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Fair Political Practices Commission investigating D.A.-elect Cynthia Zimmer

Posted at 5:52 PM, Jul 23, 2018
and last updated 2018-07-23 21:02:23-04

The Fair Political Practices Commission is investigating Kern County District Attorney-elect Cynthia Zimmer. 

The FPPC released documents Monday outlining the investigation into Zimmer. 

The allegations against Zimmer are listed as follows:

  • Local Ordinance/Local Contribution; Limits Zimmer et al coordinated with multiple committees to circumvent Kern County Campaign Reform (sic) Ordinance aka Measure K.
  • Unidentified Advertisement or Mailer; Direct mail and slate mailers mis-identified
  • Contribution Limits Violation; Transfer between Candidate Committees (85306) Multiple committees used to circumvent local ordinance aggregate campaign expenditure limit, individual and committee campaign contribution limits.
  • Laundered Campaign Contributions; Contributions by Intermediary or Agent (84302) Contributions funneled via fraudulent IE Committees to violate Measure K.
  • Campaign Reporting Inaccurate/Incomplete; 84303 - Expenditure by Agent or Independent Contractor. Coordinated "IE Committees"
  • Campaign Statements Not Filed; Independent Expenditure Committee and Major Donor Committee Campaign Statement (84200) Non existent "committees"; etc.
  • Violation of Rules Regarding Contributions; Violations of Voluntary Expenditure Limits (85403) Exceeding limits of Measure K.
  • Advertisement Disclaimers effective 2018; “Not Authorized by the Candidate” Disclaimer for Independent Expenditure Ads (84506.5) Chad Louie for Judge mail piece
  • Conflict of Interest 831215
  • Slate Mailer Organizations Violations; Slate mailer ID used for a single candidate; mis-identified, etc
  • Filing Officer Duties; Duties of the Filing Officer (81010) Form 462 not filed on five committees; CA Penal Code 118(a) Perjury and 182 Conspiracy, etc

The letter from the FPPC names Ken Mettler as the complainant. 

The complaint was filed against Zimmer along with Zack Scrivner; Bryan Williams; Zimmer of Kern County District Attorney; Cathy Abernathy; Western Pacific Research; Matthew Martin; Nathan Banks; Halle Cornejo; Thomas Montgomery; Edward "Ted" Costa; People's Advocate PAC; Central Valley Young Republicans PAC; Kern County Young Republicans PAC; Young Republicans for Zimmer PAC.

23ABC reached out to Zimmer seeking comment, but has not heard back.