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San Diego's June election campaign has already claimed its first ethics victim, "Yes on Proposition A," the committee that backed the successful measure to ban so-called project labor agreements in the city of San Diego.
According to a stipulation between the campaign committee and the state's Fair Political Practices Commission set to be heard at the FPPC's monthly meeting next week, "Yes on A" broke state law by running TV spots that failed to clearly identify who was paying for them.
Though the commercials displayed a line saying that major funders of the committee were the Associated Builders & Contractors of San Diego, Inc. and the Associated General Contractors of San Diego, Inc., the statement ran too briefly and was obscured by the video's background, the stipulation says.
"The disclosure statement was not displayed on a contrasting background, but instead was displayed on a multi-colored background that reflected several people standing just behind the disclosure text. Additionally, the text of the advertising disclosure statement was displayed for less than five seconds. Therefore, the public was deprived of the opportunity to sufficiently view the disclosure."
After the FPPC notified the committee that it was violating the law and said it needed to fix its spots, the group "promptly complied with this direction, and the advertisement was corrected 6 days prior to the election date. Furthermore, only the advertisement containing the corrected disclosure statements aired after the committee was contacted."
As a result of its cooperation, the stipulation says, the Prop A committee will have to pay only a $2500 fine, in the mid-range for such penalties.
San Diego's June election campaign has already claimed its first ethics victim, "Yes on Proposition A," the committee that backed the successful measure to ban so-called project labor agreements in the city of San Diego.
According to a stipulation between the campaign committee and the state's Fair Political Practices Commission set to be heard at the FPPC's monthly meeting next week, "Yes on A" broke state law by running TV spots that failed to clearly identify who was paying for them.
Though the commercials displayed a line saying that major funders of the committee were the Associated Builders & Contractors of San Diego, Inc. and the Associated General Contractors of San Diego, Inc., the statement ran too briefly and was obscured by the video's background, the stipulation says.
"The disclosure statement was not displayed on a contrasting background, but instead was displayed on a multi-colored background that reflected several people standing just behind the disclosure text. Additionally, the text of the advertising disclosure statement was displayed for less than five seconds. Therefore, the public was deprived of the opportunity to sufficiently view the disclosure."
After the FPPC notified the committee that it was violating the law and said it needed to fix its spots, the group "promptly complied with this direction, and the advertisement was corrected 6 days prior to the election date. Furthermore, only the advertisement containing the corrected disclosure statements aired after the committee was contacted."
As a result of its cooperation, the stipulation says, the Prop A committee will have to pay only a $2500 fine, in the mid-range for such penalties.