Transcripts For SFGTV LIVE Ethics Commission 20170124 : comp

Working with the governor and i know your central wanting has met with him with the Apprenticeship Committee and on the state level we are in load as is regulation passed and come into the regulated system that all the workers exist have protection they know theyre right and have these good jobs no matter what happened there will be workings we want the workers to be protected as they communitybased introduce the many changes. I was wondering which automobile was stepping up and taking the lead i know the tooerms have been involved i dont know the technology planets i guess. Thats material product so, yes there are other units involved. Who are they. I believe the usc w and the tooermz are the main unions and in other states seiu. I dont know. I dont of any other questions its looks like were done you guys are a lot of work ahead of you, we can roll up our sleeves xhesh if we could make a motion to continue this item we can continue this item. Madam chair. As a matter of housekeeping. Ill move to continue the item. Without objection as well. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, mr. Clerk further business. Theres no further business. Thank you very th, 2016 special meeting. Any of the commissioners have any comments or corrections . I have got a couple of either grammatical or literary additions. One suggested rearrangement of language and one question. On page 4, commissioner could you speak into the microphone . On page 4, under discussion for enforcement and report. The end of the second paragraph theres a reference to ms. Blome noted that bdr attempted an assetb search of mr. Chris jackson and the courts investigation determined that there are no assets. Is the court the right word . Do you remember . I didnt think you said court. It should be bdr. Good catch. Bdr, okay, may i propose that change, mr. Chairman . You may. Then on page 5, above the words Public Comment, and maybe should ask what how we phrase this as a customary practice, is present tense or past tense . Because that sentence says, the individual commissioners acknowledge in the present tense. And im going to suggest this change the individual commissioners acknowledged, and congratulated. Of the executive director pelham on her election to the governing board of the council on governmental ethics. I have written this out. And then also above that, the last emphasized point in the first paragraph in conjunction with the controllers office, it should be present tense there develop definitions of the types of activities. Not past tense developed. All right. Any other commissioners comments . Corrections . Assuming those corrections are made, ill take Public Comment on the minutes, if there is any Public Comment . If not i will move approval as amended. Second. All in favor . Aye. Opposed . Hearing none, the minutes are accepted unanimously. Turning to item no. 3, no. 4 im sorry, commissioner, did you ask for general Public Comment . I did ask. You did . Yes. No comment. My apologies. Thank you. No. 4 is come to the microphone. Because i was trying excuse me, first, my name is alpha buie and im mentioned in item no. 3 and i raised my hand and i think, if im looking at the agenda correctly, this is the item that you are speaking of right now . No, that is item 4 that were coming for. 3 was approval of the minutes of the last meeting. I beg your pardon. No problem. All right. Thank you. I will call that item. Thank you so much. And that is hearing on the merits alfalfa buie treasurer and the African American Democratic Club sfec no. 1313 111 2, and ms. Blome, do you want to outline the complaint and ill take testify from you, ms. Buie. Thank you, chair. Actually, the Oakland Ethics Commission is here to represent staff in this hearing because it involves a presentation of evidence and he is barred in california. So he has been kind enough to come over and i will ask mr. Daju to present the staffs case. We worked through come before the microphone. As far as the process goes, did you want me to present our hearing and then the respondent will have an opportunity to respond to it . Or make any kind of statements . Yes, you each have ten minutes, and then ms. Buie will have an opportunity for her presentation after yours. Good evening, commissioners, mala daju representing the San Francisco Ethics Commission enforcement staff. As you know in the matter of alpha buie and just as a little bit of background, the African American Democratic Club is a general Purpose Committee that was active in 20112012. In 2014, the enforcement staff had opened up a case and found that there was three failures to file semiannual statements for 2012 and 2013. Commission staff reached out to the respondent, and when i say respondent i mean ms. Buie and the commission she is treasurer for. Unfortunately the semiannual statements, delinquent semiannual statements were never filed, and the staff didnt wasnt able to reach out to the respondent anymore. Since then, commission hasnt been talking to respondent. They have attempted to resolve this matter, and in 2014 because the matter they werent able to resolve the matter with the respondent, a probable cause hearing was held by the commission. The Commission Found probable cause that the respondent did, in fact, fail to file the three semiannual statements. An accusation was issued by the commission for those three failures and that is what the brief is here today about. The respondent in this matter was served with this brief back in december, and also with notice of this hearing would be held today. The relevant statutes were also served on respondent and she was given the opportunity to submit any evidence to the Commission Staff for this matter. And also, to respond to the brief. Until now the Commission Staff did not receive