Campaign Spending Limits & Dark Money

Unprecedented Amount of Money Raised by Special Interest-Controlled Candidates

Campaign Spending Limits

In Cupertino City Council Campaigns, candidates have the option of agreeing to spending limits. Normally every candidate agrees because the spending limit is quite high, in 2020 it is $30,000 and it's difficult to raise even $25,000. But not this year. In the 2020 campaign, things are different. The developer-controlled candidates have already shot past $30,000 in the amount of money they've collected,

There are two ways you can raise such vast sums of campaign money.

The second way unethical candidates raise large amount of campaign cash is to have dark money interests secretly funding individual contributions. A company will tell an employee to have their spouse make a large donation to a candidate promising to reimburse the employee with a bonus or raise where the net extra income covers the cost of the donation. Or a wealthy individual will give money to a friend and tell them to make the donation to the candidate.

2. Contributions from Special Interest Groups Directly to Your Campaign

Dark Money (Money Spent on the Candidate's Behalf)

A very popular work-around to Campaign Spending Limits is to have special-interest groups campaign on your behalf without actually sending the money to you. The advantage of this method is that you can claim that you had nothing to do with any of the attack mailers that these special-interest groups send out. In 2018, special-interest groups and developers spent nearly $600,000 supporting the three losing candidates (Savita Vaidhayanathan, Hung Wei, and Orrin Mahoney). This money doesn't count toward the voluntary spending limit because the candidate didn't directly spend the money.

The problem with this method is that your opponents will inform voters of the sources of this dark money (if the source can be identified). If the source of the money is 501(c)(4) (social welfare) 501(c)(5) (unions) or 501(c)(6) (trade association) group there is no requirement to disclose who the actual donors to these organizations are. If the source of the money is a for profit organization then, like a developer, it's clear where the funds are coming from. But sometimes there is illegal campaign funding where the  group doesn't obtain an FPPC ID# and the source of the money is simply not disclosed and there is no way to find out where the money came from. Here's an example of a 2018 mailer from an Astroturf group "Cupertino Getting Things Done Together." No FPPC ID and no information as to who is funding this mailer; thankfully all the dark money in 2018 didn't help elect any of these three candidates.

The Question to Ask Yourself, Before You Cast Your Ballot

The question to ask yourself, before you cast your ballot is this:  "Do you want the Worst City Council that money can buy?" Or are you willing to look at each candidate, evaluate their positions an understanding of key issues, and vote for the candidates that have the best interests of Cupertino, and the region, at heart?

Proudly NOT Endorsed or Funded by the Developer-Controlled Cupertino Chamber of Commerce and San Jose Mercury News, Special Interest Groups, or WIMBYs!

Steven Scharf for Cupertino City Council 2020 FPPC ID #1388099