Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor and community activists accused the San Francisco 49ers this week of funneling “dark money” from unidentified donors into the City Council race targeting her allies and promoting candidates considered friendlier to the NFL team that runs Levi’s Stadium.
The accusations came after BLUPAC, a San Francisco-based 501(c)(4) nonprofit created in March 2015, launched ads against Gillmor and her council allies — all of whom have been outspoken critics of the 49ers. The group sponsored ads against Councilwoman Debi Davis and candidate Tino Silva and sent texts to Santa Clara residents with similar messages. Four Santa Clara council seats are up for grabs next month.
There is no indication of any direct link between the 49ers and BLUPAC, and team officials dismissed the accusation.
“This organization does not make a practice of commenting on political matters and will not begin doing so now in response to unsubstantiated rumors that support the personal agendas of local politicians,” said Bob Lange, the team’s vice president of communications.
According to campaign finance records, BLUPAC made a $49,265 contribution to a Long Beach-based group called Citizens for Economic Council, which then paid for campaign mail supporting former Mayor Patty Mahan, Ahmad Rafah, John McLemore and Mohammed Nadeem, for the seven-member City Council.
The man behind BLUPAC wouldn’t disclose its donors.
“The identity of our donors is not relevant because we don’t take orders from them and they don’t tell us what to do,” said Doug Chan, a San Francisco-based attorney and president of BLUPAC. Chan’s law firm doesn’t list the 49ers among its clients, which include PG&E and the San Francisco Police Commission. “The identity of our donors is not pertinent to what we do.”
But Gillmor, joined by other 49ers critics at a news conference, said the public deserves to know who’s behind the BLUPAC.
“Let’s not let this fake organization with laundered money tell us who to vote for,” said Gillmor, adding that she believes the Niners are funding it. “Mr. York should come out and say I’m involved with this or I’m not – but be honest.”
Stand Up For Santa Clara spokesman Burt Field also accused Rich Robinson — a San Jose-based political consultant — of being part of the scheme. Robinson, who’s a partner at a law firm that contracts with Chan, told IA he’s done “legal work” for BLUPAC — but that’s it.
The team, which has meddled in city politics before, has struggled to regain its business-friendly council majority after former Mayor Jamie Matthews unexpectedly quit a day after his city hosted Super Bowl 50.
Jay Wierenga, a spokesman for the Fair Political Practices Commission, could not comment specifically on whether BLUPAC must disclose its donors. But he said it’s a “basic tenet that failure to disclose the true source of a contribution is a serious violation of the Political Reform Act.”
