Chairwoman of Restore San Diego Addresses Violation of Federal Election Commission Laws
Amy Reichert, a lifelong resident of San Diego, holds the position of Chairwoman at Restore San Diego. Leading a coalition of citizens from diverse backgrounds, she champions government accountability, transparency, and a community-first approach.
The hand and voice of a 91-year-old woman shook as she showed me a deceptive political mailer she received at her home from a Pro-Mayor Todd Gloria Political Action Committee. Regrettably, she fell victim to a scheme to manipulate the Mayor’s election orchestrated by New San Diego, a dark money group spearheaded by local attorney Gil Cabrera. Cabrera, who was also appointed by Mayor Todd Gloria to the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, has faced scrutiny from the California Fair Political Practices Commission for actions violating the California Political Reform Act.
New San Diego has financial backing from diverse sources, including wealthy Democrats, labor unions, and developers invested in city affairs. The group’s deceptive tactics and disinformation campaign totaling $233,696.83 so far extended to sending multiple mailers to Republican households, cleverly disguised to appear as though they originated from Republicans. Orchestrated by Todd Gloria political appointee Gil Cabrera, New San Diego employed these misleading mailers to bolster the candidacy of Jane Glasson, diverting votes from Independent candidate Larry Turner, a former US Marine and current San Diego Police Officer. Mayor Todd Gloria is facing negative approval ratings because of his handling of the storm drain crisis, homelessness and worsening of the $1 Billion dollar deficit.
If you really want to know the inside baseball of dirty politics and how special interests manipulate voters keep reading.
In the mail piece it reads “Republican Voter Alert.” It uses a stock image to look like the back of Jane Glasson’s head. It also uses a quote from the chair of the California Republican Party to give the appearance of an endorsement.
There is no endorsed Republican in the San Diego Mayor’s race. There is a candidate, Jane Glasson, who is a marginal candidate who has raised no money, has no name recognition and is not even endorsed by her own party.
It gets worse, on the back of the mailer it says, “Team MAGA” giving the impression that the obscure candidate Jane Glasson who has not been endorsed by the local Republican party or the State GOP is somehow on a slate with none other than Donald Trump and Steve Garvey.
Sadly, it is not against the law to send false and misleading political mailers. But the bad news for New San Diego is that the political mailer may have violated Federal Election Commission laws.
On President’s Day I swore under oath & penalty of perjury as I signed a notarized letter of complaint to Federal Elections Commission exposing deceptive mailers from Pro Todd Gloria dark money on the grounds of impermissible use of funds and improper disclaimer.
We must not let dark money and its oversized influence manipulate voters like my 91 year-old friend who is devastated because she already cast her vote because she trusted the wrong people. Please remain skeptical and vigilant of every political mailer, political text and television commercial you receive. Always check the back of every political mailer to see who is paying for it and never take any political advertisement at face value. Let’s let the people decide who will be our next mayor, not greedy special interests.
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