any evidence or response brief or any type of communications from respondent. Based on the evidence that was issued or that was submitted to the commission in the brief, we recommend that commission find that respondent did fail to file three semiannual statements and that the commission issue a 1,000 fine for each failure to file semiannual statement, and also, that the Commission Order that either the committee or the respondent file some type of paperwork indicating what the status of the commission of the status of the committee is right now . Whether one one of the issues was whether the respondent in this matter was still the treasurer . In order for her not to be the treasurer, the state law requires that she file a form 410 which would delegate the power of the treasurer to somebody else. Or if the committee is no longer active, if they would like to terminate the committee so that the semiannual statements dont continue to be due, they can file a terminating 410, but it would require them to file the semiannual statements all the way up until the date that they indicate in the 410 that the committee was active until. I have one matter i would like to address with the brief. Unfortunately, in the brief we have both ms. Bui and the African American Democratic Club as respondents. The probable cause and the accusation that was issued by the commission only applied to ms. Bui as the respondent and therefore i would like to strike the African American Democratic Club. I would be happy to answer questions. Doesnt the club have an obligation to file the termination statement . All filing obligations by the committee that the treasurer the treasurer and the principle officer is liable for any failure to File Campaign statements, including form 410 to terminate. Any commissioners have any questions . I would like to hear ms. Buies testimony and obviously ask her a question or two. Thank you. Ms. Buie. Good evening once again im alpha buie and thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to come and speak. First of all, going back to 2012. During that time, it i was asked to turn over the books. Now the only thing that im probably guilty of is not being aware that i needed to file this form that he spoke of, to remove my name of being the treasurer. There wass a period of time where the African American Democratic Club from the time i was asked to hand over the books to the incumbents, there was a period of time at that point in time between that moment and the time that they actually had the election, which i havent had time to go through, because im going through some stuff with a whole bunch of water damage in my home, and displaced and a lot madness going on in my personal life like now. So a lot of this i havent been able to address. But there was this period of time. And so when i contacted after first being aware these filings needed to take place, i contacted mr. Saint croix and he was on the phone for me, we probably spent an hour on the phone, trying to get the records from the wells fargo bank, where we had done business with and our banking. So that i could reconcile these records, and then file the reports that needed to be filed. At that point, wells fargo told mr. Saint croix and i at that time that they had no record. They couldnt go back and find the records. So i asked mr. Saint croix, who signed on one of these things, what am i to do at this point . He said, i dont know what you can do if wells fargo cant give you the records. At that point in time, i handed over the books, in 2012. The reason i know it was 2012 i was also runing a phonebanking campaign for president obama at that time for him to get elected. Reelected. So i had my mom checking on a ill month and the phone bank and when they asked for the books i gladly handed them over. I called this this gentleman indicated that i didnt contact anybody. I called the Ethics Commission, mr. Saint croix and a couple of other people, just trying to figure out in this time what can i do to make this go away . What can i file . I dont have what you say you need. I havent been the treasurer i havent been involved with the African American Democratic Club really since 2012. So all i wanted to know was what do you need me to do to make this go away forever and not come back . And nobody has responded to me. From the time i got the first one until now and at the time that i got the first one, had i not been going over to my house, where i cant live and checking my mail and picking up stuff, i wouldnt have even known this, because i havent been able to live in my home where my mail was been going since may of 2016, based on other damage that is going on. So whatever i can do to make it go away, i am here today, because that is what i would like to do is to be able to get rid of this once and for all. I dont feel in any way, shape, form, or fashion, that i should be penalized and i certainly dont have 3,000 to give anyone something im not totally responsible for and even if i was responsible at this point in time in my life i dont have 3,000. Commissioner kopp . What took so long for you to appear . This has been on our calendar, what . Two times. Four, today. When i actually read through it, i did see something that said if i wanted to respond, if i wanted to file something, and i did call somebody, and they said that i didnt have to appear earlier. The form notice does say you dont have to appear. When i got when i got. If im going to face a fine, im going to appear. I got the second one, the second thing, then, im like, okay, its not im not its not going to go away. Then i saw mr. Saintcroixs name at the top of it and i really felt because he was the person who was on the phone with me to wells fargo. An hour. So i was really surprised to get this, and see that his name was up there whether when he was on the phone