On Sunday the Vanguard reported that we would be filing an FPPC complaint against an independent expenditure committee created by Mayor Ruth Asmundson and Retired UC Davis Law Professor Marty West, “Committee to Support Sydney Vergis for City Council 2010,” for violating the “behest of” clause in FPPC regulations that prohibits independent expenditure committs that are “made under the control or at the direction of, in cooperation, consultation, coordination, or concert with, at the request or suggestion of, or with the express, prior consent of.”
We wrote on Sunday, the idea that the Mayor would involve herself without the prior consent of her daughter does not pass the smell test. The Vanguard believes that the Mayor would not have involved herself without discussing this first with her daughter and/ or other members of the campaign. The relationship between the Mayor and her daughter, a key player in the Vergis campaign, presents an inherent conflict when attempting to maintain the appearance (as well as fact) that this is an effort completely independent of the official campaign organization as the independent expenditure law requires.
According to Davis City Municipal Code section 12.01.055(c): “Any committee that makes independent expenditures of two hundred fifty dollars or more in support or in opposition to any candidate shall notify the city clerk and all candidates running for the same seat within twenty-four hours by facsimile transmission, overnight delivery, or personal delivery each time this two hundred fifty dollar threshold is met. This notice shall include a copy of any mailing or advertisement produced, if applicable.”
The Vanguard spoke with Davis City Clerk Zoe Mirable who confirmed that the city has not received the requisite transmission required by the Municipal Code section that is cited above. The city does not however have enforcement power over this ordinance and therefore any complaint needs to be filed with State Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC).
The Vanguard also spoke with representatives from at least two of the other campaigns, who also confirmed that no such transmission was sent to them.
This is a clear violation of the Davis City Municipal code. The group has clearly exceed the $250 threshold required by the law for such disclosures. This law provides an important safeguard for the public against nefarious campaign communications. We have no reason to believe that this letter intended to mislead Davis voters, but the Mayor of Davis, of all people, ought to be familiar with the Davis Municipal Code, particularly given the number of campaigns that she has personally been involved in throughout the years.
As reported on Sunday, the Vanguard complaint also alleges that the group violated the spirit of the Independent Expenditure laws due to the close relation between Mayor Asmundson and Alinia Asmundson, who is the treasurer and key adviser to the Sydney Vergis campaign as well as the Mayor’s daughter.
According to the FPPC Manual, “An “independent expenditure” is a payment for a communication that expressly advocates the election or defeat of a clearly identified California state or local candidate or the qualification, passage, or defeat of a clearly identified state or local ballot measure, and the communication is not coordinated with or “made at the behest” of the affected candidate or committee.”
FPPC regulation section 18225.7 defines “Made at the behest of” as “made under the control or at the direction of, in cooperation, consultation, coordination, or concert with, at the request or suggestion of, or with the express, prior consent of.” Furthermore section (c)(2) of the same code writes, “an expenditure is presumed to be made at the behest of a candidate or committee if it is… (2) Made by or through any agent of the candidate or committee in the course of the agent’s involvement in the current campaign…”
Mayor Ruth Asmundson’s involvement in the independent expenditure committee presents a clear problem in terms of the independence of this committee. The Mayor’s daughter, Alinia Asmundson is the treasurer and key adviser to the Sydney Vergis campaign.
The issue of the independence of this committee aside, one has to question the need to form an independent expenditure committee. Why wouldn’t strong supporters of Sydney Vergis simply work through the candidate’s campaign?
There is nothing in that letter that could not have been sent by the campaign itself. We still believe that there is a potential for mischief here.
The whisper campaign has continued with Marty West among the ringleaders.
The filing of this IE follows a week in which Marty West has been reported to have been spreading rumors about candidate Rochelle Swanson and her supposed political affiliations. In one version of the rumor, Rochelle Swanson is said to have a Sarah Palin 2012 bumpersticker on her car.
In another, she wants to bring Sarah Palin to Davis. While Ms. Swanson has at times been a Republican, and voted for John McCain, there is no truth to these rumors according to Ms. Swanson’s campaign. She voted for McCain out of a long affinity with the candidate stemming from 2000.
We have received reports that an email has been sent around by Janice Bridge, another key member of Sydney Vergis’ team telling people that Rochelle Swanson is a Republican and a Palin lover.
