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COC Measure E Committee, COC Foundation Fined $14,500 For Campaign Violations

The “Yes on E Committee” supporting College of the Canyons Measure E and the College of the Canyons Foundation have been fined $14,500 in total for alleged campaign violations.

In two separate decisions, the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) fined the committee $9,000 and the COC Foundation $5,500 for violations related to timely disclosures of late contributions and a minor advertising disclosure violation.

The committee formed to support the $230 million education bond, which was passed in June of 2016 for donation and advertising disclosures, according to the FPPC.

The COC Foundation was a “major funder” of the committee as the sole donor to contribute more than $50,000.

The Political Reform Act requires major donor committees to file campaign statements and reports to disclose their campaign activities.

For any contributions of $1,000 or more received in the 90 days leading up to the election the committee has been formed to support, the committee must file a “late contributions” report within 24 hours. 

The Measure E committee was fined $9,000 for violations related to the timely filing of several late contribution reports and campaign statements as well as failure to comply with advertisement disclosures, according to FPPC documents.

The FPPC did not impose the maximum possible penalty of $20,000, as it “did not find evidence of an intention to conceal, deceive, or mislead.”

While the committee did have a number of late filings, including for the three $50,000 contributions from the COC Foundation, committee treasurer Robert McCarty stated that it was mainly due to inexperience. 

Additionally, each of the “late contributions” reports filed late were disclosed on pre-election campaign statements prior to the election. 

McCarty was a first time volunteer treasurer unfamiliar with the Political Reform Act’s reporting requirements, and has stated “he does not intend to serve as treasurer or assume other positions that would require him to file campaign statements and reports in California in the future,” according to the FPPC report.

One of the counts alleged that the committee had purchased and displayed a banner that did not properly identify the committee with a “paid for by” statement or the COC Foundation as a major funder.

The banner read “YES on E for College of the Canyons, Excellence in Education” and included the committee’s website, which the committee contended was enough that “anyone who saw the banner at least could have figured out that the Committee was the true source of that advertisement,” according to the report.

In a second decision, the College of the Canyons Foundation was fined $5,500 for failing to timely file three 24-hour contributions and a major donor statement, according to the FPPC. 

The committee made three $50,000 late contributions to the “Yes on E Committee” in 2016, on March 22, April 26 and May 18.

In a similar instance as the first decision, while the reports were not filed within 24 hours, they did file contribution reports for the three $50,000 contributions and filed pre-election campaign statements prior to the election.

“The violations seem to have been negligent, as the Foundation filed its campaign statement soon after receiving contact from the Enforcement Division. These violations seem to be an isolated incident, and the Foundation does not have prior enforcement history,” read the FCCP report.


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COC Measure E Committee, COC Foundation Fined $14,500 For Campaign Violations

2 comments

  1. The FPPC investigations of the Yes on E Committee and the COC Foundation were very inadequate .

    Lundgren Management , a major contractor to the college (Science Building, Canyon Country campus) made donations to the Committee of $49,950 before the election. This is $50.00 under the $50,000 threshold for being a major donor.
    After the election Lundgren made two donations totaling $60,000 to bail out the Committee. Why would anyone donate money to a bond committee after the result of the election is known.

    Surprisingly, the stipulation for settlement FPPC case #17/287 includes this language on page 8, line 18 “It is in the interest of settlement that the Enforcement Division Is not counting as a violation the committee and McCarty’s failure to identify the economic or other special interest of the Foundation, the sole major funder of $50,000 or more in it’s name”.

    Why the hell not? Was the truth important, or rushing a settlement?

    How about the special interest of Lundgren Management that worked behind the scenes with the Committee to time their contributions to avoid the necessary disclosure on campaign materials as a major donor.

    Mr McCarty is not an unsophisticated individual. During the campaign he was a member of the COC Foundation, and he is a partner in a CPA firm located in Woodland Hills.

    The truth is that the Foundation and the Committee were “thick as thieves” during the campaign for Measure E a $230,000,000 General Obligation bond that property owners will be repaying for generations to come. They worked together to trick and deceive the voters and taxpayers.

    The Trustees of the college refuse to investigate where the source funding for the Foundation donation of $150,000. Shame on them. The Foundation is an auxiliary unit of the college and the college pays the salaries , benefits, and supplies office space to the Foundation. The Trustees have a responsibility to the taxpayers of the community college district to examine the activities of the Foundation.

    Don’t you agree?

    Measure E was the most expensive campaign in the history of the Santa Clarita Valley. The financial shenanigans of the COC Foundation and the Yes on E Committee richly deserve to be disclosed to the public.

  2. Riddle me this.

    How can two senior level (including Van Hook) public employees write checks, seemingly at will, on a COC Foundation account without COC Foundation board approval totaling $150,000 for a political campaign that they benefit from not be the definition of embezzlement?

    Where is the list of all the donors to the COC Foundation who got tax write-offs?

    Where is the list of COC Foundation donors who were granted contracts?

    Why is the complicit local (bought and paid for?) press not doing its own investigations?

    Why is the Los Angeles County District Attorney, the California Attorney General (non-profit watchdog), the IRS, the FBI, and the SEC not conducting investigations into any of this?

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About Wyatt Smith

Wyatt was born and raised in Santa Clarita. After graduating from Hart High School in 2012, he continued his studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he earned a degree in applied statistics. After a year and a half working in the digital advertising industry, Wyatt left his previous field of work to pursue his interest in writing.