Ethics Commission Fights Back Against New Campaign Rules

I am so impressed with the new San Diego City Ethics Commission. Ever since Gil Cabrera left, the commission has started to go after actual corruption and abuse instead of mistakes.

Ethics Commission Fights Back Against New Campaign Rules
Liam Dillon
May 24, 2010
Voice of San Diego

The city of San Diego's Ethics Commission released an opinion today that could curtail how political parties can donate to next month's City Council primaries.

Political parties can contribute unlimited amounts to council campaigns for the June 8 primary by taking advantage of a window in the city's campaign finance rules. The local Republican Party, whose lawsuit spurred changes to city campaign laws, has announced it would give $20,000 to Lorie Zapf, a candidate in District 6 running to replace termed-out Democrat Donna Frye.

But the Ethics Commission is requiring political parties to conform to the city's $500 individual contribution limits. In other words, if the Republican Party donates $20,000 to Zapf, then it would need to identify 40 people who gave $500 to the party.

These rules, Ethics Commission Executive Director Stacey Fulhorst said, are to prevent parties from acting as a "pass through" from donors to candidates.

Local Republican Party Chairman Tony Krvaric, who committed to making the Zapf donation, said he hadn't see the commission's opinion and needed to consult his attorneys before commenting on how it might affect the donation.

"At this point I'm unsure," Krvaric said. "But we're committed to our support for Lorie Zapf."

The San Diego Ethics Commission finally investigates real corruption: Nancy Graham's business partners and the CCDC

My wish has come true: the San Diego ethics commission is finally acting on real corruption.

Graham's Ethics Commission Case Advances
by Rob Davis
Voice of San Diego
May 12, 2010

Nancy Graham, the former Centre City Development Corp. president who resigned nearly two years ago, is due before the San Diego Ethics Commission this week and next.

The commission has alleged that Graham broke city laws by improperly making decisions in office that benefited her business associates. It has proposed a maximum $170,000 fine against Graham. While at CCDC, Graham sat in on negotiations about a downtown hotel with Lennar Corp., her former business partner. She hadn't disclosed the more than $3 million in income she received from a business deal with the company.

Graham, who has since pleaded no contest to a failure to disclose her economic interests while president, has a hearing on a narrow set of issues Thursday before the commission.

Her attorney, Paul Pfingst, is contesting the commission's jurisdiction in the case and arguing that the 34 counts filed against her should be condensed to one. He argues that her many meetings with Lennar -- each charged as separate counts -- constitute one event, not many.

The commission argues that Pfingst's questions about jurisdiction amount to a "hypertechnical distinction" in the law. In a legal brief, its attorney, Alison Adema, dismissed Pfingst's argument for condensing the charges as "absurd," and noted that Graham's involvement in the hotel project over a two-year period constituted multiple violations of city law. The law, she wrote, is designed to punish all efforts to improperly influence municipal decisions -- not just the first.

That will be heard at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

Graham is also due before the commission for an administrative hearing next Thursday, May 20, at 9 a.m. That hearing will allow both sides to present and argue