SF mayor agrees to pay $23K fine for ethics breach

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco Mayor London Breed on Monday agreed to pay nearly $23,000 in a fine to the city for a series of ethics violations while in office, including asking a former governor to release her brother from prison and allowing a former head of public works embroiled in a corruption scandal to pay her car repair bill.

The proposed agreement from the city’s Ethics Commission also fines Breed for failing to properly report a 2015 campaign contribution while running for reelection to the Board of Supervisors. If approved by the Ethics Commission at its next meeting on Aug. 13, the mayor will personally pay the fine, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday.

The commission found Breed’s violations are “significant” and involve the misuse of her title as mayor for personal gain and violated the city’s laws on accepting gifts from subordinates and campaign contributions.

Breed said in a statement Tuesday that the fines are “fair” and she took responsibility for her actions.

“I’ve learned a lot over the last two years since the most recent of these events took place, and I’ve learned from this process,” she said.

Breed agreed to pay $8,292 for accepting a gift in 2019 from Mohammed Nuru, the former Public Works director whom federal officials charged with fraud. A few weeks after Nuru was charged by the FBI, Breed acknowledged in a statement that Nuru paid for expenses involving repairs to her car in 2019.

In 2018, Breed joined other members of her family in a letter to outgoing Gov. Jerry Brown requesting an early release from prison for an older brother who has served nearly two decades of a 44-year sentence on a manslaughter conviction. The governor ultimately did not pardon Breed’s brother, who remains in prison.

She will be fined $2,500 for the letter.

In 2015, when Breed was a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors running for reelection, she wanted to have a float created to ride in during the annual San Francisco Pride Parade. According to the stipulation, Breed asked two restaurateurs to each pay $1,250 directly to the float manufacturer.

According to the stipulation, the contributions were not properly recorded in campaign finance disclosures and also exceeded the $500 per person contribution limit established for city candidates.

The mayor will be fined $7,500 for failing to disclose the contributions and $4,500 for accepting contributions over the legal limit.