Journalism won’t die if you donate. Support Voice of San Diego today!
City Councilman Tony Young was fined $10,000 by the city’s Ethics Commission today for failing to clear debts owed his 2005 campaign staffers.
According to the settlement released this evening, Young owed $30,000 in win bonuses promised to two campaign workers in the election to replace former Councilman Charles Lewis, who died months earlier.
The commission said Young did not finish paying the campaign debts until June 30, 2006, far past the 90-day grace period the city’s former elections code allowed (the city has since extended the grace period to 180 days). Further, Young sought donations to pay the debts for about 18 months past the January 2005 election, the commission said.
The fundraising restriction is in place to avoid the real or perceived impropriety of an elected official raising money to pay off their own debts while in office.
Check back later for a full story.
(Correction: An earlier version of this post stated that Young didn’t finish paying his campaign staffers until last month. We regret the error.)