Three times in recent months, San Diego Councilmember Marni von Wilpert solicited thousands of dollars in donations to Equality California, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit group that promotes LGBTQ+ civil rights and electing LGBTQ+ officials.
The so-called behested payments — contributions that donors make at politicians’ request to legislative, governmental or charitable causes — are the only such donations reported by anyone at San Diego City Hall other than Mayor Todd Gloria in the past year and a half.
Von Wilpert disclosed $15,000 in behested payments from three companies with long-standing business ties to the city of San Diego in May and June. Records show Waste Management Inc., Falck and the San Diego Zoo gave $5,000 each to the civil-rights nonprofit.
The District 5 council representative, who ran unopposed for re-election this year, declined to comment on the political implications of donations made at her behest. But she issued a statement praising the organization that received money at her direction.
“I’m glad to support the important work of nonprofits like Equality California who are committed to reducing social, economic and health disparities in the LGBTQ community,” she said.
The payments from the trash hauler, ambulance provider and iconic entertainment destination reflect some of the most recent examples of San Diego businesses that give money to charities at the behest of elected officials.
State law requires that donations of $5,000 or more made at the behest of elected officials in a single year must be publicly disclosed. But it does not place any restrictions on payments by individuals and companies with interests before the government officials asking for contributions.
No one in California politics has encouraged donors to contribute more to nonprofits than Gov. Gavin Newsom, who reported $226 million in behested payments in 2020 alone — and more than $75 million in the years since.
But at San Diego City Hall, the mayor is the runaway leader in asking donors to support his favored causes. Thirty-six of the 40 Form 803 disclosures posted on the City Clerk’s website since Jan. 1, 2023, were filed by the Mayor’s Office.
Records show that Gloria reported just over $450,000 in behested payments since the beginning of last year, much of it raised from companies that do business with the city of San Diego.
Many of the donations also were directed to For All of Us, a nonprofit entity created by Gloria supporter Guillermo “Gil” Cabrera that directly supports the Mayor’s Office.
But the majority of the most recent behested payments disclosed by Gloria were given to San Diegans Together Tackling Homelessness, a city-organized initiative aimed at raising money to complement existing social-services programs.
Donations to the cause are tax-deductible through the San Diego Foundation, but a San Diego official said the effort was not formally incorporated as a charity.
“We want to clarify that San Diegans Together Tackling Homelessness is not an organization,” spokesperson Nicole Darling said by email. “It is a fundraising initiative that aims to support efforts to address homelessness.”
Darling declined to say who is behind the anti-homelessness drive, how much money they raised or how spending decisions will be reached. The entity is still in the process of building out its team, she said.
“Recruitment for the advisory board is still in process and expected to be completed by the end of calendar year 2024,” Darling wrote.
According to its website, San Diegans Together Tackling Homelessness promotes a “four-pillar approach” to ending homelessness: prevention, shelter, exit and housing.
The objectives include keeping thousands of people from becoming homeless by offering them $300 monthly stipends. They also aim to create 1,000 new shelter beds, move 1,000 people into permanent housing and build a 40-story, 400-unit city-owned affordable housing project.
San Diegans Tackling Homelessness Together provided few details about how it plans to meet those goals.
In September, the Gloria administration rejected a proposal from San Diego businessman Leonard Bloom to buy the long-vacant 101 Ash St. office tower for $10 million and transform it into 800 supportive housing units.
Instead, two other development companies are finalists for taxpayer-subsidized bids to convert the mid-century high-rise to permanent affordable housing.
A Gloria administration official said the mayor’s record of soliciting private contributions for his favorite causes reflects his willingness to use his elective office to expand services to the public without adding to the budget.
“It’s very simple: Mayor Gloria sometimes lends his support to worthy charitable causes that help San Diegans, and he publicly discloses interactions that directly lead to philanthropic donations,” mayoral spokesperson Rachel Laing said in a statement.
“He believes supporting charitable giving is appropriate for any civic leader, and he’s grateful to all of the people and companies that step forward to help their community,” she added.
Earlier this year, the San Diego Ethics Commission issued a $10,500 fine to Gloria for failing to properly disclose behested payments as required, violations the mayor acknowledged under a stipulated agreement.
The ethics investigation came in response to a San Diego Union-Tribune report last year that a Gloria supporter created a nonprofit entity called For All of Us that could spend donations to directly support pet causes favored by the mayor.
No information about For All of Us’s overall revenue, spending or even leadership is publicly available under the model that founder Cabrera established when creating the entity.
Cabrera, the Gloria supporter and political appointee who set up the For All of Us organization, relies on a fiscal agent for bookkeeping and other back-office services, meaning specific details on the organization’s practices are not publicly disclosed.
“I set this up to provide the Office of the Mayor a potential resource for nonprofit or charitable events they might want supported,” he told the Union-Tribune last year.
Former Mayor Kevin Faulconer also had a charity set up to benefit the Mayor’s Office while he served as the city’s top executive. Faulconer reported more than $3 million in donations, much of it to the One San Diego entity, while he was mayor.
Gloria has used behested payments to encourage donors to give to his preferred causes for many years.
State records show he solicited more than $325,000 in behested payments to nonprofits during his four years in the state Assembly. He also disclosed more than $150,000 in solicited donations during his first two years in the Mayor’s Office.
In total, 40 behested payment disclosures have been filed by San Diego city officials since 2023, all but four from the mayor.
City Attorney Mara Elliott reported a single $100,000 contribution from the Golden Door resort and spa to the Your Safe Place Foundation last year. The other three were the donations sought by von Wilpert.
Originally Published:
