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Ethics Commission OKs $2,400 Stipulation with Open the Great Highway for Late Campaign Filings
Summary
The San Francisco Ethics Commission on April 11 approved a stipulated settlement with the community organization Open the Great Highway after staff found the group failed to register and report as a political committee while raising funds to oppose Measure K.
The San Francisco Ethics Commission on April 11 approved a stipulated settlement with the community organization Open the Great Highway after staff found the group failed to register and report as a political committee while raising funds to oppose Measure K.
The commission’s senior investigator, Eric Willett, told commissioners that Open the Great Highway “solicited political contributions from its members with the understanding that those contributions would be spent on opposition to Measure K, which appeared on the 11/05/2024 ballot,” and that the activities met the threshold to qualify the group as a political committee. Willett said the respondent later came into compliance and that the organization reported less than $13,000 in both contributions and expenditures. The stipulated agreement includes one count for failing to register and report and a proposed financial penalty of $2,400.
The matter began after staff opened an investigation on Aug. 27, 2024, following receipt of a complaint and fundraising emails that referenced the November ballot measure and described expenditures to oppose it. Willett said the commission’s investigators reached out to the respondent and that Open the Great Highway was represented by counsel during the process.
Public comment during the item included remarks from Lianne Chang, campaign manager for the Stop the Recall Stand with Joel campaign, who urged the commission to adopt the proposed penalty and cited other complaints related to campaign reporting and late disclosures tied to a related cluster of local campaigns. Chang also urged the commission to expedite any additional investigations if similar failures recur.
After discussion and a roll-call vote, Chair Flores Fang and three other commissioners voted in the affirmative and the motion passed unanimously. The commission closed public comment on the item following the vote.
The stipulated order records that the respondent remedied the filing defects; the commission’s action was to accept the settlement and the penalty as proposed.
