As part of a settlement for breaking state political ethics laws, Governor Gavin Newsom agreed to pay a $13,000 fine weeks ago, which the California Fair Political Practices Commission revealed Wednesday night.
The FPPC said earlier this month that Newsom’s 2018 campaign committee for governor neglected to promptly disclose millions of dollars in behested payments—charitable contributions made to other groups at his direction.
The state legislation mandates that elected officials record significant payments within 30 days, but there is no cap on the total amount that can be spent.
According to the FPPC, between 2018 and 2024, Newsom and his campaign committee neglected to submit 18 of such reports on time. This includes $14 million in payments made at his request by large foundations and corporations, including Microsoft, Amazon, and T-Mobile.
In a 4-1 vote on November 21, the FPPC Commissioners accepted the settlement, which mandated that Newsom pay the $13,000 fine.
“There’s no indication this is for any personal benefit,” stated Adam E. Silver, the FPPC chairman, who was named earlier this year by Governor Newsom. He said those things during a hearing on the matter.
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“For behested payments, the reason why they are disclosed is because they’re considered a payment to influence that could impact a governmental decision or to the public official that would not otherwise be disclosed if we didn’t require it,” Silver stated. “While I encourage and believe that timely reporting is critical, I think where you have late reporting where the official has shown a pattern of attempting to comply with these rules in good faith, the public harm is not significant.”
“This work, connecting private resources to public needs, is what we need more of across government,” Nathan Click, a spokesman for Newsom’s campaign stated. “Since 2011, the Governor has filed more than 1100 reports disclosing more than $300M in donations raised to support governmental and charitable purposes, including more than $100M to buttress the public health response and mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these identified in the report were filed only a few weeks late and due to delayed notification of receipt of payment by the recipients.”
