future consideration. The ordinance (File #250928) regarding trustee elections is scheduled to be called back to GAO for a vote in September. Staff are continuing to meet with members of the Board of Supervisors to discuss potential options for the other two ordinances.