Public Comment

On May 23, 2024, the Berkeley People’s Alliance (BPA) filed a complaint with the City of Berkeley’s Fair Campaign Practices Commission against “Californians for Safety and Security,” a right-wing PAC based in Sacramento and funded entirely by the Berkeley Property Owners Association, the Los Angeles police union, and the Personal Insurance Federation Committee. The PAC recently launched numerous hit pieces against City Council candidate Soli Alpert. 

The Berkeley Election Reform Act (BERA) requires most communications by PACs about city elections to include a disclosure of who the PAC’s major funders are. The PAC received $5,000 from the Personal Insurance Federation Committee two weeks before launching its hit pieces and is required to disclose that corporate funding on its communications. But this right-wing PAC has refused to comply with this basic and crucial sunshine requirement in its numerous hit pieces against Alpert, choosing instead to illegally hide its corporate funding in order to trick voters and buy a city council seat for its favored candidates. 

“It is clear that Berkeley’s largest landlords, out-of-town cops, and the insurance industry are trying to buy this City Council seat,” said BPA Treasurer George Lippman. “And it’s clear that they are willing to blatantly violate the law in order to do so. As a Berkeley resident, I have faith that my neighbors will reject these illegal, right-wing, and out-of-town attacks on Soli’s corporate-free progressive campaign.” 

Berkeley Municipal Code 2.12.460 makes it a misdemeanor to knowingly or wilfully violate the Berkeley Election Reform Act.