FPPC Complaint Accuses Santa Clara Officials of Using Public Money for Political Purposes

Former Santa Clara Mayor Pat Mahan is asking the state’s political watchdog to investigate allegations that city officials put taxpayer money to political use.

In a complaint filed Thursday with the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), Mahan accuses Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor, City Manager Deanna Santana, City Attorney Brian Doyle and City Clerk Hosam Haggag of using public resources to promote ballot initiatives in 2018 and 2020.

“As a former mayor and council member of the city of Santa Clara, it saddens me to be filing this complaint,” Mahan wrote in a three-page letter to the FPPC, “however, it must be done to preserve fair elections in Santa Clara.”

In her complaint, Mahan—who resigned from the City Council for health reasons last month—alleges that the city used taxpayer funds in 2018 to hire a political consultant to craft messaging in favor of Measure A, which, had it passed, would have changed Santa Clara’s election system from at-large to two council districts.

Pat Mahan included a screenshot of one of City Attorney Brian Doyle's exchanges on NextDoor as proof of his political advocacy.

More recently, according to Mahan, those same city officials have expended public time and money to support Measure C, which would create three council districts despite a 2018 court order to establish six. The March 3 ballot measure has ignited fierce opposition from Secretary of State Alex Padilla, the San Francisco 49ers and a coalition of civil rights groups that say it would violate the California Voting Rights Act.

FPPC complaint details how the city allegedly spent public money on political mailers aimed at swaying residents towards supporting the controversial measure.

“The mailers only outline what would happen if Measure C passed but do not acknowledge the outcome if the measure is rejected,” Mahan wrote. “A city’s informational pieces should not reflect any bias.”

Meanwhile, she goes on to allege, Doyle has been advocating for the measure during city business hours on NextDoor, where Mahan said he’s been “spreading misinformation.”

Haggag has been using some of the same tactics, according to Mahan, by using his official position to spread claims that “supposed ‘dark money’” is influencing the backlash to Measure C. “The No on Measure C campaign has been transparent about funding and has followed campaign finance law,” Mahan told the FPPC, “but the clerk has continued to use a false narrative to sway voters.”

The complaint ends with a plea from Mahan to investigate further. “Taxpayer funds are not a slush fund for elected officials to stay elected,” she said, “and it is becoming clear that Santa Clara’s leadership is using public funds for political reasons. To make matters worse, the city is going to great lengths to destroy evidence of their misconduct.”

Santa Clara city officials have yet to respond to requests for comment.

45 Comments

  1. WOW! We got a city mailer today…I question their conclusion that if Measure C is not passed that we will go back to all-city elections. I’m sure that we will get sued again.

  2. The same can be said about San José and Santa Clara County corruption at all levels of government. We not only need this group to investigate but also a state audit!

  3. Here is a link to the Santa Clara City Attorney’s Impartial Analysis of Measure C. If outside interests had an issue with the analysis, they had the opportunity to file pre-election challenges and that was not done by anyone. The interference in City of Santa Clara elections and accusations are nothing more than an attempt by the 49ers to control Santa Clara

    I have tried to cut and post the language but it is in PDF format so I cannot copy and paste it:

    https://www.santaclaraca.gov/home/showdocument?id=65333

    I will also add that our City Attorney is on vacation and out of state this week. His postings on NextDoor were done on vacation time.

    • Those minority civil rights activists are all 49er fans and go to games and post their pictures drinking beer. Wes is a Russian operative.

    • Kathy, we can see you are an insider. Nor the 49ers or political officials should control the city of Santa Clara or anyone. The power belongs to the people. We are sick and tired of the political corruption. In San José is Sammy and Google, they are in a cozy relationship or fighting. Sammy has chosen to be its puppet. Let the people vote. For sure we are not paying attention to our local politicians. I am a democrat. I already voted by mail. I voted for a Democratic candidate, not crazy Bernie, and the rest was for Republicans I not even know who they are. I rather vote for a monkey than for local politicians. For the judicial option I wrote in pig!

      • I voted for crazy Bernie. And proud to say I have. That Bernie is so crazy he believes all people have a right to health care. What a nut!

        Let for-profit insurance companies die a slow death and I’ll be happy. I hope my grandkids read in their history textbooks someday about how companies used to make money off of denying sick people coverage they needed to live. They will read about how the progressives began to rise up in the 2000’s and demand better of humans and the laws they create.

        • > That Bernie is so crazy he believes all people have a right to health care. What a nut!

          Bernie didn’t say “good” healthcare.

