Oakland Public Ethics Commission Regular Meeting Summary - May 21, 2025
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Oakland Public Ethics Commission Regular Meeting - May 21, 2025
The Oakland Public Ethics Commission (PEC) met in regular session on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at 6:30 p.m., and was called to order at 6:31 p.m. in Hearing Room 2, Oakland City Hall. Chair Francis Upton IV and Commissioner Vincent Steele were absent; Vice-Chair Tanya Bayeva presided. Commissioners Bayeva, Alea Gage, Ryan Micik, and Karun Tilak formed a four-member quorum. The Commission approved prior minutes, issued formal comments on a proposed City Council amendment to campaign-finance laws, approved an enforcement settlement, received enforcement and executive director reports, discussed a complaint-backlog strategy, considered a draft ballot measure to fund the PEC, and heard subcommittee updates.
Action Item: Approval of Minutes
- The Commission approved the draft regular meeting minutes from March 19, 2025, after correcting a typo that misidentified Vice-Chair Bayeva as "Chair." Vote: 4-0 (Gage, Micik, Tilak, Bayeva; Upton and Steele absent).
- Note: The agenda labels this item as the "March 19, 2024, Regular Meeting Minutes," but the attached draft and the meeting discussion refer to the March 19, 2025 meeting.
Action Item: OCRA and Limited Public Financing Act Amendments
Councilmembers Ramachandran, Jenkins, and Houston propose to:
- Temporarily raise campaign contribution limits from $650 to $900 for most contributors and from $1,300 to $1,800 for broad-based political committees, available only to candidates who accept expenditure limits, with a sunset on June 30, 2029.
- Permanently increase officeholder fund annual total contribution limits, including District Councilmembers from $25,000 to $75,000 and citywide offices to $100,000.
- Reauthorize the Limited Public Financing (LPF) Program for the 2026 and 2028 election cycles, subject to budget appropriation.
PEC staff recommended remaining neutral on the contribution-limit increase, but if adopted, moving the start date to July 1, 2025, and the sunset to December 31, 2026. Staff recommended either not raising officeholder limits or adjusting them only for inflation since 1999. Staff recommended supporting temporary LPF reauthorization as a bridge until Democracy Dollars is implemented.
The Commission considered the proposal in three separate motions:
- Contribution limits: The Commission voted 4-0 to remain neutral on the proposed increase, while stating that any increase should require candidates to accept expenditure limits, become effective July 1, 2025, and sunset December 31, 2026.
- Officeholder funds: The Commission voted 4-0 not to support the proposal as presented. It requested more substantiation on why behested payments and current limits are insufficient, asked for development of guardrails, and requested information on the administrative burden of operating officeholder funds.
- LPF: The Commission voted 4-0 to support reauthorizing the LPF until Democracy Dollars is implemented.
Action Item: Settlement Agreement - In the Matter of Vena Sword-Ratliff (PEC #24-15)
Enforcement Chief Tovah Ackerman presented a proposed settlement regarding an anonymous informal complaint alleging that Fire Division Manager Vena Sword-Ratliff failed to disclose her son's application for a Community Intervention Specialist position and participated in the recruitment and selection process. Staff found that she recused herself from the actual interview, the son's offered position was rescinded, and there was no evidence of intent to conceal. The proposed settlement requires Form 700 training within 45 days and a $200 administrative fee.
- The Commission approved the settlement unanimously by a 4-0 vote. No public comment was offered.
Discussion Item: Enforcement Program Report
Chief Ackerman reported that since the last update, the Enforcement Unit received 6 formal complaints, 9 informal complaints, and initiated 2 proactive complaints; rejected 15 informal complaints; assigned 4 informal complaints; dismissed 10 formal complaints; and resolved or submitted 56 complaints total. The written report stated 11 formal dismissals, but Chief Ackerman corrected the number to 10 during the meeting. She reported 153 open complaints. No public comment was offered.
Discussion Item: Executive Director Report; Disclosure and Engagement Report
Executive Director Nicolas Heidorn announced that his last day will be July 7, 2025. Applications for his successor are open through June 2, 2025. He reported that the proposed FY25-27 budget would add one investigator and a part-time law clerk to the Enforcement Unit but would not fund Democracy Dollars vouchers or LPF, and the grant-funded Democracy Dollars Outreach Specialist position would sunset. The PEC is also relocating to 250 Frank Ogawa Plaza.
Alex Van Buskirk presented disclosure highlights from the April 15, 2025, special election: mayoral and District 2 candidates raised $1,207,213 and spent $954,753 through March 29, 2025; independent expenditures totaled $1,474,715, with $1,157,230 in support and $315,532 in opposition. He also noted that 47 lobbyists are registered for 2025.
Public comment: Ralph Kanz urged that the Executive Director selection be conducted as a public process and raised concerns about the prior selection record.
Discussion Item: Enforcement Report re: Complaint Backlog Strategy
Chief Ackerman presented a plan to reduce the severe complaint backlog by applying more prosecutorial discretion, referring most Political Reform Act complaints to the FPPC, closing older minor-to-moderate cases, especially those opened before June 1, 2024, and using a seven-factor rubric for retrospective closures. As of the report date, 152 open complaints were managed by two staff members (a 1:76 staff-to-complaint ratio; Chief Ackerman cited 153 in her oral update), compared with ratios of 1:9 in San Francisco and Los Angeles and 1:14 in San Diego. Over one-third of open complaints were more than two years old.
Commissioners expressed support for the strategic reset while acknowledging it was not ideal. No formal vote was required. Public commenter Ralph Kanz said referring cases to the FPPC was "folly" and stressed giving complainants an opportunity to object.
