Right out of the gate, the Richmond Progressive Alliance, Team Richmond, and their supporters flouted  Richmond Municipal Code Section 2.42.075 (Required disclosure on mass mailings) by East Bay Working Families (see mailer below). The purported disclosure is inside the mailer and not on its front page.

RMC 2.42.075(a) provides that the required disclosure be made in a “clear and legible manner on the front page of any mass mailing”. 

RMC 2.42.075(a)(1) requires a mass mailing contain the heading “Major funding by:” followed by information about the 3 largest donors.  In the case of any entity other than an individual or committee, “the full name of the entity and its business interests shall be stated”. RMC 2.42.075(a)(1)(B)

RMC 2.42.075(b) requires the disclosure be in at least 12 point font size in contrasting color for all words in that disclosure.

RMC 2.42.075(c) provides “for the purposes of this section ‘front page’ shall mean the envelope, page or panel where the address appears”.

In the case of this mailer:

1. There is no disclosure on the front page.
2. The disclosure does not comply with RMC 2.42.075(a)(1) or (a)(2)

As such, it is in violation of RMC 2.42.075 and subject to civil fine and penalties of $5,000 for each violation or three times the cost of the mailer.

In addition to the code violation, the mailer features Tony Thurmond on the cover, intimating that he is affiliated with or supporting the Team Richmond campaign, which is not the case.

It is ironic that the RPA talks endlessly about “transparency” but then totally disguises the source of funding for its campaign. This is what Citizens United is all about.

The RPA candidates will claim that this flyer is from an independent committee, totally out of their control. However, it is no secret that SEIU, which holds a seat on the powerful RPA Steering Committee has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the campaign to elect RPA candidates.