Title
Consider Authorizing the City Council to Direct Staff to Submit a Complaint to the Fair Political Practices Commission regarding November 8, 2016 Election Mailers. (Mayor Spencer)
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COUNCILMEMBER
REFERRAL FORM
Name of Councilmember requesting referral: Trish Spencer
Date of submission to City Clerk (must be submitted 10 working days prior to meeting): November 21, 2016
Meeting date: December 6, 2016
Brief description of the subject to be printed on the agenda, sufficient to inform the Council and public of the nature of the referral:
This past election campaign season, there were two mailers (see attached) against City Council candidate Tony Daysog which failed to include any information identifying who mailed them and using non-traceable postage stamps. The mailers were received by Alameda voters approximately one week before the November 8, 2016 election.
I request that Council direct staff to submit a complaint to the Enforcement Division of the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) alleging a violation of “Unidentified Advertisement or Mailer” and requesting that the matter be investigated. In the past, there have been discussions in Alameda regarding campaign finance reform.
Unfortunately, mailers such as these that do not abide by and circumvent the FPPC regulations make any such discussions moot and are contrary to the will of the people of the State of California, which was the first state to pass comprehensive political reform (i.e., Proposition 9, known today as The Political Reform Act) in the June 1974 election, which included provisions regulating campaign finance, lobbying activity and conflicts of interest. I have also attached Political Reform Act 2016 Section 84304 Prohibiting Anonymous Contributions and Section 84305 the Requirements for Mass Mailings.