By Robert Haugh
The 49ers are spending money like crazy on No on Measure C. If they don’t win it’s going to be embarrassing. If they do, it may not be worth it. The team has shot themselves in the foot so many times.
Last night at the Council meeting, City Clerk Hosam Haggag revealed the newest bullet in Jed York’s shoes.
The 49ers filed an “amendment” to their last campaign finance report. They increased their total spending from $617,500 to $647,500. But they did it after the deadline for receiving contributions last Friday. That’s a no-no.
Here’s what Haggag said:
“Filing an amendment to add an additional $30,000 and post date that with an amendment is not okay. It does not follow the law.”
Haggag announced that he’ll be reporting it to the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), the state campaign watchdog.
Interestingly, Councilwoman Karen Hardy questioned Haggag for announcing his actions publicly. She also defended the 49ers.
Haggag made a great argument for transparency and disclosure. Hardy didn’t really have much of a response. You can watch the exchange here.
The 49ers’ First Violation — Dark Money
The 49ers made their first mistake on No on Measure C earlier this year. The team violated the Dark Money Ordinance when they didn’t report a December poll.
That could be a costly mistake even if they win the election.
In response to Hardy’s questions about penalties, Haggag read this section from the ordinance”
The violation of this Article shall be considered a material breach of the contract by a contracting party and grounds for termination of the contract. A contracting party shall be considered in violation of this section if the contracting party fails to disclose contributions made by the contracting party or by an intermediary of the contracting party or by contribution of earmarked funds as defined and regulated by section 18432 of the Government Code.”
Measure C Debate
Councilman Raj Chahal questioned City Attorney Brian Doyle’s “Impartial Analysis” that appears in the official voter pamphlet.
Chahal didn’t like Doyle’s statement that if Measure C fails, Santa Clara returns to at-large elections. Doyle told him that’s exactly what the charter says.
Chahal made his case that the Council could change the city charter without a vote of the people to create districts to address racial polarization.
Mayor Lisa Gillmor weighed in a said “our charter is our constitution and the only way to change it is a vote of the people.” If not, the Council could change its own term limits and increase its own salaries.
You can watch the debate between Chahal, Doyle, and Gillmor here.
Editor’s Note: The last link to the YouTube video was wrong this morning. It’s been updated. Sorry about that.
Watching Anthony Becker’s presentation and reading his statements show the great disparity in his language and continuity. Patty does a great job speaking through Becker. Imagine using Anthony Becker as your figurehead. I guess John McLemore wised up. You can use Miles and weakly or the silicon valley voice, evil never prospers.
No proof
You have absolutely no proof
You wish it was true
Again these individuals remain nameless what a surprise
Thanks for putting links to the meeting. I like watching for myself what people say. The City Clerk really knows his stuff. Karen Hardy doesn’t look like she knows much. She seems nice but a little goofy. I think she needs to do more work. I clicked the last link but I don’t think it’s in the right place on the video. Can you check it out?
Welcome to the spin zone where fake news & misinformation lead to harassment for those who actually having common sense not to fall for the political game the city is playing.
Claiming Kevin Park, Myself, Raj and Karen backed by the niners is a bold claim. Where is your proof? I have been waiting for evidence for these false claims…. you cannot prove it.
I smell Fake News
Must see TV is a fact…. Residents are seeing through this charade of trying to make us look anti-Santa Claran.
We are more pro Santa Claran than you think….WE didn’t sell our city down the river and cost taxpayers millions on litigation with a sports team for their own mistakes. WE didn’t cost taxpayers millions for failing to adopt districts for 10 years.
we are here to fix the mistakes of yesteryear and yesterday.
being nameless shows how cowardly trolls are on the internet these days.
More likely they are afraid of what people would think of them if they saw that their name was attached to these statements.
At least myself, Raj, Karen, and Kevin Park have nothing to hide.
I am surprised that people that should know better think the council can change the charter.
Also as clumsy as the 49ers are it surprises me they managed to win prop J for the stadium.
Howard
The judges orders override the charter.
It is done often with laws. Take a law class. I took 2 as part of my electives. Does not make me an expert but it provides me with common sense laws, especially an emphasis on constitutional law and judicial review. When a judge speak, you listen. When I go to court for a ticket, the judge gives an order, I can’t go and say oh let me ask the people or the community. The judge made a decision and I have to abide by it.
29 cities have done it by ordinance, it is not ignoring the people it is following orders passed down from a court. What is so hard to understand about this ?
Supreme Court will override a law and that law is noted that court ruled this for that.
So in our case, the judges ruling goes into our charter. More likely they strikethrough the law and show its ordinance to fix it.
The examples provided by Raj Chahal last night prove that it is done this way and California law helps it.
I think it comes down to a bunch of non-lawyers listening to a bias lawyer & power hungry elected officials that think they have a say over a judges orders. Once again, a judges orders. They think we are above the law. If a judge says our charter is a violation then it is breaking the law especially if we try to ignore those orders.
I dare you Howard to call one of those 29 cities and ask the process and legality.
I also dare you to call the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters and ask about at-large elections in Santa Clara. They will state per judges orders at-large council elections are banned in Santa Clara based on his remedy in 2018. So if Measure C fails, it will not go back to at-large as city attorney falsely states. There is no expiration date. The judges orders are standing order and anything otherwise is opinion.
Call, ask questions, investigate and put our thinking caps on.
It’s pretty clear that Karen and Raj are backing the niners. It seemed Karen needed to review her talking points as she appeared lost and uninformed. It is the same anti Santa Clara and niner support team, Kevin Park, Anthony Becker, and Patty in the background pulling the strings. I would suggest an earpiece for Karen as she did not know where to go with her point.
Must see TV…