Complaints filed with the city and the state’s political watchdog group allege that mayoral candidate Sam Liccardo solicited donations before he could legally start fundraising and failed to record in-kind contributions.
Steve Kline, who unsuccessfully ran against District 6 Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio in 2012, logged the complaints, one with San Jose’s Elections Commission and the other with the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission.
In the FPPC complaint, Kline says Liccardo violated the “one bank account rule” by spending personal funds without first depositing them into his campaign account. He says the candidate and downtown councilman failed to disclose personal contributions and in-kind donations from event hosts.
Citing a San Jose Inside article, Kline suggests that Liccardo failed to properly report discounts from the restaurant where he held his campaign kickoff as in-kind donations.
The city hired San Francisco-based law firm Hanson Bridgett to investigate the complaint.
Liccardo campaign manager Ragan Henninger brushed off the complaints as petty.
“I think it’s a frivolous complaint that’s sadly become the norm in San Jose politics,” she said. “But they’re unsustainable, very baseless complaints. Labor interests have filed similar complaints against Mayor [Chuck] Reed and the chamber of commerce.”
Here comes another open-mouth smile for the camera from Saratoga Sam
Who cares anymore because Chuck and his “sunshine” crap have made all of the crooks liars. They no longer care because they will not be punished. Can never say it enough, be careful what you vote for! It is almost funny but so sad for our once great city.
Think about this for a minute. If Sam is cheating already ( and there is no doubt that he is) , how much more illegal activities can we expect from Sam? It looks like Sam is picking up , where Reed is left off.
Not only does Bike Boy Sam violate the campaign laws, his campaign flack makes light of it, as if it weren’t a problem.
I wish his campaign office would stop bombarding me with his fliers. I get them and they go right in the recycle bin. I don’t even read them. What a waste of paper.