Bredefeld, Chavez slap back at Fresno County campaign transfer limit. It’s heading to court

Two Fresno City Council members are slapping back at the county of Fresno, filing a motion in Fresno County Superior Court asking a judge to find unconstitutional a county ordinance limiting what they can transfer into their pending campaigns for county office.

Sacramento attorney Brian Hildreth filed court documents late last week in response to Fresno County’s lawsuit against Garry Bredefeld and Luis Chavez, who have both announced their intentions to seek different seats on the county’s Board of Supervisors in 2024 — and to use their substantial City Council campaign treasuries to boost their respective election runs in 2024.

Bredefeld, who will be midway through his second four-year term on the Fresno City Council representing northeast Fresno, and Chavez, who represents southeast Fresno, said in court documents that the county’s lawsuit filed against them in March is subject to California’s anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) law because “the County’s attempted restriction on (their) campaign expenditures is an unconstitutional restraint on (their) right of free speech.”

Fresno County adopted an ordinance in August 2020 that put a $30,000 cap on transfers or contributions from a candidate’s campaign account for non-county elective offices into their campaign for county offices — including the county Board of Supervisors. In its lawsuit against Bredefeld and Chavez, the county is asking a court for declaratory relief and decide whether that limit can indeed be applied.

“There is an urgent need for a speedy trial on the proper interpretation of the Fresno County ordinances to avoid violations of the ordinances” by Bredefeld and Chavez and “to avoid any uncertainty or unfairness in the upcoming 2024 elections,” Fresno County Counsel Daniel Cederborg wrote in the county’s March 3 complaint.

Fresno County Superior Court Judge Jonathan Skiles is expected to hear arguments in the case on May 4.

Bredefeld announced in February his plans to challenge Brandau for the District 2 seat on the Board of Supervisors, the same day that longtime Assembly Member Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, said that he was dropping out of his previously announced challenge to Brandau.

With days of Bredefeld’s announcement, Chavez unveiled his candidacy to run against Quintero, his former boss when Quintero was a member of the Fresno City Council.

Legitimate finance limits or a burden on free speech?

Bredefeld and Chavez have both proclaimed their plans to shift money from their existing city council war chests to their respective supervisorial campaigns — about $223,000 for Bredefeld, $110,000 for Chavez — in defiance of the county’s $30,000 transfer limit.

Those public declarations triggered the county’s legal action. The county’s case, Cederborg said in court documents, is based on 2019 changes to state election law that required local government agencies “to either establish their own campaign contribution limits or become subject to the limits and regulations applicable to statewide candidates.”

But the county’s $30,000 limit does not apply to current county officeholders. That means that Supervisor Steve Brandau, who is being challenged by Bredefeld, and Supervisor Sal Quintero, who Chavez is hoping to unseat, would be able to roll their previous campaign treasuries into their 2024 re-election efforts.

Hildreth noted in court documents that Supervisor Brian Pacheco, who was re-elected last summer to his seat representing part of western Fresno County, wrapped up his campaign with almost $420,000 in his 2022 account. Shortly after filing his closing paperwork for the June 2022 primary, “Pacheco filed additional campaign paperwork to use those campaign funds … for his 2026 reelection campaign.”

Bredefeld has described the county ordinance as an “incumbent protection scheme,” while Chavez said the county’s lawsuit against the pair is a “witch hunt.”

“While Fresno County has banned intra-candidate transfers for outsider candidates, it allows incumbent members of the Board of Supervisors to use prior campaign funds in unlimited amounts to fund future campaigns,” Hildreth asserted in the Bredefeld-Chavez motion. “Thus, while the County Board of Supervisors wants outsiders severely limited when using prior campaign funds, they have no problem allowing themselves to use it without any limitation.”

According to an FPPC fact sheet on the state law, beginning Jan. 1, 2021, “candidates may transfer non-surplus campaign funds from one candidate-controlled committee to another committee controlled by the same candidate for a different office if the committee receiving the transfer is for an elective state, county or city office.” However, this provision doesn’t apply to cities or counties — such as Fresno County — that have already enacted campaign contribution limits. Fresno County adopted its ordinance in 2019 and it took effect at the beginning of 2020.

Bredefeld and Chavez, however, contend in their motion that the county is incorrectly interpreting the state law, noting that “established legal precedent holds that the County’s attempted restriction on Defendants’ campaign expenditures is an unconstitutional restraint on Defendants’ right of free speech” as well as the Constitution’s equal protection clause.