State political watchdog group fines Oakland donor $5,000

An Oakland Coliseum commissioner and longtime associate of Oakland Councilwoman Desley Brooks is facing $5,000 in state fines for laundering donations to the councilwoman’s successful 2014 re-election campaign. Aaron Goodwin, a sports agent who has served for five years on the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority, illegally donated $1,400 to the Friends of Desley Brooks committee in December 2013, the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission said Monday. Goodwin circumvented Oakland’s $700 campaign contribution limit by submitting two checks for $700 apiece in the names of his daughters. Goodwin has already agreed to pay the $5,000 penalty — the maximum amount for violating the state’s Political Reform Act, which prohibits people from concealing the true origins of a political donation. State officials found no evidence that Brooks or her campaign committee staff knew that Goodwin was the source of the laundered donation.