          Bernie is a primitive tribalist forager. Like primitive tribalist foragers Obama and Pocahontas, they all believe “you didn’t build that”. Foragers believe that things are “found” and not “built”.

          Bloomberg and Trump didn’t build billion dollar businesses, they just found them because they were lucky.

          It’s unfair for insurance companies to sell insurance policies that help pay for healthcare. Healthcare is just something that you can “find” at a hospital or a clinic. And likewise, you should just be able to “find” doctors and nurses at the hospital to treat you. And you should just be able to “find” medicines at the pharmacy.

          So, Bernie is going to “find” hospitals, and doctors, and medicines and share them with everybody in the tribe, because that’s the way primitive tribes work. And if there are not enough hospitals, and doctors, he will find some “rich people” to buy or build houses for everybody. And if you can’t find enough “rich people”, he’ll do what primitive tribal shamans have always done: he’ll talk to the spirit world and ask the gods to send more rich people to the tribal hunting lands.

          I have no doubt that Bernie believes that members of his tribe have a “right to health care”. The spirit world has told him so.

        • Jilly I voted for Bernie because Virgen Mary spoke to me and told me so. I still do not know how Crazy Bernie is going to pay for what he is proposing. The graveyard is full of liers, politicians…

          • My name is Jill. The Virgin Mary did not speak to me. I live in a free country that allows me to vote the way I decide. And I have decided on Bernie.

      • “I voted for a Democratic candidate, not crazy Bernie, and the rest was for Republicans I not even know who they are.”

        You voted for people and you didn’t even know who they were? That’s plain foolish. What if you voted for the very people people you say you despise? It is very hard to take anyone seriously that simply throws out a vote without knowing anything about them but party. You write “the power belongs to the people”, but them you throw your power over to write in “pig”.

        You are part of the citizenry that needs to care more. Your comment exemplifies part of what’s wrong in politics.

  4. Thank you Pat Mahan. This needed to be done by someone that has a high level of public support and experience in municipal government.

  5. Haggag sends out a letter accusing people of being behind the No campaign with no evidence. Gee. Vladimir Putin and Hunter Biden were not named. How does the City justify spending public funds to campaign?

    • Fear not Brian Doyle, Trump will be appointing you Attorney General when Barr resigns. You have that Trump mindset.

  6. To Vladimir Putin

    Sources have identified you as part of an effort led by Jed York to use dark money to oppose Measure C. This has been proven by your asset Donald Trump’s pardon of DeBartolo. Shame! Be advised Brian Doyle using his Junior Ranger decode ring has figured it out. Any more activity will result in a complaint that will be served on you at the ballet by our City Manager after she visits Moscow museums.

    City Clerk Haggag

    • To Michael Bloomberg

      You will endorsed by all local elected officials in Santa Clara. We will appear in every Silicon Valley based ad attacking Sanders and Warren. We are all women and that will help you. Just say Yes on C.

      Also we need 79 million

      • People, Bloomberg is a sexual predator just like Trump. Bernie Sanders is a communist with Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez’s mind set. He and Wareen hired prominent antisemites for their campaign chair and other positions. Bernie has never really explained how he will pay for his cucu land ideas. Pete Buttigieg has entry level experience. He and Bloomberg have also negative record with the Latino and Black community. They have discriminatory record and now say they are sorry. Obama and Biden deported most undocumented non criminal immigrants. Biden now say to regret that. Who is left? Amy. If Bernie is nominated, I might vote for the sexually perverted Trump to show my disgust for his nomination!

        • > If Bernie is nominated, I might vote for the sexually perverted Trump to show my disgust for his nomination!

          We’re making progress here, FEXXY. I may have to rescind the fatwa against you.

          By the way, I think the reasons you have given for hating Trump seem ridiculous. You basically have condemned him for having — and privately articulating — male sexual fantasies.

          News bulletin: males have sexual fantasies.

          Without male sexual fantasies, there wouldn’t be very much sex going and probably no human race.

          If you disqualify people from being president for having male fantasies, your probably going to disqualify a lot of LGBTQ people, too.

          • News Bulletin: Just for you bubble, women have sexual fantasies too that died when their men become too old and their sexual organ is the size of a prune, nothing if is winter time. Stating that he can grab women by their pussies and actually doing more than that is not a sexual fantasy. Trump sexual history is predatory in nature. For your info… your mother and mine also have sexual fantasies!

          • > Bernie Sanders in not a communist.

            I’m not sure that millennials or post-millennials have any idea what a “communist” is.

