SAN DIEGO – Formal complaints against principal officers of Citizens Against Legalizing Marijuana (CALM CA) and ‘Safe Beaches San Diego Yes on D’ have been submitted to the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis’ Public Integrity Unit, and the City of San Diego Ethics Commission.
The complaints document a multitude of election related violations committed by Scott Chipman, William Lowe, and other members of these campaigns. The violations include failure to disclose payments for mass campaign literature, failure to disclose payments made by an agent, use of illegal political slush fund, as well as failure to register as a lobbyist.
Eugene Davidovich a San Diego resident, Navy Veteran and medical marijuana advocate mailed the 70 page complaints last week to the FPPC, a state agency that oversees election campaign rules and regulations. The complaint asks the agency to launch a formal investigation into the political practices of Chipman et al.
CALM CA was founded by Scott Chipman and William Lowe in March of 2010 to Oppose Proposition 19 and Safe Beaches San Diego was a committee founded to help enact an alcohol ban on the beaches in San Diego.
If the FPPC and San Diego Ethics Commission find Chipman in violation, he could face thousands of dollars in fines.
Since Chipman’s involvement with the Yes on D and CALM CA, he along with long time San Diego prohibitionist and Bonnie Dumanis supporter Marcy Beckett formed San Diegans for Safe Neighborhoods which they are using to lobby against safe access to medical marijuana for legitimate patients in San Diego. As part of Beckett’s eradication efforts, she was responsible for filing as many as one hundred police complaints against medical marijuana dispensaries in San Diego.
“Mr. Chipman has a lengthy and significant history of involvement in San Diego politics throughout which he failed to disclose various campaign activities and appears to have created an illegal political slush fund” said Davidovich. “It is imperative that Mr. Chipman disclose and that the general public be informed of his activities so that they may make intelligent voting and donating decisions”.
The complaints come as Chipman is actively lobbying against medical marijuana patients through his ‘San Diegans for Safe Neighborhoods’ campaign as well as working with San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis’ mayoral campaign. Chipman has also contributed money to Council member Lorie Zapf’s election campaign and other anti medical marijuana candidates.
Further Information:
FPPC Complaint
San Diego Ethics Commission Complaint