Anonymous poster on the Daviswiki posted this on May 20, “Not too long ago, Rochelle was seen driving around town in a car with a Sarah Palin 2012 bumper sticker. She was also a fan of Palin 2012 on Facebook. Strikingly, since the beginning of the city council election both of the Palin mentions have disappeared. At the UCD Young Democrats city council forum, she admitted to being previously registered as a republican, but recently switched to “independent.” Personally, I could never cast my vote for a woman who is so irresponsible for her own.”
We have received reports about other nasty rumors circulating the community as well.
It is time for Sydney Vergis herself to stand up and put an end to all of this. Several of Vergis’ key supporters are or have in the past been Republicans, including Ruth Asmundson herself who at one point was the wife of Republican Mayor Vigfus Asmundson and began her political career in Davis as a Republican.
Moreover, key adviser Janice Bridge, who is now circulating emails against Rochelle Swanson was also at one point herself a Republican until very recently in fact. Frankly, I think Davis voters should be far more interested in what a candidate will do in Davis, on local issues, than how they vote on national issues.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
Why is being a Republican seen as such a terrible thing? All I care about is how a candidate will handle themselves in office, no matter their party affiliation…
Vergis has been permanently tainted by this last-ditch attempt to deceive the Davis voters. Her legitimacy, in the unlikely event that she wins a seat on the Council, has been irreparably undermined by this campaign, a serious consideration to anyone who was planning to vote for her in the hopes of creating a less dysfunctional City Council. We will see if Dunning has anything to say about this in his “Wary Eye” Enterprise column and whether the often-claimed observation that Ruth Asmundson is dealt with, in the Enterprise, with “kid gloves” is confirmed.
E Roberts Musser – I agree with you that it should not matter if a person is a Republican. In a local city council election where the council represents Greens, Independents, Peace and Freedom, Decline to State, Democrats, and Republicans the candidate’s party affiliation should not matter. They represent everyone that lives in Davis and experience and honesty are what matter.
I voted for Rochelle because of her experience and because she is trying to find common ground.
I personally am tired of all of this bickering back and forth on the council. In this Vergis campaign it seems like her key supporter Mary West is already divisive before her candidate even gets a seat on the council. We do not need more of that.
“The cost of this mailing for printing, envelopes and postage, is estimated to be around $1000.”
The Davis voters will not be able to find out if this money actually came from the firefighter’s union, if ever, until after the election is over.
There has to be a great deal of difference between city council candidates views for the Davis community before I would vote for a Republican when there is a Democratic Party recommended candidate. Here I think Vergis’s party membership blinded the committee. I see a great deal of difference in candidates and am glad to have supported and voted for Rochelle. I believe she will do a good job representing me on the council. One major item on my short agenda for the community is a reasoning and civil council. A candidate who uses or allows rumor and questionable campaign financial transactions to be used may not deliver the reasoned, fair and civil deliberations this community so badly needs.
So now the Mayor and Marty West, who is an attorney, apparently think that they are above the law. This is the type of bad politics that these two should really know better than to engage in.
As for Janice Bridge and Marty West and their “whisper campaign”, this is disgusting behavior and makes it very clear what kind of people they are and how low they will stoop to try to get their way.
Mayor Ruth Asmundson, Mary West, and Janice Bridge, you should all be ashamed of yourselves. I for one would never trust any recommendation that comes from any of you again after these despicable actions by all of you.
Davisite: Since the mailing is postmarked on May 22, it is required to be reported on the May 29th filing which covers spending through the 22nd. There is also a reporting date on June 3 that covers spending through the 2nd of June.
David: My recollection is that there have been numerous examples of these just-before-election “mandatory” filing dates being ignored until after the election, the only consequence being a perfunctory “slap on the wrist” penalty.
That is true, but if the firefighters are resorting to hiding money under the table, then they’ve lost a lot more than that. After all, in recent years they have proudly emblazoned their red hats and other logos on campaign material and proudly walked neighborhoods. Money was important, but so too was their stamp of approval. So even if they give money in this way, they have lost most of their bite.
It could be the Firefighters Union who now want to remain hidden what with the negative public scrutiny since the last Council election. Equally possible would be money from Whitcombe in support of Vergis who would appear to be his last hope of a truly reliable proxy on the next Council. Jan Bridge’s and Marty West’s involvement here(both with ethically questionable activities while supporting Whitcombe’s Covell Village- Measure X campaign)certainly points in that direction as well.
