Financial disclosure season underway for Elk Grove elected officials, bureaucrats; a reporting exaggeration 10 years ago today
With the new year comes the start of the annual financial disclosures for tens of thousands of bureaucrats and elected officials in California and Elk Grove.
According to the California Fair Practices Commission, “Every elected official and public employee who makes or influences governmental decisions is required to submit a Statement of Economic Interest, also known as the Form 700.”
In addition to state requirements, Elk Grove’s conflict of interest policy identifies positions required to file the annual disclosure. Last week, several city hall employees filed their statements well ahead of the April 2 deadline.
In the past, the statements revealed gifts received by high-ranking city hall officials. Those gifts have included lunches, golfing outings, tickets to Major League Baseball playoff games, and Sacramento Kings tickets.
Among current city council members, Darren Suen has displayed a fondness for dinner and lunches. These were the outings Mr. Suen enjoyed in 2016.
While the reports disclose who gave gifts to elected officials and bureaucrats, they also can debunk politicians’ exaggerations. Such was the case for former mayor Gary Davis.
When Davis announced his coffee venture in early 2014, he made his way onto local TV news and claimed it was partially funded by the sale of his Starbucks stock, the Seattle-based coffee behemoth.
A little over a year after that claim, when Davis filed his Form 700, there was no report of the sale of the Starbucks stock. FPPC rules at the time required the report of any marketable securities over $2,000, so if Davis used proceeds from the sale of the stock to buy the business, which he valued between $10,000 and $100,000, it was an inconsequential amount.
At the time, it made for a nice story. However, his financial disclosure showed the former Mayor exaggerated the importance of his sale of Starbucks stock, if he even owned it, toward the purchase of the business.
Below is KCRA’s report on the former mayor’s claims from 10 years ago today.
