In an August 28 "No Action Closure Letter," FPPC Commission Counsel (Enforcement Division) Ruth Yang writes in pertinent part:
...[W]e are closing this matter because there is insufficient evidence to support a finding that there was a violation of the [Political Reform] Act.You used private funds to maintain your email account and did not use public funds to send your email from May 30, 2018 promoting MeasureM. Furthermore, in order to fall under the jurisdiction of the Act, the person or persons responsible for the email must have qualified as a "committee." The threshold for an independent expenditure committee is spending $1,000 or more in a calendar year. There is insufficient evidence that the treshold was met with regard to the email in question. Therefore, we have closed our investigation in this matter...
As previously reported by LBREPORT.com, a July 24 letter from FPCC's Enforcement Division stated that it had opened an investigation into July 11 allegations by the four Long Beach taxpayers that the City of Long Beach had used public money for communications that the City portrayed as "informational" but amounted to campaign advocacy for passage of Measure M. The four complainants also alleged that Mayor Garcia and Councilmembers Andrews, Richardson and Price had used public funds for communications that advocated passage of Measure M.
The FPPC's July 24 letter stated that its Enforcement Division found insufficient evidence that Mayor Garcia, Councilmembers Andrews and Richardson had used taxpayer-paid resources for communications that advocated passage of Measure M. The Aug. 28 letter reached the same conclusion for the reasons stated above regarding Councilwoman Price.
To our knowledge, FPPC's investigation into the taxpayers' allegations regarding the City of LB's action continues.
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