Well an interesting twist has developed. When I spoke to Zoe Mirabile she told me that the city has no enforcement mechanism of this part of the municipal code and that I had to file with the FPPC. So I just spoke with someone at the FPPC and they have no jurisdiction over city ordinances, only state law. So a clear cut violation of the City Municipal code and it’s currently unclear as to what can be done about it!
[i]”I think Davis voters should be far more interested in what a candidate will do in Davis, on local issues, than how they vote on national issues.”[/i]
Would you join me in calling on the council to stop taking official positions on national and international questions, clearly outside of the city’s purview?
I recall a brief conversation I had with Lamar Heystek shortly before the council was going to vote on [b]whether or not they thought it was a good idea for the U.S. to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities*.[/b] I told Lamar the council was not elected to conduct U.S. foreign policy. I told him as an individual, he had–and every member of the council has–the right to speak for himself on whatever topic he wanted to. But he wasn’t elected to the Davis City Council to officially give his views on matters outside of our city limits, unless those issues directly impacted the City of Davis as a corporation**.
He disagreed and explained to me that he was voting on this issue because “those bombs cost a lot of money. That’s money we won’t have to spend on needs we have in Davis and in California.” Using that forced logic, the city council should or could take a position on every single mark-up bill in the U.S. Congress.
Because our city council lacks restraint and often does take official positions on so many questions they ought to be officially silent on, I can understand why some voters want to elect people to the Davis City Council who share their views on war, peace, abortion, and even religious preference. Chances are, those will be debated by our council.
*I had written a column a month or more before that saying bombing Iran was a terrible idea.
**I was shocked when Mariko Yamada was pushing a bill in Sacramento to make it virtually impossible for cities like Davis to declare municipal bankruptcy and our city council remained silent. Yamada’s handiwork–her bill was written by the firefighters union–would have harmed our city and all cities and counties. But on a bill of such importance–fortunately, Lois Wolk killed Yamada’s bill–the council said nothing at all. That silence is more shameful than all the noise they made about foreign policy at the same time.
I’m more and more on board with that. It’s one thing when it’s a state policy or initiative that directly impacts the city. Its another when it’s an international event.
I talked to Harriet Steiner, who clarified that the complaint needs to be filed with the city, and then we’ll see.
So… unnamed people report hearing Marty West say Swanson had a Palin bumper sticker? A named person, Janice Bridges, also wrote Swanson loved Palin. And an anonymous post on Daviswiki says it. Meanwhile Rochelle Swanson says she voted McCain/Palin but does not love Palin. Did I get that right?
How do you get from there to saying Sydney Vergis is responsible for the rumors that Rochelle Swanson loves Palin? I guess by assuming that (1) rumors about Marty spreading rumors are true, and (2) Marty and Janice and the anonymous Daviswiki poster gossip at Sydney’s request.
Isn’t that sort of allegation an unfair rumor in itself?
Rochelle Swanson sounded reasonable at the Sierra Club candidates’ forum, and was in favor of the city’s climate change actions plan, just like the other candidates. But now that you tell me she voted for McCain/Palin I worry about her environmental credibility. There was a non-ignorable chance that ticket would make the presidency fall to an ardent climate-change denying anti-environmentalist. The City will continue to make many local environmental decisions. Also the McCain Palin team spread serious smears like “palling with terrorists” and Palin was already beginning to show her Limbaugh-Beck side. How does the decision to support that mesh with the slogan “finding common ground?”
Marty West’s despicable behavior is part of a long pattern, and just what one would expect if one knows her.
Ruth’s cooperation is disappointing.
But more important is the first amendment issue that is being overlooked here so far.
This letter is political speech.
No form of free speech is more protected by the constitution.
The fact that legal obstacles can be thrown in the way of making such a statement should make us all think hard about the wisdom of campaign finance laws. We have somehow reached the point where pornography is protected but political speech is not.
I didn’t receive within 24 hours a copy of the campaign literature by fax, overnight delivery, or personal delivery, as required by law. The punishment, according to the city code:
[u]CHAPTER 12 ELECTIONS[/u]
[u]12.01.090 Violations; criminal.[/u]
(a) Any person who knowingly or willfully violates any provision of this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or six months imprisonment; or both. Prosecution for violation of this chapter must be commenced within four years after the date on which the violation occurred.
Who can enforce it? The Yolo County District Attorney:
[u]12.01.090(c)[/u]:
(c) The district attorney of Yolo County is responsible for enforcing the criminal provisions of this chapter.
I just finished speaking at public comment tonight. If anyone still thinks my platform’s emphasis on revising the municipal code is useless, tell that to Mayor Asmundson — who now faces 6 months in prison because she forgot to send me a letter.
