San Francisco mayoral candidate Mark Farrell has continued a practice that his opponents say amounts to skirting campaign-finance limits: He has pooled $160,895 in expenses between his mayoral race and a ballot measure he is backing.
Rival campaigns allege that this effectively allows Farrell to access larger sums from big-money donors, who are not hamstrung by the city’s contribution limits on giving to candidates directly.
The fundraising mechanism has drawn scrutiny from at least two of Farrell’s opponents, both of whom independently used the same description: Money laundering.
“He’s brazenly laundering money through a ballot measure to circumvent laws limiting contributions to his campaign for mayor,” said Tyler Law, a consultant for Daniel Lurie’s mayoral campaign. Added Joe Arellano, the spokesperson for Mayor London Breed’s campaign: “Mark Farrell is basically running a money-laundering operation that offers college credit.”
The campaigns also allege that Farrell is not naming the recipients of the expenditures — they are grouped as “interns” or “payroll” — pointing to state law requirements.
In a statement, Farrell’s campaign said that it is abiding by all relevant laws.
“We follow all laws, and every expense is legitimate, vetted and approved by counsel. Our opponents are slinging mud because they are losing momentum and are trying to distract voters from their failed leadership and inability to deliver change on the top issues facing San Francisco,” said Farrell in a statement.
Campaign filings released on Tuesday show that during the first two weeks of July, Farrell’s mayoral campaign shared $92,105 in payroll expenses with the ballot measure committee, including $49,050 to pay interns. After being questioned, Farrell’s campaign subsequently said the intern expense was incorrect, and will be lowered to $23,848 in an amended filing.
This is in addition some smaller expenses and $57,415 in previously reported shared expenses, meaning that from the beginning of June through mid-July, his two campaigns shared $160,895 in expenses.
In March, Mark Farrell created a committee, “Mayor Mark Farrell for the Cut the Dysfunctional Bureaucracy Initiative,” to help pass a ballot measure to reduce reform the number of city’s commissions and bolster mayoral powers. The measure was submitted by TogetherSF, a political advocacy group with strong ties to the Farrell campaign. It qualified for the ballot earlier this month.
Farrell’s ballot committee has received significant donations from a few wealthy individuals and raised a total of $968,640 as of July 22. Namely, Thomas Coates, a real estate investor who has long opposed rent control across California, and his wife Linda each donated $250,000.
Ballot measure campaigns, unlike candidate campaigns, are not subject to any contribution limits, and can take corporate money, meaning Farrell can rake in vast sums for the ballot measure and use those sums to pay for ads and other campaign infrastructure that indirectly benefits his run for mayor.
The ballot-measure committee, for instance, can put out TV ads featuring Farrell speaking about his life and background, as long as he does not mention his mayoral race. Thousands of voters then get to meet and learn about the candidate, even though all the expenses come from a fund with no contribution caps.
The filings do not indicate in greater detail how these funds were used. Besides payroll, other shared expenses between the committee include a $4,875 office payment and a $1,000 insurance payment.
On the campaign trail, Farrell has had dozens of interns out canvassing at events like farmer’s markets, the Pride parade and more. Most of them tag along holding his campaign’s trademark “Mark Farrell for Mayor” orange signs, or handing out flyers.
I sincerely hope he doesn’t have a path forward.