Mark Farrell hit with largest campaign ethics fine in SF history
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Mark Farrell, Democratic mayoral candidate for San Francisco, speaks during an interview on March 12. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Mayoral candidate Mark Farrell has agreed to pay a $108,179 settlement after the San Francisco Ethics Commission found that he violated election laws in his campaign.
Why it matters: If approved, it'd be the largest campaign finance penalty in the Ethics Commission's 31-year history, according to enforcement director Olabisi Matthews.
Driving the news: The former interim mayor allegedly took nearly $94,000 from a political action committee he created to back a ballot measure and used it for his own campaign, per the settlement agreement.
- PACs are allowed to accept donations of unlimited amounts, unlike campaign committees' $500 cap.
- The Ethics Commission found that the ballot measure committee repeatedly overpaid his mayoral campaign for shared expenses — payments that investigators say amounted to campaign contributions.
- As a result, the commission charged him with eight counts of violating the $500 ceiling for donations, though it noted that Farrell's campaign had already refunded some of the contributions.
Zoom in: Investigators say they identified several emails from Farrell in which he stated the ballot measure committee "is my PAC and the best way to help me directly — the contributions are unlimited."
- The two committees share the same treasurer and several other senior staff.
What they're saying: The penalty "reflects the serious harm that was done to the public's right to have timely and accurate information ... [and] the severity of violating the $500 contribution limit, which is one of the most basic rules that all candidates have to follow," Matthews told Axios via email.
- The Ethics Commission "did everything in its power to publicly resolve this case prior to Election Day so that the public would have information about these violations when it matters most," Matthews noted.
- Campaigns "need to know that there can be swift consequences for violating campaign finance laws."
The other side: Farrell said in a statement that he accepts full responsibility and called the violations an "accounting error that we corrected and publicly disclosed months ago."
- He also attributed it to a "disagreement about staff time allocation during the campaign, which led us to terminate our prior legal counsel for this matter."
- "Currently, no clear local rules exist regarding shared expenses for campaign committees," he added. "As mayor, I will fix these problems."
The big picture: The settlement comes after a series of reports about Farrell's potential campaign misconduct, including his failure to report a $675,000 home loan and his relationship with other PAC leaders.
- It culminated in a call for an investigation issued by former mayors Willie Brown, Art Agnos and Frank Jordan.
Yes, but: There are questions as to the timing of the settlement news, which some say gives off the perception that the Ethics Commission taking sides.
What's next: The commission is scheduled to vote on the settlement Friday.