DeMaio, GOP draw battle lines
The FPPC is investigating the conservative political firebrand for campaign finance allegations; local GOP continues support of DeMaio’s opponent and county party chair
COUNTY — An all-out political war has exploded over the past several weeks as Republican state Assembly candidate Carl DeMaio is subject to allegations of campaign finance violations.
Brian Marvel, president of the Peace Officers Research Association of California, filed a Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) complaint on Aug. 28 against DeMaio, who is running for the 75th District seat against Republican Andrew Hayes. Marvel alleges DeMaio has violated contribution limits, misused candidate-controlled ballot measure committee funds, failed to accrue expenses on campaign reports and the Reform California Voter Guide is actually an additional campaign committee controlled by DeMaio.
Additionally, nine prominent Republican elected officials sent a letter on Sept. 17 to the party’s Central Committee in support of Hayes and Corey Gustafson, the chair, after DeMaio and former chair Paula Whitsell attempted to take back Hayes’ endorsement. Whitsell resigned in March and Gustafson was tapped as the new chair.
Finally, Republican Amy Reichert, who ran for the District 4 seat on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors after Nathan Fletcher resigned, alleges she was assaulted by a DeMaio supporter on Sept.15 who tore her sign that read “Carl DeMaio threatened me.” The incident was over internal party politics.
DeMaio denied the FPPC allegations through a spokesperson to Voice of San Diego on Sept. 17.
“The political establishment doesn’t like that Carl DeMaio fights them and has exposed their corruption, so they have filed blatantly false and frivolous complaints against our campaigns for years,” Jen Jacobs told the outlet. “It won’t distract or intimidate Carl DeMaio into backing down from fighting them and reforming our broken state.”
Marvel, who currently is a San Diego police officer, said a second FPPC complaint was filed against DeMaio before the PORAC complaint and the two have been merged into one investigation. He said PORAC was tipped by two local sources into DeMaio’s alleged infractions and once they researched the matter, decided to file a complaint.
Marvel, who was also the president of the San Diego Police Officers Association for 10 years, said the issues with DeMaio spans back to DeMaio’s time as a San Diego city councilman. Specifically, DeMaio was the only member to vote no on a survivor’s benefit for officers killed in the line of duty and their spouses receiving the benefits.
Marvel said the POA and officers were offended and the association campaigned against DeMaio when he ran for mayor in 2012. DeMaio lost to Bob Filner and then lost by four points to Democrat Rep. Scott Peters in their 2014 congressional race.
This year, meanwhile, the PORAC has supported Hayes’ candidacy donating $40,000 in February, according to Voice of San Diego.
The FPPC complaint
State law limits the amount of money a candidate for state office can receive from a single source. The law also allows a candidate to control a ballot measure committee, like DeMaio does with Reform California, but funds raised for the committee can only be used in relation to a state or local measure and cannot be used to contribute to a candidate’s campaign.
Marvel’s complaint states on Nov. 11, 2023, before DeMaio announced his campaign for the 75th Assembly District, the Reform California website showed a disclaimer: “Ad paid for by Reform California. Advertisement was not authorized by a candidate or a committee controlled by a candidate.” After DeMaio filed for office, another disclaimer appeared: “Ad paid for by Carl DeMaio for State Assembly 2024 — FPPC # 1464955.5
“It appears the DeMaio for Assembly campaign simply inherited the massive infrastructure of Reform California, which is an illegal non-monetary (or in-kind) contribution from Reform California to the DeMaio for Assembly committee,” the complaint reads. “The making of this contribution was not properly disclosed. We could find no non-monetary contributions listed on the Form 460 for DeMaio for Assembly during the period in which he became a candidate and would have theoretically transferred the website (06/30/2023—12/31/2023). We also could find no reported in-kind contribution on the two pre-election reports submitted before the primary election (1/1/2024—1/20/2024 and 01/21/2024—02/17/2024) or the recent semi-annual statements (02/18/2024—12/31/2024) due July 31, 2024.”
Another alleged violation comes from a failure to report of an ad buy from DeMaio’s campaign. On Dec. 18, 2023, DeMaio’s campaign sent out a press release stating that he “makes an aggressive TV/Cable buy” with a value of $260,000, according to the complaint.
The complaint said PORAC found no expenditures or accrued expenses for a media buy, likely in violation of the requirement to accrue goods and services which are received but not yet paid.
The complaint said no such expenditures or accrued expenses on the Assembly committee’s first pre-election report from Jan. 1-20. The expenditures for TV ads to not appear until the second pre-election reporting period from Jan. 21-Feb. 17, the complaint states.
Marvel said it appears the expense was not properly accrued to inflate the candidate’s cash on hand to mislead the media and the public.
The final complaint targets Reform California, which also includes a registered “slate mailer organization” called Reform California Voter Guide. DeMaio is listed as the chairman of the voter guide.