with me to get records or to try to direct me as to what i needed to do. When did the club end its activities . That i really dont know. As i said, i did not have any real involvement after 2012. After 2012. Yes. The reason i didnt have any real involvement after that, as i said, i was running the phonebanking and then from that, i was back and forth from San Francisco to memphis, tennessee, where i was caring for my mom, who later passed away. So i was not trying to keep up with what was happening with the club. I was trying to keep up with what was happening with my mother and unfortunately i didnt bring that. Its in my car and i left the funeral thing and im not standing before you just to say here is that. I had some reallife crisiss that you needed to deal with and i couldnt be here dealing with that. As far as you know, does the club still exist and is active . You know, i dont know. All i know is that the person that i last know who came in as the Vice President , i did get just a text message from her about this, saying you need to handle this. So i dont know what i have not i have not in any way been involved. How did you initially get involved with the club . Initially i got involved with the club because i really wanted to have a voice in what was happening in the local politics and in terms of being able to hear what peoples platforms were, and to just be able to be a person that had some kind of input and stood up for something in terms of trying to make my community better. It should be known, i mean, i am not only am i a responsible citizen, i am a San Francisco peace officer. I dont go around ignoring and not obeying the law and i have been since 1989, i have been. So i am not a person who walks around and just takes things so lightly. My plate during this time was very, very full, as it is overflowing right now. It is overflowing. And i just, as i said, with everything that i have got going i really am here because i would like this to go away. Well, one of the problems is that the club has not terminated insofar as the Ethics Commissions records show. Can you shed any light on why that hasnt occurred . No, i really let me ask it another way who was the president , or the leader . When the 2013, 2013 the election, which was supposed to take place in 2012, the 2013 eelection, i think it actually took place in 2013. I went back and found an email to that effect, but i didnt bring that in today. But that email suggested that the election actually took place in 2013 and at that time mr. Karl williams would have been the president and Joe Eli Jackson would have been the Vice President. Are either of them here tonight . No . Hmmm . No. No. Anybody else you can tell us who was an officer . Besides them and you . The only other person who is here this evening was the outgoing president in 2012 and that is mr. Charles spencer and he is here. I have a question to somebody on the staff how did we get rid of an organization that no longer functions and nobody appears to sign documents to terminate it . Ms. Buie continues to be the treasurer, so she continues to be responsible under the Campaign Finance reform ordinance. So she can file a termination statement. I know she is, but nobody is doing something. Right. Can we do something and say you are no longer recognized . We dont have that power, but that is something that is on our list of things to add to actually. If i may, sir, i just want to be clear . If there is something that i write or something that i say . You fill out a form . I fill out a form. To terminate. But if you are not treasurer anymore. Fill out the form and terminate it. I may be wrong and staff correct me, but i think one of the problems is which you file to terminate, you have to say you have no funds or if you have funds what you have done with them . You have to have a Financial Statement about it and that is what i understand she is saying the problem that they had initially to get wells fargo to cooperate and she says wells fargo didnt cooperate. Right. I share your frustration. It just seems that we have a number of these cases where the party being charged is told that you have to do x. And they dont do it, and we penalize them every six months, because they didnt do it. Just seems to me there has to be some way not to keep up runing up the fines to get it closed . Chair renne, may i ask a question . Paul . Sure. Ms. Buie, can you go back to the discussion you had with wells fargo along with director saint croix and shed a little more information on what you were asking for and what they were not able to provide . And then what director saint croixs advice to you was . Yes, what i was asking for i had Bank Account Numbers from when we had accounts during the time i was actively acting in the capacity of the treasurer. And during that time, when i was calling to get that one of the things let me back this up a little bit, so ill real clear on why. When i was not acting in the capacity of the treasurer, the whole books and all the binders and stuff that i had, there was another person during that election, when they asked me to turn the books, that was transferred to. If i had brought that box with that stuff, i could show you the box, where it was shipped back from the person was outofstate who was elected as treasurer. That box was shipped back to me with all that. I still have that stuff in that box. It was shipped back to me. In the meantime, this time that you are speaking of, had already passed and was already delinquent. So i didnt have anything. With the information that i had, the old Bank Accounts, i was asking wells fargo to give me Bank Statements. So that i could go back over the Bank Statements for the period in question . If i could go back over the Bank Statements to reconcile with statements to see what was spent and if anything was taken