A bi-partisan political commission sent a warning letter to San Diego County Supervisor Dave Roberts for a delay in reporting a $5,000 contribution from the United Domestic Workers of America.
According to the warning letter, the California FPPC Enforcement Division found Roberts requested a payment from the UDWA to the District 3 Special Events Fund. The employee union agreed to make the payment on June 25 and the money was to be used for the State of the County address, the letter details.
The Political Reform Act requires the payment to be reported within 30 days, according to the letter.
Jay Wierenga of the FPPC told NBC 7 Investigates the source of the information that led to the warning letter was provided by the office of the supervisor. Roberts’ Chief of Staff Mel Millstein called the Commission on June 4 to ask about how to file the payment. FPPC received the needed information in an email on June 8.
“Although this filing was not made within 30 days of the actual date of the payment, we determined that further enforcement action for the late filing of this report was not warranted since there was little public harm and you self-reported this violation,” investigators wrote in the letter.
The California FPPC aids agencies and public officials with record keeping. It was created by the Political Reform Act of 1974. It also investigates alleged violations of the Act.
Click here to read the full letter from the Commission.
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In an email, Gary Gartner, a spokesperson for Roberts, said, “It was an unintentional simple error that one of two required forms was not filed by Roberts’ office reporting the contribution.”
Read the full statement from Gartner below.
In recent months, three former Roberts’ staffers have filed claims against San Diego County.
One staffer alleges Roberts misused county funds by double dipping in a county car allowance while having a staffer drive him in a county car, as well as using county funds to buy 10,000 “Dave Roberts baseball cards.”
In a separate claim filed against the county, Roberts’ former Chief of Staff Glynnis Vaughan alleges the supervisor’s office attempted to pay for a consultant through nefarious means.
In a previous interview with NBC 7 Investigates, Roberts said he feels betrayed by the staffers who have turned against him.
Full statement from Gartner:
"It was an unintentional simple error that one of two required forms was not filed by Roberts’ office reporting the contribution. Supervisor Roberts' former chief of staff filed a disclosure form reporting the contribution and receipt of a check with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors on July 16, 2014. However, he didn't file an additional Form 803 with the same information to the Clerk at the same time. It was an honest mistake. As soon as the error was brought to Roberts' attention by the County Counsel, the contribution was self reported immediately to the Fair Political Practices Commission."
