Your Cheatin’ Heart

UPDATE:

Dear Readers,

It looks like Sam Liccardo’s campaign took down the questionable campaign event information from their website which th is post refers to.  Look!   Is that the behavior of someone who’s doing things on the straight and narrow?

For those of you who have been wondering how mayoral candidate Sam Liccardo raised $512,000 in December, while Dave Cortese and Madison Nguyen working more than full time raised $175,000 and $167,000 respectively, now we have the answer. Sam cheated.

It turns out it really is virtually impossible to raise a half million dollars in $1100 chunks (the contribution limit) from December 5 to December 31 (the window between the beginning of the legal fundraising period and the deadline for reporting amounts raised to the Fair Political Practices Commission).  So Liccardo got a head start.

As the e-mail below shows, one of Liccardo’s contribution bundlers, Alex Tourk, was soliciting contributions on December 4.  The fact that Tourk sent his e-mail a day before legal fundraising began is only part of the story.  The link in the email shows that Liccardo and Tourk planned the fundraiser well before it was legal to do so; according to the link, the event was created on Liccardo’s campaign website on November 16, 2013.  Check the screen cap below.

Tourk, who the Huffington Post describes as a “disgraced lobbyist” (See tinyurl.com/mpk4gh4) certainly knows the rules, and so does Liccardo. The question that remains is how many more illegal fundraisers did Liccardo plan.  Judging from his fundraising total our guess is a lot.

From: Alex Tourk
Date: Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Subject: December 12
To:

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving holiday with your family.
My wife Wendi and I are hosting a fundraiser for San Jose Councilman Sam Liccardo, who is now running for mayor of San Jose, one of our nation’s largest cities and a city that is in dire need of someone with Sam’s leadership style and expertise.

The event is taking place at my wife’s art gallery in South of Market on Thursday, December 12th, at 6pm.  I would love to introduce you to him personally so you can see why I think he would make the ideal next Mayor for San Jose.   I realize it’s holiday season, but I’m hopeful you can weave this into your schedule.
Some facts about Sam.

1) He helped lead the successful effort to bring BART to San Jose (now under construction)

2) Has championed initiatives to cut fees and reduce red tape on small businesses

3) Worked to revitalize Downtown with new high-rise development and amenities

4) He’s leading the charge to add 200 police officers to the streets, and to provide the technology and tools to our public schools to enable San Jose to become the first major U.S. city with an extended school day.

5) Sam is a huge proponent of the arts…something that is clearly near and dear to me and my wife Wendi.

I hope you’ll join me and my fellow co-hosts Supervisor David Chiu, Chris Kelly, Wendi Norris, and others for a discussion with Sam about the independence and innovation it will take to keep San Jose on the right track.

Please RSVP by clicking below or Text DECEMBER12RSVP to (408) 627-7343. I hope you can attend.

http://samliccardo.nationbuilder.com/december_12

Sincerely,
Alex
—
Alex Tourk
Principal
Ground Floor Public Affairs
58 2nd St. 4th Floor San Francisco, CA 94105
Office: 415-291-9501
Fax: 415-520-9226
www.gfpublicaffairs.com

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