A businessman holding a maginfying glass and following a trail of Dollar symbols to the city.
Related Santa Clara has put $49,000 into its independent expenditure PAC supporting Satish Chandra (D1), David Kertes (D5), Teresa O’Neill (D4) and Kelly Cox (D6). This is Related’s first donation in the 2024 election. No Related spending has been reported so far.
Santa Clara residents may have noticed city council campaign ads appearing on TV earlier this month. The 49ers kicked off the media spending with $200,000 spread out over four 49ers independent expenditure committees. The 49ers independent expenditure committees spent another $53,690 on media:
This brings the total of 49ers media spending to $528,103.
The 49ers have also put more cash into their committees:
This brings the total of 49ers independent expenditure donations to $941,828.
No additional donations or spending have been reported by other candidates. George Guerra (candidate for D6) has formed a campaign committee but hasn’t filed any financial reports.
California’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) requires local political committees to file several different financial reports. The important thing to know if you’re trying to follow the money is that forms 460, 461, 470, 496 and 497 all report donations and expenditures.
Form 460 summarizes all donations and expenditures. Candidates that do not have committees or do not anticipate receiving or spending more than $2,000, can file the short Form 470 statement.
Some entities and types of donations must also be reported on the Form 461. These are filed about four months before the election, semiannually, and quarterly. These forms will also show cumulative donations and spending for each donor and vendor. These can be filed more frequently, and typically closer to the election.
Form 497 is filed for contributions made or received that total $1,000 or more within 90 days of the election. These are filed within 24 hours, and show cumulative donations and spending.
Independent Expenditure committees must file Form 496 within 24 hours of making a donation. These also must show cumulative donations.
Santa Clara’s Netfile campaign reporting webpage can be found at: www.netfile.com/agency/csc/.
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Thank you for this informative and timely report.
A quick summary of the history of "special" interest campaign contributions in our city might now be of some value.
About 50 years ago, the biggest "special" interest campaign contributor was probably the Chamber of Commerce on behalf of local retail and other businesses.
Then, about 30-40 years ago, the real estate developers became the biggest "special" interest campaign contributors.
In more recent decades, the government employee unions and the 49ers have become the biggest "special" interest campaign contributors in our city.
It is worth remembering that: (1) "special" interests make campaign contributions to advance their economic objectives which, to be fair, includes protecting themselves against unwise and unfair government actions; and (2) the U.S. Supreme Court has held that their right to make these political contributions is protected under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Consequently, it is now left to the voters to closely analyze and determine which of these "special" interests, if any, line up most closely with the general public interests of our city (and to what extent and in precisely what ways). Is it the developers? Is it the government employee unions? Is it the 49ers? In addition to being helpful, the answers to these questions might also be quite interesting (and even a little surprising).