For Immediate Release
April 1, 2015
FPPC Complaint Filed Against Group Hiding Union Donations
(This is No April Fool’s Joke)
Contra Costa County, CA -- State Senate candidate Steve Glazer today announced the filing of a formal Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) complaint against a special interest group for illegally hiding their major union donors on a campaign mailing to voters.
The so-called “Working Families Opposing Glazer for Senate” received hundreds of thousands of dollars from union committees, but failed to list on the mailer the names of the top two union donors who had contributed $50,000 or more.
“The disclosure rules are in effect to give voters full knowledge of the special interests who are funding these communications,” said Glazer. “These groups are sophisticated political players who circumvented disclosure laws for the sole purpose of misleading voters.”
This is the second time these union groups have maneuvered around the transparency mandates. In the primary election, these same unions funded a committee called the "Asian American Small Business PAC." That group, financed by neither Asian Americans nor small businesses, sent out five separate mailers attacking Glazer. These activities were condemned as smear tactics by the Contra Costa Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Sacramento Bee.
Based on filings with the Secretary of State, the two largest funders of the mailing were the State Council of Service Employees ($185,000) and the California School Employees Association ($75,000).
“Special interest groups are fearful of my candidacy because I won’t do their bidding. They need to come out of the shadows and play by the rules. I have asked the Fair Political Practices Commission to hold them accountable,” Glazer concluded.
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