At the beginning of this election season, I was sure I had an easy decision when it came to my candidate votes. Krovoza and Vergis were the obvious choices and were the strong front runners. Then Swanson, Watts, and Li joined the race and the heat started to go up in the kitchen. As this race has progressed, it appears that Vergis’s camp is getting really desperate with Krovoza retained the front runner seat and Swanson blowing past her to take the second seat. As of today, I am changing my votes to Krovoza and Swanson for the following reasons.
First, every candidates forum I have watched, Vergis has either been spoon fed the perceived public desired answers or couldn’t answer the questions logically at all. What worries me the most, is Vergis’ lack of knowledge when it comes to fixing our city’s budget problems. I get the feeling that Vergis would have to “Call a friend” for every decision that has to be made at the dais. It is very apparent that Krovoza and Swanson have the work experience and background knowledge to back their desire to run this city efficiently.
The second and more important reason I am not voting for Vergis is that all of the negativity that has come out in this race appears to have come from Vergis and/or her promoters (Marty West and Ruth Asmondson). The latest attempt to change our votes back to Vergis is related to Swanson’s prior presidential candidate support. Vergis, FYI, WE DON’T CARE!!! Even as a life long Democrat and Davis resident, I am voting for the best candidates in THIS local non-partisan race. Sydney, get off the negative campaigning. At this point, I would strongly encourage the public to vote for Krovoza and Swanson on June 8th, and Li or Watts to fill in Saylor’s seat as soon as he is off to the county.
“How do you get from there to saying Sydney Vergis is responsible for the rumors that Rochelle Swanson loves Palin?”
Adrienne: Although very unlikely given the fact that there must be open lines of communication between Ruth Asmundson, her daughter and Marty West(partner of Ruth Asmundson in their independent campaign committee), doesn’t your argument that it indeed was done without the knowledge of Vergis speak to a lack respect that her supporter Marty West would have in her candidate Vergis’ judgement about her own campaign and candidacy? Doesn’t this speak to the issue of who will really making the decisions if Vergis is sitting on the Council(the question that Like Long Davis Resident raised in his comment above)
To Davisite2, whoever you are: Thanks for asking. Gossip is very human. I don’t think most people ask permission before gossiping. So I’ll guess you’re assuming this is an orchestrated campaign tactic rather than gossip and I’m not ready to assume any such thing without evidence. We all assume too many bad things about each other. (If your assumptions are true then yes it would be possible that Marty lacked respect for Sydney’s political judgment but I don’t judge candidates on whether some 3rd person I’ve barely met respects them. And no, having a non-deferential vocal supporter doesn’t speak to who’ll make decisions on Council.)
I’m not ready to assume bad things about Rochelle either, like I don’t imagine she was lying in her pro-environment statements at the Sierra Club forum. But her willingness to risk a Palin presidency (should McCain die) does suggest she’s less worried about the environment than I am. I’d like to see a history of environmental activism to reassure me here, but I don’t see it on Rochelle’s website. Sydney Vergis and Joe Krovoza in contrast have that background. To Rochelle’s credit, she voted as I did against the sprawling Covell Village development. Sprawl too has environmental consequences, perhaps the ones the city has most influence over.
“To Rochelle’s credit, she voted as I did against the sprawling Covell Village development. Sprawl too has environmental consequences, perhaps the ones the city has most influence over.”
Do you think Vergis will vote against future sprawling development?
I don’t! She’s a Asmundson, Saylor and Souza clone.
Rich Rifkin: “Would you join me in calling on the council to stop taking official positions on national and international questions, clearly outside of the city’s purview?”
I’m with you on this one!!! I have said so many times on this blog…
Daniel needs to “get over himself”… if you want to nit-pick the Muni Code, we could do a great deal towards reducing the local unemployment numbers by hiring staff to look at provisions that prohibit the number of roosters you can have, driving through a funeral procession, and the requirements for lighting on horse drawn carriages. Those are only three of hundreds. Perhaps Daniel would be better off (salary, benefits, etc.) by asking the Council to create a position to “perfect” the Muni Code, rather than running for Council… or is THAT the reason he is running for Council— to create the position?
@hpierce
You think I want to add more employees to the payroll? Clearly you haven’t been paying attention.
You’ve just identified three problems — and it didn’t cost the city a dime. If we had more good citizens like you, hpierce, we could revampe the Code in no time.