The crowd at Qualcomm Stadium yesterday was treated to a massive Jan Goldsmith banner, which flew over the stadium several times yesterday during the Chargers’ routing of the New England Patriots.
Thing is, no one seems to know who paid for it.
Goldsmith told me this morning that he had no idea the banner was going up. His campaign also denies all knowledge of the banner. Janette Littler, who works on Goldsmith’s campaign, told me she was surprised when she heard about the banner.
“All I can say is ‘thank you’ to whoever did it,” Littler said.
If the Goldsmith campaign didn’t pay for the banner, it likely would be what’s known as an “independent expenditure.” That’s when an individual or an individual entity, like a corporation, pays for a campaign expenditure.
Under campaign finance laws, an independent campaign effort can’t be coordinated with a candidate’s official campaign. Therefore, it’s appropriate that Goldsmith’s campaign doesn’t know who paid for the banner, said Stacey Fulhorst of the city’s Ethics Commission.
Fulhorst said whoever paid for the banner will have to file a disclosure form by Oct. 23.
In the meantime, we’re trying to find out who paid for it. I called Mark Fabiani, Chargers special counsel, to see if the team paid for it since it’s not on the best terms with City Attorney Mike Aguirre. He said the team has nothing to do with it, but that he’s going to make a few calls to see if he can find out.
In the meantime, do you know who paid for the plane? If so, get in touch and let me know: will.carless@voiceofsandiego.org.