Complaint filed against big spender in Santa Rosa City Council race

A Santa Rosa contractor has filed a complaint with the state political watchdog alleging that the son-in-law of a prominent Sonoma County developer has violated campaign finance laws with his role in the unprecedented influx of outside cash flowing into this year’s Santa Rosa City Council race.

Chris Grabill, the 34-year-old son of late attorney and housing advocate David Grabill, on Thursday filed a complaint with the state Fair Political Practices Commission saying he “strongly suspects” that the record spending by Scott Flater is fueled by money that has been “laundered and bundled” by others.

“I think this is an attempt to avoid transparency,” Grabill said. “It’s very hard to judge what the economic interests behind this are, which is the whole point of these disclosure requirements.”

Flater, the 40-year-old son-in-law of Santa Rosa-based developer Bill Gallaher, is listed in campaign finance reports as having spent as of Friday nearly $192,000 on mailers and canvassing in support of three of the six candidates for City Council: incumbent Ernesto Olivares, newcomer Jack Tibbetts and restaurateur and five-time council candidate Don Taylor.

The record-breaking infusion of private cash into the race has highlighted the inequity between the $500 limits Santa Rosa puts on individual contributions to local campaigns and the unlimited amounts state law allows donors and groups to spend on independent expenditures not associated with candidates’ campaigns.

Grabill said Flater’s late spending spree - most of the expenditures have been reported since Oct. 22 - has telltale signs of someone who has agreed to act as a front man for others donors, allowing them to shield their political contributions and potential economic interests in the race from public view.

In previous races for City Council, Flater has spent no more than $500, according to campaign finance reports. In the current race, his spending accounts for more than a third of the total in the race, including spending by candidates’ campaigns. Flater and Gallaher did not return calls for comment Friday and have yet to publicly answer any questions about the money flowing into the Santa Rosa race.

Political consultant Rob Muelrath, who is managing the independent campaign that Flater is shown on public records as bankrolling, has said he believes that Flater is spending his own funds on the campaign, but said he could not prove it.

Flater is married to Gallaher’s daughter, Molly, and listed himself as a “homemaker” in a previous campaign filing.

Jay Wierenga, spokesman for the state Fair Political Practices Commission, confirmed a complaint had been received but said the details would not be made public for five days.

Bleys Rose, chairman of the Sonoma County Democratic Party, said the party is concerned about the “huge amounts of money” flowing into the Santa Rosa council race.

“It raises the question as to whether all the money is actually being put in by Scott Flater or by someone else,” Rose said.

He called it “suspicious” that Flater is listed as the one bankrolling the political funding but “the family into which he married” is the one with business before the City Council, specifically the Elnoka project near Oakmont.

Last year, the council rejected a request by Gallaher’s company, Oakmont Senior Living, to remove its 68-acre property from a disputed ridgeline map in an effort to make it easier to build up to 475 units of senior housing on the property.

Campaign finance disclosures show that as of Friday, Flater had spent about $90,000 in mailers and canvassing in support of Tibbetts, about $50,000 in favor of Olivares and about $52,000 in support of Taylor.

Grabill said he worries that if the three candidates supported by Flater are elected, the balance of power on the council would tilt away from support of rent control. His father, who died in June, worked to help get the city’s rent stabilization and just-cause for eviction ordinance passed, though both are presently suspended pending a hand count of a referendum petition backed by landlords.

Olivares and Taylor oppose the city’s rent control law. Tibbetts said he would have voted for it if on the council but has concerns about the sunset date - tied to a rental vacancy rate he thinks Santa Rosa is unlikely to ever reach. Gallaher was cleared earlier this year of a similar complaint alleging that his Concepts for Seniors, LLC, “engaged in campaign money laundering by making contributions in the name of the partners, consultants, and employees, who then received reimbursement from Concepts for Seniors, LLC,” according to the FPPC website.

It was not immediately clear what contributions triggered that complaint or who filed it.

The other candidates in the field vying for four council seats are incumbent Julie Combs, Chris Rogers, a former staffer for state Sen. Mike McGuire, and Brandi Asker, a Starbucks district manager.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 707-521-5207.