Election 2020:
Mayor Patz, Councilwoman Medina Fail to File Campaign Finance Accountability Forms
City/State Could Levy Fines
Mayor Christian Patz and Councilwoman Ally Medina, re-elected to their respective City Council seats on Tuesday, failed to file several periods of required campaign finance election forms with the City of Emeryville the Tattler has learned. The required form, issued by the State of California’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), Form 460, delineates campaign contributions critical for electoral campaign accountability.
A quick perusal of the City’s website shows Ally Medina missing her last two filings of the last five required and Christian Patz missing his last three filings. Council member John Bauters, who also ran for re-election on Tuesday, is shown to have filed every Form 460 required of him on time.
The missing forms, called the Recipient Committee Campaign Statement Form 460 are filed under the California Political Reform Act and are considered public records, available for public inspection. There are no provisions for extending deadlines according to the FPPC, the body tasked by the State with overarching enforcement.
If a candidate’s election committee fails to file a Form 460 campaign statement, the FPPC may levy a fine of up to $5000 per violation according to the FPPC website. Additionally, the State provides that the City of Emeryville may fine candidates $10 per day for every late filing. As of today, Councilwoman Medina is late some 131 days and could be fined $1310 while Mayor Patz, at 313 days late, could be facing a $3,130 fine from the City of Emeryville.
The City is required by the FPPC to keep guidelines that dictate how election fines for delinquent local candidates are to be levied but none could be found on the City’s website. Failure to provide the required guidelines could result in penalties issued against municipalities the FPPC website noted.
The Tattler has made a Public Records Request with the City of Emeryville for information regarding these election violations and we will report as we are made aware.
 |
| What Happened To Election Accountability? Screen Shot From the City's Website Only Council member Bauters has fulfilled his required FPPC election obligations. |
This is great investigative work and news! My past dealings with Aly Medina has bruught questions to my mind as to what her real motives are in heading the "Sustainability Committee" and the suuuport for the now defunct proposal to build ONNI Corporation's 54 story apartment building. Thanks for this news! Good work!
ReplyDeleteSo typical of Emeryville "progressives". Accountability is for the other guy. They have no problem driving honest hard working business owners into the ground, owners trying to do the right thing and struggling to keep up with this council's relentless regulations. Now we find out these council hypocrites can't even do the most simple and basic accounting. Now they're in for another four years. We'll never make it that long out here.
ReplyDelete