San Diego Republicans Call for Criminal Investigation of DeMayo’s Assembly Campaign

SAN DIEGO — Congressman Darrell Issa, state Sen. Brian Jones and San Diego County Supervisor Joel Anderson jointly petitioned California Attorney General Rob Bonta and San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan Thursday to open a criminal investigation into the campaign activities of Carl DeMaio, the candidate in the California State Assembly. Elected officials allege DeMaio violated California Government Code Section 91000 by using misleading campaign ads illegally funded by the DeMaio Reform California PAC.

Issa, Jones and Anderson allege that DeMaio’s Reform California PAC raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from small donors over the years before recently turning the PAC into a “ballot committee.” Those funds were then funneled through Slate Mail entities, which officials say served as an illegal vehicle to support DeMaio’s own State Assembly campaign. Officials say this approach is not only a misuse of donor contributions, but also a clear violation of California’s campaign finance laws.

“Honesty and transparency in campaign finance are essential to a fair democratic process,” said Congressman Issa on behalf of the group. “We must prosecute those who abuse the public trust by engaging in fraud to achieve personal goals.”

According to the complaint, DeMaio controls several campaign committees and organizations subject to the Fair Political Practices Act.

Committees directly controlled by DeMaio include Carl DeMaio for State Assembly 2024 (FPPC ID: 1464955), Reform California with Carl DeMaio – Balt Measure Committee (FPPC ID: 1268914) and Carl DeMaio for Republican Central Committee 2028 (FPPC ID: 1465523) , the complaint alleges.

Committees nominally independent of DeMayo, but with shared vendors, donors, regular fund sharing, and DeMayo’s actual control, include the Local Government Reform PAC (FPPC ID: 1452276), Reform California Voter Guide (FPPC ID: 1446747), California Progressive Voter Guide (FPPC: 1472527) and California Latino Voter Alliance (FPPC ID: 1465092).

Among that network of committees directly or indirectly controlled by DeMaio, Republican officials pointed out, is Reform California with Carl DeMaio – the Ballot Measurement Committee, a general-purpose committee directly controlled by DeMaio prior to his State Assembly campaign. The committee raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising for alleged activist campaigns of various kinds, which local reports found to be misleading and false advertising. Even so, before announcing his campaign for the State Assembly, DeMaio marshaled vast resources to reform California before turning it into a ballot committee.

The complaint says the Fair Political Practices Act prohibits any candidate or official from controlling more than one committee designed to support their own campaigns or the campaigns of other candidates. The law allows for the formation of a candidate-controlled get-out-the-vote committee that can raise and spend resources on issue advocacy and get-out-the-vote campaigns. Candidate-controlled campaign committees are subject to contribution limits, while ballot committees are not.

“The fact that Reformed California had hundreds of thousands of dollars before it became a caucus is the impetus for the illegal diversion of dollars that DeMaio later engaged in to channel those resources through Slate Mailer organizations to support his State Assembly campaign. “, the complaint states. “DeMaio was motivated to use those dollars to support his personal campaign for the State Assembly.”

According to the petitioners, DeMaio is abusing mailing organizations to circumvent campaign contribution limits and use the funds to support his campaign for the state Assembly. Mailing organizations are defined by the FPPC as “any person who is directly or indirectly involved in the production of one or more flyers and exercises control over the selection of candidates and measures supported or opposed in the flyers and receives or is promised payments totaling $500 US or more per calendar year for creating one or more postcard programs.

“In other words, the Slate Mailer organization collects funds and expenses from various candidates and/or ballot measures in order to create mailers that in turn support those candidates and/or ballot measures,” the complaint continued. “The FPPC also distinguishes that a Slate Mailer organization does not include a committee that is primarily formed to support or oppose an office holder, candidate or vote.”

DeMaio created a shell committee called the California Progressive Voter Guide, organized as the Slate Mailer Organization, to funnel money from his ballot committee to support his State Assembly campaign, officials said.

A review of the publicly available Form 498 FPPC reports that the fictitious “California Progressive Voter Guide” received 100% of its funds from organizations controlled or affiliated with DeMaio (Reform California Voter Guide, Reform Local Government PAC and DeMaio for Assembly). $285,000 came from DeMayo’s California Reform Ballot Measuring Committee, and only $105,000 came from DeMayo for the meeting, the complaint added.

As a result, in order to comply with the letter and spirit of the law, most of the messages in the California Progressive Voter guide must be about ballot measures that California Reform paid to promote. It wasn’t like that. The voter guide has sent several letters that focus entirely on DeMaio’s Assembly campaign and oppose the other candidate in the race, Andrew Hayes, the complaint points out.

“There is a small ribbon on these mailings that mentions certain ballot measures, but it is undisputed that the entire mailing is intended to persuade voters in the race for Congressional District 75,” the complainants wrote. “This is a blatant attempt to divert resources pooled in the ballot committee to be used to support De Mayo’s Assembly campaign.”