            Splain.

            What do you think a communist is?

            And why is Bernie Sanders NOT a communist? My recollection is that the Bolsheviks called themselves “social democrats”, just like Bernie.

          • Jill, I know communists and antisemites when I hear them speak. They complaint about rich people and capitalism, buy they are rich themselves. They are after complete power. Both Fidel and CHAVEZ died as rich guys. Maduro also likes that life style. Bernie has a communist and antisemite history. Both Sarsour and Omar are part of his club. Omar was voted antisemite of the year. Those wanting to take Latino votes from Bernie, simply reveal this truth. Generally speaking Latinos hate communists and antisemites. AOC is simply a fake copy of Argentinian and Cuban revolutionary communist Che Guevara.

          • Jilly sweetheart, I am sure the sexual education you have received included the birds and bees nonsense not actual vaginas and penises. Sorry for that… If the room is on you, I will take the offer just replace bubble for the actual objects of my fantasies, Chayanne, Jaime Camil, or Carlos Rivera. I find these handsome Latino guys irresistible. On another note: Bernie Sanders, Fidel Castro, Nicolas Maduro, Evo Morales, and Daniel Ortega belong to the same COMMUNIST club, Prominent Communists of the American continent. Google any of those names and you will end up with communist ideology and behavior. I am glad you are not disputing the antisemite part. Sarsour, Omar. and others around him speak volume to his antisemitism ideology.

  7. A whistle blower who has second hand knowledge of Russian interference in Santa Clara politics told me about a plot to meddle in the ballot initiatives.

    I need to get this information to Adam Schiff. Who should I talk to?

  8. Those bad 49ers. They hired Katie Sowers to humiliate men and helped civic groups dealing with a racist city attorney in Santa Clara.

    They must be Bernie Bros.

  9. The hierarchy of aristocrats in Santa Clara should have been put in jail long ago. We can only regret that Pat Mahan waited so long to pull her finger out of the hole in the dike.

  10. > Stating that he can grab women by their pussies and actually doing more than that is not a sexual fantasy. Trump sexual history is predatory in nature.

    Do you have inside information, or are you just reciting what you heard on CNN?

  11. I’m not really inclined to believe anything that Mahan says. If she says someone is not being forthright about something–it’s sort of akin to a dwarf telling you you’re short or a skunk complaining that you stink.

  12. Direct from Kathy Racist Watananbe.

    “I just met a nice young man of color.”

    So patronizing Like Haggag claiming to be an African American.

  13. > News Bulletin: Just for you bubble, women have sexual fantasies too that died when their men become too old and their sexual organ is the size of a prune, nothing if is winter time.

    Which raises the question:

    if feminists object to men having sexual fantasies, and do everything they can to suppress them, why the hell are they so obsessed with legal abortions?

    Nothing is ever going to happen to them that would ever result in the need for an abortion.

    Exhibit A: Nancy Pelosi.

    Nancy is probably responsible for a lot of men coming to the conclusion that celibacy is not a bad thing and then becoming Catholic priests.

  14. The thing here Bubble is that you tend to generalize. Not all feminists are created equal. The Bible says that God blesses those that do not desire sex. Thus there are those who are that way. But for those who do not really have this condition, the Bible says it is better to become married than to go to hell. Pedophiles and child molesters are everywhere; this is not a condition of only one religion, denomination, or group. God knows each person’s hearts. Do not make corrupted guys your lord because there is only one God and one king. On another note: I have never heard of feminists objecting to males having sexual fantasies since this is part of our human nature. I know of feminists’ objection to males feeling entitled to using children and women as sexual objects and male created porn industry! And yes, males’ penises evaporate as they get older, smaller by the year. This is about the time when they go nuts and try to do anything to appear younger. Male menopausal Process! There are those males that aged gracefully and become creative. Oh, I am pro-life, pro sexual education, and pro women. I have a right to be pro-life and others to be pro-choice because this is a free country.

    • > The Bible says that God blesses those that do not desire sex.

      FEXXY:

      You told my something I didn’t know.

      WHERE in the Bible does it say this?

      Is this the same God Who said “be fruitful and multiply”?

    • No, God vomits Donald Trump. I know you will miss this point as well. Thus, I am not wasting my time. This is God’s order too. He says to teach the wise and he will be wiser and not to waste time with those not ready to learn. Trump appears to be looking for God and he should. In the grave and in the after life we are all equal. Hell is equal for everyone too. There is hope for the one that believes and places God above all and everything.

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