Discussion Item: Draft Ballot Measure to Fund the PEC
Executive Director Heidorn presented draft language for a potential 2026 ballot measure, the "Oakland Anti-Corruption Act." It would impose a 20-year parcel tax (amount to be determined; staff estimated roughly $34 per parcel) to fully fund the PEC, including Democracy Dollars and an expanded five-person Enforcement Unit, and would prohibit lobbyists from giving gifts, making campaign contributions, or bundling contributions to elected officials. Commissioners discussed funding priorities, parcel-tax equity, potential competition with another parcel tax, and the timeline for finalizing the measure. No formal vote was taken. Next steps include review by the City Attorney's Office and Department of Finance and possible return to the Commission in July.
Discussion Item: Subcommittee and Commissioner Assignments
- Revenue Options Ad Hoc Subcommittee: The earlier ballot-measure discussion served as its update.
- Democracy Dollars Engagement Ad Hoc Subcommittee: Commissioner Tilak reported on a Youth Commission presentation, feedback collection, and a San Francisco Chronicle article on political participation.
- Executive Director Recruitment Subcommittee: The subcommittee met the prior day; applications are due June 2, 2025.
Public Comments & Testimony
- On the OCRA/LPF item, Gail Wallace of the League of Women Voters described Measure W as an intended "floor" for candidates without access to independent expenditures or large donors, and expressed concern that higher limits would let the same small group of donors gain more influence. Chris Nardi supported LPF reauthorization but opposed the officeholder-fund increase, noting behested payments already provide an avenue for directing funds to community groups. A former PEC chair urged a slower process, cited the 1998 Alameda County grand jury recommendation to eliminate officeholder accounts, and described them as an unfair advantage for incumbents.
- On the Executive Director Report, Ralph Kanz asked that the Executive Director recruitment be public and questioned the transparency of the previous selection process.
- On the Backlog Strategy, Ralph Kanz argued that FPPC referrals would not be timely and that complainants should have an opportunity to challenge proposed closures.
- A written public comment from BayPEC on the draft ballot measure was acknowledged.
Key Outcomes
- Approved the March 19, 2025, draft minutes with a typo correction (4-0).
- Provided three separate OCRA/LPF recommendations to the City Council, all passing 4-0: remain neutral on the contribution-limit increase with specified conditions; do not support the officeholder-fund increase as presented; and support LPF reauthorization until Democracy Dollars is implemented.
- Approved the Vena Sword-Ratliff settlement (4-0).
- Received and discussed the Enforcement Program Report, Executive Director Report, Disclosure Report, and Complaint Backlog Strategy; no formal votes were taken on those items.
- Discussed the draft PEC funding ballot measure and referred it for further staff and subcommittee refinement.
- Executive Director recruitment remains open through June 2, 2025; the FY25-27 budget must be adopted by July 1, 2025.
Meeting Transcript
All right, I would like to call the meeting to order. Uh K Top, let's start recording. Uh, welcome everyone to the May regular meeting of the Auckland Public Ethics Commission. The meeting had started at six thirty-one PM. Uh, Chair Upton is not present today, so as vice chair of the commission, I will be presiding at today's meeting. As a reminder to those in attendance, the public ethics commission is an independent agency of the city of Auckland that works to ensure compliance with the city's government ethics campaign finance, transparency and lobbyist registration laws, as well as to administer the city's public financing programs. Um we'll begin with item one of our agenda taking the role. Commissioners, please indicate if you are present as I call your name. Commissioner Gage? Present. Commissioner Mechuk. Here. Commissioner Still. Commissioner Tilak. Present. And for Commissioner Bayava, which is me, I am present. Four commissioners are present, so we have quorum. I will also note the following staff are present. Executive Director Nicholas Heidorn, Enforcement Chief Tovo Ackerman, uh program manager Suzanne Doran, and ethics analyst uh Alex Van Baskirk. Our parliamentarian for the meeting is Oliver Lubby with the city's attorney's office. Staff and commission announcements. And rather than have Director Hyder and all commissioners discuss his departure now, I will reopen this item at the end of the meeting right after item 12. Are there any staff and commission announcements not related to Director Hydorn's departure departure? Um there are no uh such announcements. Um is there any public comment? All right, we'll move to item three. Um open forum. Open forum is a time for a member of the public to comment on any matter within the jurisdiction of the public ethics commission that is not otherwise included in tonight's agenda. The commission urges members of the public not to make complaints or ask the commission to investigate alleged legal violations at public meetings, since public disclosure of such complaints or requests may undermine any subsequent investigation undertaken. Contact staff at uh contact staff at Ethics Commission at Auckland CA.gov for assistance filing a complaint. Under the Sunshine Ordinance, the Commission cannot discuss the substance of any public comment made that doesn't pertain to an item listed on the agenda. Please state your name each time you make public comment if you wish to be it to be included in the minutes of this meeting. And uh just to note that um any um each public commenter will have three minutes to talk. Um is there any public comment? There is none. Uh we will now move to action item, agenda number item four. Approval of commission meeting draft minutes from our March 19th regular meeting. Um do commissioners have any comments on the minutes. I'll just I'll just note that the um uh that the minutes at the top misidentify you as the chair of the commission, uh Vice Chair Baeva. So um I would support uh approving the minutes just with that uh amendment to correctly identify you. Yes, that's looks like it's a typos, of course. Thank you. I support that change. anybody else? Okay, I'll make the motion to approve the minutes with that change. Um I second the motion. Um let's take a roll. Um Chair Upton. Um not present, Commissioner Gage. Aye.
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