San Francisco Ethics Commission

The San Francisco Ethics Commission is a public agency tasked with maintaining city bylaws [clarification needed, there is no "city" bylaws, each Board or Commission or policy body has its own bylaws] in San Francisco, California. The commission specifically files and audits campaign finance disclosure statements, handles campaign consultant registration and regulation. They also handle lobbyist registration and regulation along with the filing of officer for statements of economic interest and the administration of the Whistleblower program. Lastly, they mitigate investigations of ethics complaints, enforce education and training and provide advice and statistical reporting.

The San Francisco Ethics Commission oversees multiple good governance policies for the City & County of San Francisco. Issues covered include oversight and public reporting of campaign finance; the registration of campaign consultants, lobbyists, and permit expeditors; and conflicts of interest reporting.

It also enforces these issues, including by issuing fines. The Commission can also issue policy recommendations and directly place relevant measures on the ballot. The Commission appoints an Executive Director who, in turn, hires staff to carry out the agency’s day-to-day work.

Establishment
The Ethics Commission was placed on the ballot by seven members of the Board of Supervisors. Supervisors Angela Alioto, Sue Bierman, Terrance Hallinan, Kaufman, Susan Leal, Carol Migden, and Kevin Shelly supported it. Supervisors Conroy, Hsieh, Willie B. Kennedy, and Bill Maher opposed it.

The measure was placed on the November 1993 ballot, known as Proposition K.

The measure was supported by the county Democratic Party, the Chamber of Commerce, the Labor Council, Common Cause, and many other political leaders.

It was opposed by a committee named Citizens Against Putting the Foxes in Charge of the Hen Coop and the San Francisco Taxpayers Association. The latter included future Ethics Commissioner Quentin Kopp, then a State Senator, who authored the ballot handbook’s paid argument against Proposition K. Regardless, the measure passed.

District Attorney Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris faced a campaign finance ethics violation in 2003 when she broke a voluntary $211,000 spending cap for the San Francisco district attorney's race. The Ethics Commission found that the violations appeared to be unintentional and levied a penalty of $34,000, reduced from the potential maximum penalty of $65,000.

Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi
The commission conducted an extensive investigation into official misconduct charges against Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi stemming from a domestic violence incident with his wife Eliana Lopez in 2012. The commission held multiple hearings, reviewed evidence, and heard testimony from both sides over several months.

In August 2012, after lengthy deliberations, the commission found by a 4-1 vote that Mirkarimi had engaged in official misconduct by inflicting physical violence on his wife and pleading guilty to false imprisonment charges. However, the commission rejected other allegations leveled by Mayor Ed Lee, who had suspended Mirkarimi from office.

The commission's findings were forwarded to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, who had the ultimate authority to decide whether to permanently remove Mirkarimi as sheriff. After further review and public hearings, including Mirkarimi's own testimony asking for redemption, the Board of Supervisors voted 7-4 in October 2012 to reinstate him as sheriff, allowing him to keep his job.

Supervisor Mark Farrell
Mark Farrell, a San Francisco supervisor, faced an ethics violation related to his 2010 campaign for supervisor. The issue centered around illegal coordination between Farrell's campaign and an independent expenditure committee called Common Sense Voters.

The violation occurred when Farrell's campaign consultant, Chris Lee, coordinated with the independent committee, which received large donations from Thomas Coates ($141,000) and Dede Wilsey ($50,000). Campaign laws prohibit such coordination between independent and candidate committees, as candidate committees have $500 contribution limits and different reporting requirements.

Initially, the San Francisco Ethics Commission levied a $191,000 fine against Farrell in 2015. However, Farrell refused to pay this fine, arguing through his attorney that he had done nothing wrong and that the action was barred by the statute of limitations.

The resolution of this issue went through several stages:
 * 1) The California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) conducted an investigation and concluded that Farrell himself did not authorize the coordination. Instead, they fined Farrell's campaign consultant, Chris Lee, $14,500 for illegally coordinating with the independent committee.
 * 2) Farrell continued to contest the $191,000 fine imposed by the San Francisco Ethics Commission.
 * 3) In 2016, the Ethics Commission ultimately agreed to reduce the fine significantly. Farrell settled the matter by agreeing to pay $25,000 to the city. This resolution represented a substantial reduction from the original fine and concluded the ethics violation case against Mark Farrell.

Supervisor Eric Mar
Former Supervisor Eric Mar was fined for accepting tickets to events in public lands in his District. He later admitted to not understanding the rules.

Mayor London Breed
Mayor London Breed was fined $22,792 for a series of ethics violations, including misusing her title as mayor for personal gain and violating laws on accepting gifts and campaign contributions. Breed agreed to pay fines for these violations, acknowledging responsibility for her actions. This case marked the first time a sitting mayor in San Francisco settled such a matter, highlighting the significance of the penalties imposed by the Ethics Commission.

The specific ethics violations that led to Breed's fine included three incidents:


 * 1) In 2018, Breed asked then-Governor Jerry Brown to commute the prison sentence of her brother, Napoleon Brown, in a letter that was deemed a misuse of her city title. She was fined $2,500 for this violation.
 * 2) Breed accepted a gift of about $5,600 in car repairs from Mohammed Nuru, the disgraced former head of the public works department, whom she acknowledged dating briefly two decades ago. The Ethics Commission found that she violated laws by accepting this gift and fined her $8,292.
 * 3) In 2015, while a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Breed solicited two restaurateurs to each pay $1,250 directly to a Pride parade float without properly recording these contributions in campaign finance disclosures. These donations exceeded the $500 limit per person set for campaign contributions. Breed was fined a total of $12,000 for these two violations.