A former Santa Clara City Council member will have to pay hefty government fines for misusing campaign money if he doesn’t respond to the agency that found him at fault soon.
Dominic Caserta served on the Santa Clara City Council until 2018. Amid a firestorm of sexual harassment allegations, in the midst of his bid for the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, Caserta resigned his council seat and withdrew from the Board of Supervisors race.
At its Aug. 15 meeting, the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) put Caserta on notice that unless he responds to the commission’s allegations, it will slap him with $65,000 in fines for violating several laws while campaigning.
During the 2018 primary race, Caserta served as treasurer of his campaign committee. The violations detailed in the FPPC’s judgment concern Caserta’s management of campaign donations during that period.
James Lindsay, the FPPC’s chief enforcement officer, told the commission that while Caserta has retained a lawyer, he is in a similar boat as the other two who have been put on notice of default judgment.
“We clearly have not gotten their attention at this point. They’ve been served with a probable-cause proceeding. There have been probable-cause findings. They’ve been served with accusations. They have failed to file notices of defense requesting hearings,” he said. “There appears to be some strategy to not engage in some fashion.”
The FPPC found that, in his role as treasurer, Caserta used surplus campaign money in a way that had “no legislative, governmental, or political purpose, and some provided a substantial personal benefit to the candidate.” Most egregious of those personal benefits were payments to his wife.
Further, among the 12 counts of malfeasance, the FPPC noted that Caserta did not “timely and accurately report” on campaign statements and “failed to maintain detailed campaign records for the [c]ommittee’s contributions and expenditures for the life of the [c]ommittee.”
Although government officials have been in contact with Caserta’s lawyer and even granted an extension, that alone “doesn’t change procedure,” Lindsay said.
If the FPPC doesn’t hear from Caserta by its next meeting, the commission will enter a default judgment against him.
The fine is the latest chapter in a series of controversies surrounding the former council member, one that bolsters claims of his immoral behavior.
Back during his supervisorial campaign, someone at Santa Clara High School, where Caserta worked as a teacher, leaked his confidential file to the district’s 1,600 employees. In the wake of the leak, allegations of misconduct with students soon bubbled to the surface.
If that wasn’t bad enough, a slew of allegations from a 19-year-old German exchange student ignited a scandal. The Foothill College student, Lydia Jungkind, accused Caserta of unwanted sexual advances. Those advances included Caserta — a married man — fondling her thigh, awkwardly hugging her, kissing her cheeks, flirting and offering her drugs and booze when she worked on his Board of Supervisors campaign.
Not long after, an avalanche of high school students and campaigners publicly alleged further indiscretion. Those indiscretions ranged from bullying to creepy sexual advances that included him caressing a student’s hair, giving unwanted massages and parading around in only a towel during campaign business.
And the skeletons just kept tumbling out of Caserta’s closet.
The file showed that the school district and police knew about several internal allegations, some of which dated back to 2002, indicating a pathology. A police investigation was unable to substantiate the allegations enough for the district attorney to prosecute Caserta.
Despite resigning his position on the council and ending his campaign, Caserta maintained the allegations were politically motivated.
Caserta still has a $38 million lawsuit pending against Santa Clara Unified School District for leaking his file and reportedly ruining his reputation. He remains employed at the district, although he is not teaching.
The FPPC meets again Sept. 19.
I am so glad that this miscreant is no longer on our city council and was foiled in his attempt to get onto the county board of supervisors.
.
It is an outrage that he has continued to be employed by the school district all this time but I am sure that this was legally unavoidable due to employment contracts and law. I hope that the school district is prioritizing finding a way to get this apparent sexual predator out of public employment and especially in an area of education of minors even if not as a teacher any longer.
.
It is also an outrage that his employment records were leaked and I suspect that this will result in a costly loss to all of us taxpayers and the children of Santa Clara will suffer due to the incompetence or malfeasance of whoever leaked the records. I hope that person is found out and suffers consequences for this.