49ers Attempt to Influence Santa Clara Elections May Have Violated Dark Money Ordinance

By Robert Haugh from Santa Clara News

The City warned residents in January about “dark money” efforts in Santa Clara for the 2020 elections. That’s an expenditure that tries to influence Mission City voters but the funder tries to do it anonymously. That’s a big no-no.

Now, it looks like that January warning may have caught a big fish: Jed York and the 49ers. 

Yesterday, City Clerk Hosam Haggag released this statement:

As the City’s election official, I recently discovered that San Francisco 49ers’ CEO Jed York and affiliated entities, including the Forty Niners organization, potentially expended campaign funds, including a sponsored poll in December 2019 designed to influence and affect voters’ decisions to vote against Measure C, but did not report the formation of any political committee to the City until months later. The campaign filing only happened after I, in my official capacity as the elections official, sent these parties a warning letter on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020.