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Ethics Commission draws seven committees for 2012 audits, staff cites backlog
Summary
The San Francisco Ethics Commission approved a staff plan to randomly select seven 2012 campaign committees for audit and discussed a backlog tied to past auditor vacancies and heavy public finance workload.
The San Francisco Ethics Commission on the morning of the meeting carried out a public drawing to select seven campaign committees for audit from its 2012 filings, staff said.
The commission’s audit staff told commissioners they would select three committees that spent $10,000—50,000, one in the $50,000—100,000 bracket and three committees that spent more than $100,000, for a total of seven audits. Staff described the selection process as transparent: a volunteer read names from folded slips while staff placed them into a box.
The move came after commissioners pressed staff about why audits from 2010 and 2011 remain incomplete. Audit staff said vacancies and turnover in the audit unit, plus the resource demands of administering the public finance program during election season, produced a backlog. "We had two vacancies in that time period," staff said, and training new auditors had extended the schedule. Staff estimated completion of the 2010 audits within a couple of months and hoped to finish 2011 audits by the end of the calendar year or the next fiscal year.
Commissioners debated whether the office should pursue fewer, more-detailed audits or a broader set of less-detailed spot checks. Staff said it already performs "delinquency canvases" that compare filings across committees and will consider whether to recommend changes to the audit approach and to consult other jurisdictions for best practices.
The commission then executed the random drawing, reading a long list of candidate and ballot measure committees aloud as names were drawn. Several named committees and political action committees were considered during the selection process; staff will notify the selected committees and proceed with audits.
The commission did not adopt a separate motion beyond carrying out the drawing; staff confirmed they will proceed with the audits consistent with the public, random procedure that was demonstrated at the meeting.
