In at least two instances, the Santa Clara County Democratic Central Committee United Democratic Campaign has accepted large checks from influential state labor unions, but failed to report those contributions in a timely manner. The potential violations are easy to spot because the party’s disclosure reports for receiving funds don’t match the unions’ disclosure reports for giving money.

On Sept. 15, the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California PAC distributed $153,000 to various Democratic campaign committees. All of the contributions were reported on a late disclosure report, Form 497, filed on the same day with the Secretary of State’s office.

Among the contributions was a $25,000 check to the Santa Clara County Democratic Party. However, that contribution wasn’t reported by the Democratic central committee until Oct. 7, more than three weeks after it was sent. In the 90 days preceding an election, state law requires both parties in a campaign transaction of $1,000 or more to file a Form 497 disclosure report within 24 hours.

The $25,000 from the Construction Trades Council isn’t the only contribution filed late by the party. A second contribution of $34,000 from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO (MPO) committee was disclosed by the union on Sept. 26, but not reported by the Santa Clara Democratic Party until Oct. 2, nearly a week late.

Ultimately, those funds helped fund two State Assembly candidates running in targeted seats. On Oct. 14, the Santa Clara County committee transferred $65,000 to Tim Sbranti and $25,000 to Ken Cooley. Both Democrats are running in competitive races and have relied on union money transferred through county central committees.

Santa Clara Democratic Party denies wrongdoing

The Santa Clara County Democratic Party has denied any wrongdoing, claiming it is in compliance with state law.

“The two contributions you referenced were received and reported timely and in compliance with all campaign finance rules and regulations,” said Steve Preminger, chairman of the Santa Clara County Democratic Party. “Both contributions were received directly by our accounting firm, Henry Levy and Co., and reported within 24 hours of receipt.”

When pressed for an explanation for the discrepancies, Preminger said, “I repeat that when a check is received, the proper filing takes place. It is that simple.”

It is logical that a recipient campaign committee will lag behind the contributor in filing a disclosure report. Checks must go through the mail and be processed by the campaign treasurer. In most circumstances, the processing time takes a few days.

Indeed, the other six campaign committees that received contributions from the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California on Sept. 15 reported the funds within 10 days. The Democratic Central Committee of Marin, Democratic Party of Mendocino County and Sacramento County Democratic Central Committee, which received checks from the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, reported their $25,000 contributions on Sept. 18. Assemblyman Rob Bonta, who received $3,000 on the same transaction report, also reported the check on Sept. 18.

The Stanislaus County Democratic Central Committee claimed to have received the funds on Sept. 19, and thus, used the weekend to report its contribution on Sept. 22.

Only the Los Angeles County Democratic Party pushed the limits of “processing time” by reporting its $25,000 contribution on Sept. 24, nine days after the contribution was made.

Santa Clara County Democratic Party pattern of questionable campaign behavior

So, why did Santa Clara County Democrats wait three weeks to report their pass-through union contributions to Cooley and Sbranti?

The Santa Clara County Democratic Party has a history of testing the limits of campaign finance laws. Last year, San Jose Inside, the best independent news source in Silicon Valley, reported the county party “became the target of a FPPC investigation for coordinating with the South Bay Labor Council” to funnel money to Cindy Chavez’s campaign for county supervisor. The coordination was revealed “after identical mailers were sent out by each of the three entities,” according to San Jose Inside.

In recent weeks, the Fair Political Practices Commission has targeted several Republican legislative committees for questionable transfers between political party committees. Yet a spokesman for the state’s political watchdog said it is not currently investigating the Santa Clara Couny Democratic Party.

“If we are made aware of any discrepancies by the Secretary of State’s office, as does happen, or if anyone files a complaint, then we will look into the matter,” said Jay Wierenga, FPPC communications director.

Maybe that complaint could come from Santa Clara County Democrats. After all, Santa Clara Democratic central committee members routinely decry “money in politics.”

“I gave a well-attended talk on how money in politics is the single biggest obstacle to legislation dealing with the climate crisis,” Craig Dunkerley, a member of the Santa Clara County Democratic Central Committee, wrote in a recent post on the party’s blog. “Being on a train gave rise to the useful metaphor of parallel tracks, representing the need to work on fixing the money-in-politics problem along with whatever else anyone in the audience might rate as their #1 priority.”

