In our last post, we called on Mr Lerma to finally file the form 460 for his campaign committee “Jorge Lerma for Oakland School Board 2023” that was due on September 28, 2023 so that the public could see who was supporting his campaign and paying for all of the campaign materials, including a USPS mailer, that we knew that the campaign had created. Shortly after that post came out, Mr Lerma’s campaign did file a Form 460, and we learned that, according to that form, he had NO contributors and NO expenditures to report. Wait, what? How can that be true when we know that he has spent significant amounts of money and held several fundraising campaign events?

Well, it seems that Mr Lerma has been hiding all of his contributions and his expenditures by using the account for his failed 2020 campaign to raise and spend money for his 2023 campaign, which is a serious violation of campaign finance law. Before Mr Lerma declared he would run in the 2023 special election, the 2020 campaign balance was $5,391.99. On September 21, 2023, the 2020 Campaign transferred $12,927.15 to the 2023 campaign, meaning that the 2020 campaign had $7,535 more than 3 months earlier. That $7,535 likely represents the difference between the contributions received for the 2023 campaign less the expenditures for the 2023 campaign such as lawn signs, door hangers, lit pieces, fundraising costs and of course the mailer that was sent via US mail. That $7,535 in transferred funds was improperly raised using an old campaign account, and those contributions and expenditures lack transparency because an old campaign account is not subject to the same reporting laws as a campaign for an upcoming election would be.

So what does all this mean? It means that we are 2 1/2 weeks away from this special election and Mr Lerma’s 2023 campaign has not disclosed a single contributor to his campaign. That is important information that voters need to properly cast their ballots, and the fact that Mr Lerma is trying so hard to hide it tells us that he likely has supporters he doesn’t want voters to know about.

It also means that Mr Lerma has certainly committed multiple violations of electoral reporting and disclosure laws, by:

• Failing to timely file a Form 410 “Statement of Organization Recipient Committee” within 10 days of reaching the qualification threshold – due 8/21/2023 but not filed until 10/12/2023 (two days after Parents United first commented on the campaign disclosure violations)
• Failing to timely file a Form 460 “Recipient Committee Campaign Statement” for 7/1/2023 through 9/23/2023 – due 9/28/2023 but not filed until 10/17/2023, and without including any of the 2023 campaign contributors or expenditures
• Failing to disclose ANY campaign contributions towards his 2023 campaign
• Failing to disclose ANY expenditures of his 2023 campaign
• Sending a mailer through the United States Postal Service without a proper California Fair Political Practices Act (“FPPC”) number for the 2023 campaign
• Using an improper FPPC number on his website, donation site, and possibly other materials in order to induce campaign contributions to his 2023 campaign that he thereafter failed to disclose as required by law
• Using an improper FPPC number on a campaign mailer sent through the United States Postal Service, intended to induce voters to believe that he had a valid political campaign and induce support for that campaign

But perhaps most importantly, it demonstrates that Mr Lerma is not fit to be elected to the Oakland Unified School Board on November 7, 2023. Mr Lerma has shown us that he does not feel bound to follow the laws that all others, including his opponent, are bound by. He shows a total lack of concern for the transparency, fairness and accountability that we should expect from our elected leaders. Mr Lerma has demonstrated that he does not feel obligated to exercise the fiscal responsibility that is a key component of a school board member’s job. Given these clear and serious ethical violations, Mr Lerma should immediately suspend his campaign for school board in District 5, apologize to the voters and begin to clean up the ethical mess he has created.