A major discrepancy in campaign donations for last year’s Alameda City Council elections from the Alameda Firefighters Union PAC was revealed through a 460 amendment in June.
Originally, the union reported that they donated $2,838 in support of two candidates—Greg Boller and Michele Pryor—and did not disclose any contributions made in opposition. However, the change in reports made in June paints a very different picture.
The revision to the donations shows that the union donated $45,901 to Greg Boller and $48,606 to Michele Pryor, while also contributing $2,200 to the campaign against Trish Spencer.
The Alameda Post received a statement from the Union PAC Treasurer, Sam Yussim, addressing the issue.
“Transparency is very important to Local 689,” Yussim stated. “When it was brought to our attention that additional information was needed for the report, we amended our filings and they are now accurate and fully completed.”
Alameda’s City Clerk was also contacted, but could not provide context on how a mix-up like this could happen, other than outlining what is in the 460 document.
Form 460 is a campaign statement that details donation amounts and what the money is used for, created for transparency to reduce the risk of corruption or influence. The form is used by candidates, current officeholders, and political committees like a PAC. 460s filed for elections in Alameda can be found on the city’s campaign docs eRetrieval website.
Donations made by the Firefighters Union are categorized as independent expenditures, which, according to the Federal Election Commission, legally have no limits on how much can be donated, and the benefiting campaign has no reporting obligations.
The Firefighters Union PAC and Coalition for Patient Access and Innovations were the largest contributors to last year’s City Council election, donating $161,666 combined, which was more than half of the total $282,165 raised by all of the candidates during the election cycle.
The increase of independent expenditures in Alameda’s elections comes from a cap that was instated in 2021 in Assembly Bill 571, which limited how much people not connected to a PAC, organization, or committee could contribute.
This past election year, the limit was set at $5,900 and has been adjusted annually for inflation over the past four years. However, independent expenditures are considered free speech, which excludes them from those limitations.
Giuliana Means is a contributing writer for the Alameda Post. Contact her via [email protected].
