The simple story of Santa Clara’s 2024 election is that individual candidate finances are almost not worth talking about because of the way they are dwarfed by independent expenditure committee spending.
As the 2024 campaign winds to a close, campaign donations to individual Santa Clara candidates for city races total $143,000 — 5% of close to $2.75 million in total campaign donations. Spending by individual candidates is a meager $75,000 — 3% of the $2.33 million in total spending reported as of Oct. 28 at noon.
By contrast, PACs took in $2.67 million and have spent $2.25 million so far.
Independent Expenditures
Six committees account for $2.33 million in independent expenditures in this election: four 49ers-backed committees, the Santa Clara police union PAC, and Related Companies* independent expenditure committee.
After pumping $2.4 million into the race, the 49ers haven’t made any further donations. Its spending, though, has accelerated and has now reached $2.15 million. This is less than the $2.9 million the NFL team put into the 2020 election — $3.5 million in 2024 dollars.
The 49ers have spent about $1 million on TV advertising and roughly the same amount on social media advertising and campaign mailers.
The Santa Clara Police Union PAC has added a $10,000 donation from property manager Ray Russo since last week, bringing the police PAC’s total war chest to $148,000. To date, it has spent $118,000 on mailers. In 2020, the police PAC put $385,000 into the election — $469,000 in 2024 dollars. Of that, $328,000 came from Related Companies.
This year, Related has formed its own independent expenditure committee and has spent $90,000 on the campaign so far. This is significantly less than the $328,000 — $400,000 in 2024 dollars — Related spent in the 2020 campaign.
The Santa Clara Firefighters Union PAC spent $15,800 on mailers.
Santa Clara’s most expensive election remains Mayor Lisa Gillmor’s 49ers-funded $4 million campaign to build Levi’s Stadium in 2010 (Yes on J). That’s $4.9 million in 2024 dollars.
Missing Reports
There are some notably missing financial reports so far:
- Related’s committee reports spending $90,000 but has only reported $49,000 in donations on its most recent summary report (460).
- The police union PAC received a $10,000 donation on Oct. 25 but didn’t file the mandated 24-hour donation report (497). Instead, the donation was reported on a 24-hour expenditure report (496).
- The firefighters union PAC reported $15,800 in spending but has filed no reports of donations, nor has it filed a financial summary report (460) for this election. It hasn’t filed a summary report since 2022.
As these committees reported spending this money, we added the expenditures to the total donations.
FPPC Financial Reporting Requirements for California Political Committees
California campaign committees must file if they plan to raise or spend $1,000 or more:
- Form 470 Recipient Committee Campaign Statement Short Form for committees raising or spending less than $2,000 during the calendar year.
- Form 460 Recipient Committee Campaign Statement for committees raising or spending $2,000 or more for their campaign. These are required at least semi-annually.
- Form 497 24-Hour Contribution Report is an additional report for committees receiving or making contributions of $1,000 or more from a single source during the 90 days before the election.
- Form 496 24-Hour Independent Expenditure Report, an additional report for committees making independent expenditures of $1,000 or more on a single candidate or ballot measure in the aggregate during the 90 days before the election.
- Form 462 Verification of Independent Expenditures, an additional report for committees making independent expenditures of $1,000 or more on a single candidate or ballot measure in the aggregate.
*Since 2013, Related has had an exclusive negotiating agreement to build on Santa Clara’s former golf course across the street from Levi’s Stadium.
Previous Follow the Money Updates:
2024 Follow the Money Update: 49ers Donate Another $576K
2024 Follow The Money Update: 49ers Spend Another $243K, Police Union Deposits Another $70,000
2024 Follow the Money Update: Gillmor and Santa Clara Police PAC Fund Campaign Kickoffs, 49ers PAC War Chest Tops $1.5 Million
2024 Follow the Money: Related Opens the Checkbook, More 49ers Media Spending
Follow the Money 2024: 49ers Shovel in $930K, Chandra Raises Money Out of Town
“Lisa Gillmor’s 49er funded campaign to build Levi’s stadium – Measure J”. You make it sound like she was the ONLY one in favor of it. There were 6 city council members and a mayor at that time. I realize that SVV tries to “spin” their articles. This is what occurred:
On December 9, 2009, the Santa Clara City Council voted unanimously to refer a pro-stadium ballot question to the June ballot.
Hmm, so 7 members of the council voted for it.
But the SVV never lets facts get in the way of an article.
Joe Friday,
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The Silicon Valley Voice always likes to pretend the Lisa Gillmor was the one person responsible for Measure J but many of us were around back then and know the real story.
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When things were coming to a head on getting Measure J on the ballot Lisa Gillmor was not even on the council and had not been for a decade. Patty Mahan was mayor and Jamie Matthews was vice mayor. Both were front and center endorsing the stadium. Lisa Gillmor played a prominent role as well as one of the members of the group advocating for the stadium but she was not a figurehead for the effort.
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And yes I do believe that the final vote to approve Measure J for the ballot was unanimous. Seven votes and none of them were Lisa Gillmor’s.
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We can all go back and see the TV commercials the Forty Niners paid for. Here is a video of a town hall meeting with Patty Mahan and Jamie Matthews taking the lead in convincing the city to approve the stadium along with then police chief Steve Lodge and others.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6e0xi3Fo_Q
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Here is Patty Mahan.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91zibGsAlH8
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Here is Jamie Matthews.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxgDFFNm580
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Here is Dom Caserta.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_xBEVM0M3A
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Here is Don Von Raesfeld.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwf27S21Aac
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Here is Ken Yeager.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amM4AmyArbY
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Lisa Gillmor is not featured in a single video. But she was part of this and appears in commercials where she is one of many stumping for the stadium.
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The Silicon Valley Voice is trying to push revisionist history.
All good points, Buchser, thanks for resurfacing those videos.
You’re telling me that there are 4 PACs spending money in this election, and only 1 of them (the 49ers) are doing so legally and properly? Where is our City Clerk??? Where is the outcry on the dark money being spent in this election?? I understand the 49ers are spending far more. I hate that they’re able to do so, but we can’t stop them. The least we can do is ensure everyone is following the rules Santa Clara has set for itself and dark money interests. Related, the Police, and the Fire Dept are NOT doing that right now. Someone should write to the FPPC, and get our city attorney and city clerk involved. Isn’t it their job to protect residents from this kind of ILLEGAL spending??
PSC: there are three types of enforcement, 1) Administrative, 2) Civil, 3) Criminal. The majority of 2,500+ annual complaints are handled administratively by 30 employees state wide. Investigations take months if not years to conclude and any sustained findings usually result in a trivial fine dependent on the size of the organization and financial violation. https://www.fppc.ca.gov/enforcement.html
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Legal resources the SCPOA, IAFF Local 1171, the Related Industries (aka Related Santa Clara) consult with have made them aware of the potential actions listed above. This means the SCCDA won’t bother with it, the FPPC won’t prioritize it, and the groups in violation don’t see objective risk in delaying filings. Let’s face it, Hosam Haggag is on his way out with no political or professional skin in the game and Pat Nikolai benefits from not writing a letter to the DA about it.
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Thankfully we have Carolyn Schuk keeping close tabs on this topic.