Marvel alleges the voter guide entity is registered as a slate mailer organization and has not designated itself as a recipient committee. The rub, per the complaint, is it appears likely Reform California Voter Guide is a recipient committee and, therefore, an impermissible candidate-controlled general-purpose committee.
“Under the so-called ‘one bank account rule,’ the Political Reform Act prohibits a candidate for state office who controls a committee for his election to office from controlling a general-purpose committee that makes contributions or independent expenditures to support or oppose other candidates,” the complaint reads. “There are facts which suggest the Reform California Voter Guide was in fact raising and accepting contributions to support DeMaio’s Assembly candidacy rather than mere payments for other candidates or measures to appear on slate mailers.”
Marvel said it appears DeMaio was controlling the committee in violation of the one bank account rule. Financial reports from Jan. 21-Feb. 17 show the Reform California Voter Guide disclosed $461,819.10 in 2024. According to the complaint, $200,426.10 came from DeMaio’s Assembly committee.
The complaint states several mailers produced by Reform California Voter Guide allocate nearly all of the communications to DeMaio’s candidacy to either to support him or oppose Hayes. Marvel also alleges was on the board of the voter guide entity citing the organization’s Statement of Organization paperwork.
“This name is further used in his candidate-controlled ballot measure committee,” the complaint states. “For these reasons, it seems more than likely that Mr. DeMaio controls Reform California Voter Guide and, since it is also likely that entity is a recipient committee, that he and the organization have violated the one bank account rule.”
Local GOP battles
Hayes was endorsed by the San Diego County Republican Party in June 2023 in the lead-up to the primary election in March. DeMaio, who announced his candidacy in December 2023, won the primary with 43% of the vote, and then he and Whitsell attempted to have the Central Committee reconsider its endorsement of Hayes and endorse DeMaio, according to previous media reports. However, Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey sent an email to the Central Committee and Whitsell on April 1 questioning the potential of Hayes’ endorsement to be stripped.
Bailey said emails and text messages showed DeMaio “pushing” Whitsell and others to rescind the endorsement. Whitsell removed executive board members without cause and refused to follow the bylaws and past precedent, Bailey said. It was then he altered the Central Committee.
Bailey said no endorsement has ever been withdraw in his 12 years on the Executive Committee and the party’s bylaws prevent such action.
“I used to be a big DeMaio fan but then saw first-hand how he often didn’t use the money he raised to benefit the causes he said he would,” Bailey added. “I feel bad for all of the donors that have been duped, including my mom. Eventually, I was able to convince her to stop donating.”
(The video below shows an ad for Reform Califonia to combat tax measures, but reroutes the user to DeMaio’s State Assembly website.)
In mid-April, Hayes agreed to certain stipulations from the party and DeMaio agreed not to fight the endorsement. Part of Hayes’ deal was he would not be able to use the part for member communications such as mailers, appearing on voter guides and others, Bailey said.
However, DeMaio began endorsing other candidates not endorsed by the party, so the deal with Hayes was void.
“Once Carl started endorsing other candidates for office that were not endorsed by the party, out of retribution for their support of Andrew, then the deal blew up,” Bailey added. “Once it was clear Carl was not going to be a team player (to be clear he has not been a team player for years unless he can benefit) or honor his commitment to the deal, Andrew became eligible for the full endorsement benefits.”
Once the county party endorses a candidate, it opens up the potential for unlimited campaign donations from the party on behalf of a campaign.
The blowback was swift and fierce and Whitsell resigned in spring, and Gustafson was unanimously elected as the party’s next chair. Since then, elected officials reiterated their support for Hayes and Gustafson as allegations emerged of DeMaio working to undermine both.
This month, 10 elected officials signed the letter including Rep. Darrell Issa, state Sen. Brian Jones, Supervisor Joel Anderson, mayors Dane White (Escondido), Rebecca Jones (San Marcos), John Franklin (Vista), Bill Wells (El Cajon) and John Minto (Santee), along with Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk Jordan Marks.
Thanks to the letter and pushing back, Hayes’ privileges have been restored such as using branding on mailers, his endorsement on the website and others.
“Andrew Hayes is exactly the type of ethical, principled leader we need to represent North and East County San Diego in the State Assembly,” the letter reads. “His vision for California, combined with his commitment to serve with integrity and humility, sets him apart as a true rising star in our Party. We would like to make special note of the principled leadership shown by Chairman Corey Gustafson in recent days. At a time when Party unity and a clear moral compass are essential, Chairman Gustafson has stood against an immense amount of pressure from a candidate who has decided to put personal ambition ahead of our Party's shared values and goals.”
The 75th District spans from Rainbow, Fallbrook, Valley Center east to Ocotillo Wells, along with Ramona, Poway, Lakeside, Jamul south to the border.
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Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled Paula Whitsell and Amy Reichert. We regret the error.