A well-known political rule says a candidate should never allow their opponent to define your own campaign. Alameda City Council candidate Tony Daysog did that after receiving word from the state Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) that an anonymous complaint was recently lodged against his campaign.
The complaint alleges Daysog failed to account for two large $1,000 contributions within the required 24-hour pre-election reporting period. In addition, he did not post his FPPC I.D. number on signage at a campaign table he routinely mans at a weekly farmers’ market in Alameda and failed to report the value of snacks that he hands out at the event. Daysog was notified of the pending inquiry on Monday morning.
But there’s no need for an investigation, Daysog he told the FPPC. That’s because he immediately admitted to the violations, vowed to do better, and alerted the press to his misdeeds, all within the same morning.
“I phoned FPPC’s Chris Holm to indicate that the charges made in the anonymous complaints are accurate, and that I will forthwith make sure to follow FPPC rules,” said Daysog. The email sent to reporters also included a photo of himself at the farmers’ market booth alleged in the complaint.
The FPPC, nevertheless, indicated to Daysog that they will still investigate the complaint.
But Daysog’s decision to get ahead of a potentially negative story for his campaign may be wise based on his experience in the 2016 council race when he was the victim of a pair of highly negative mailers sent without any indication of who paid for them.
The mailers labelled Daysog a Republican and featured him along side Donald Trump. Who sent the mailers is still an Alameda political mystery and may be a reason why he lost re-election to the council two years ago.
It’s unclear whether the anonymous FPPC complaint is another campaign trick being played on Daysog. However, it is not uncommon for rival campaigns to perpetrate such a scheme on an opponent within the final month of the race.
ebcitizen.com 