Mismatched Reports: State Building and Construction Trades Council

Mismatched Reports: AFSCME

Brown just signed today, SB 776 by Sen. Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro, which will eliminate independent monitoring and enforcement of prevailing wage laws.

Not surprisingly, the bill was written and sponsored by the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, a powerful labor union labor whose members are often on the receiving end of fines and penalties for back wages.

The targeted independent compliance group, the California Construction Compliance Group, is a  non-profit organization that promotes free, open and vigorous competition in the building and construction industry. On its website, the CCCG explains that it does this “through monitoring, enforcing and evaluating changes to prevailing wage and apprenticeship laws in an effort to promote equal opportunity among prevailing wage contractors.” Until today, the CCCG has done this through independent compliance audits and follow up enforcement of the prevailing wages laws by building contractors.

The audits hold contractors accountable to state labor laws, and ensure workers are paid the appropriate wage for the hours they work, even if this is done through an audit and back wages. CCCG has conducted more than 230 company audits on a variety of projects across the state including schools, civic centers, parking garages and a myriad of other projects.

“SB 776 is designed to impede efforts to ensure construction workers are paid appropriately and treated fairly with regard to California’s prevailing wage laws,” said Philip Piel, Chairman of the California Construction Compliance Group, in a statement today. “While it is unfortunate that partisan politics favoring special interests would shield cheating contractors in California, we will continue to work within the new guidelines to hold bad employers accountable no matter who they are. SB 776 does not prohibit our organization from fulfilling its mission and we will comply with the new guidelines.”

It is not unexpected that Brown signed SB 776 — he and the bill’s author, Sen. Corbett, are friends of labor unions. Even the “Ellen Corbett for Congress” campaign website reports it is “Computer Generated / Labor Donated.”

“This is a total union overreach and is only being done because we are non-union,” said John Loudon, Executive Director of the CCCG when I spoke with him last week.

The CCCG has recovered more than $400,000 in back wages for more than 130 workers, and has been crucial to eliminating the underground construction economy, where workers can be illegally underpaid, and placed in dangerous jobs by unscrupulous contractors.

“We look forward to working with the State of California, Division of Labor Standards Enforcement to identify and combat abuse of California prevailing wage law for the workers that build our roads, schools and other public works projects,” said Piel.

But don’t hold your breath for friendly relations with the DLSE it in union-dominated California — a bill like SB 776 only emboldens the bad actors, and allows the professional bureaucrats in state government to further avoid accountability.

SB 776, authored by Sen. Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro, but written and sponsored by the union labor group State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, appears to be an effort to eliminate monitoring and enforcing prevailing wage laws through independent compliance audits and the enforcement of building contractors.

The targeted independent compliance group, the California Construction Compliance Group, is a  non-profit organization that promotes free, open and vigorous competition in the building and construction industry. On its website, the CCCG explains that it does this “through monitoring, enforcing and evaluating changes to prevailing wage and apprenticeship laws in an effort to promote equal opportunity among prevailing wage contractors.”

Fast tracked since it was introduced February 22, SB 776 already sits on Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk awaiting his signature or veto.

SB 776 passed the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee easily. Then the Senate passed Corbett’s bill 24-10, along party lines.

The Assembly Labor and Employment Committee passed SB 776 easily in a 5-2 vote, as did the Assembly Appropriations Committee, 12-5. The Assembly then passed the bill 52-23, also along party lines.

I called Gov. Brown’s office and asked if the governor has a position on SB 776 yet. His office has been quiet on this union-friendly bill.

“The Governor has until August 27^th to act on this bill,” reported Jim Evans, a spokesman for Brown. “We will definitely let you know when he takes action.”

 Targeted attack

“Honest contractors, workers, and taxpayers benefit from the work of the Construction Compliance Group, a labor compliance equalizer,” said John Loudon, executive director of the California Construction Compliance Group.

The bill’s author, Corbett, is a liberal Democrat running for Congress. Some say Corbett needs to take out moderate Democratic incumbent, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Pleasanton, which will require huge union support. Corbett thus far is behind in the money race.

But Corbett is a friend of labor unions. Even her “Ellen Corbett for Congress” campaign website reports it is “Computer Generated / Labor Donated.”

“This is a total union overreach and is only being done because we are non-union,” said Loudon. “We have recovered over $400,000 for workers, most recently over $13,000 from one union glazer-window installer.”