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A new political action committee was formed to pay for a recount of the contentious Congressional District 16 race, further obscuring who is actually funding the effort.
The Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters has been receiving checks from Count the Vote, an independent expenditure committee, or super PAC, to help fund the highly scrutinized recount, as first reported by NBC Bay Area. The super PAC formed on April 9 and has sent eight checks for $12,000 each to Santa Clara County, to cover recount efforts through April 24. San Mateo County’s Registrar of Voters is receiving checks for $5,000 daily.
The committee won’t have to publicize its donors or expenses until July 15, which is the Federal Election Commission’s mandatory quarterly filing date for PACs.
The super PAC lists James Sutton of Rutan & Tucker, LLP as its treasurer. Another attorney from the firm, Matthew Alvarez, serves as treasurer for “Neighbors for Results,” a separate PAC supporting former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo throughout the race. Jonathan Padilla, who previously worked on Liccardo’s mayoral campaign and is primarily paying for the effort, has also authorized Sutton to act on his behalf.
Orrin Evans, a spokesperson for Liccardo’s campaign, said the candidate supported ensuring the vote count’s accuracy. He did not respond to questions about the super PAC or recount’s funding.
“At a time when our democracy is under attack, it is deeply troubling that someone would try and stop the democratic process,” Evans told San José Spotlight. “There are over 100 uncounted ballots. Count every vote.”
In March, Liccardo led the primary with 38,489 votes or 22.13%. Assemblymember Evan Low and Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian tied for second, each with 30,249 votes or 16.6%. All three would have appeared on the November ballot, but two people requested a recount, which threatens to knock out one of the candidates if the tally changes.
The machine recount will take more than a week to complete, according to election officials, who started their efforts Monday. The cost for an eight-day recount in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties combined would be $136,000.
On his request form, Padilla said he was requesting the recount on behalf of Low’s campaign. Low has pushed back, saying he had nothing to do with Padilla’s request and demanding Liccardo make his support of the recount clear. Low’s spokesperson Clay Volino doubled down in a statement Wednesday morning.
“Sam desperately wants to avoid a three-way race and the public deserves to know what was offered to the PAC or its secret donors in return for funding this recount,” Volino said. “We also don’t know what he promised his former staffer in return for calling for the recount.”
Eshoo had previously told San José Spotlight that her congressional district deserved to know the truth and called for the recount funders to be transparent in their actions.
Simitian said this raises concerns about money in politics where the spender is untraceable.
“There’s no way to know who is behind this effort or what their motives are,” he told San José Spotlight. “That’s why campaign finance reform has to be high on the congressional agenda.”
Nobody is disenfranchised with 3 candidates -with similar levels of support- in the general.
Shameful that Liccardo -who’s clearly behind this- would not even own up by being clean and transparent. His dark money PAC schemes are the real threat to democracy.
Hard pass on Liccardo comes November.
I agree with you, SRB. This is just an effort by Liccardo to knock off one of his two competitors in the race.
And why is there even an option to have a machine recount (which is cheaper) as opposed to a hand recount (which is more expensive)? Shouldn’t there only be ONE option – namely the option that would provide the most accuracy?
It is absolutely ridiculous to me that anyone other than candidate #2 or candidate #3 should have standing to request a recount. If a losing candidate feels a mistake was made, they should have the ability to request a recount. But to have candidate #1 request a recount simply to knock out one of his competitors in the race?
For sure, my vote is NOT going to Liccardo in November.
If this comes down to two candidates then the winner will have a 50% or greater voter mandate. As it should be. With three candidates a winner with less than 50% is a hollow win!
“FEC complaint alleges Liccardo illegally paid for Congressional District 16 recount” – https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/04/19/fec-complaint-alleges-liccardo-illegally-paid-for-congressional-district-16-recount/
This is so good to see.
“SAN JOSE – A Federal Election Commission complaint filed Friday against Silicon Valley congressional candidate Sam Liccardo alleges he illegally paid for a recount as part of an effort to avoid a three-way race with rivals Joe Simitian and Evan Low.”
“According to the complaint, Padilla improperly used nearly $100,000 in funds from the Count the Vote PAC, which was also formed on April 9, to pay for the recount.
“There is reason to believe that CTV PAC’s disbursements for the recount are ‘expenditures’ because they were made for the express purpose of influencing the outcome of a federal election,” the complaint says, “and further, that they were made in cooperation with or at the request or suggestion of Mr. Liccardo, the Liccardo campaign, or both.”
The complaint says a recount is ordinarily an expense that would be paid for by a campaign, but Liccardo wanted to “avoid negative attention by personally calling for a recount.” Neither Simitian nor Low has asked for a recount, according to the complaint.”