California’s political watchdog agency slaps $106K fine on former Silicon Valley state lawmaker

California’s Fair Political Practices Commission voted yesterday to fine former Assemblymember Evan Low $106,000 for numerous political ethics violations.

The Democrat from Campbell represented parts of Silicon Valley from 2015 to 2024.

FPPC investigators found Low and his staff failed to report $227,500 in behested payments between 2018 and 2020. Behested payments are donations made to an organization or charity at the request of an elected official. California law requires state elected leaders to report these transactions within 30 days. 

Some of the payments were directed to organizations Low ran outside of the legislature, including the Foundation for California’s Technology and Innovation Economy. His chief of staff, Gina Frisby, also served as the foundation’s treasurer. The foundation held events for tech industry representatives to mingle with state lawmakers away from the State Capitol.

The FPPC’s investigation also found that Low and his staff used over $227,000 from his technology foundation to pay actor Alec Baldwin for two appearances. They included his time at tech event and at a separate campaign fundraiser that doubled as a Lunar New Year celebration Low hosted later that day. It found the former lawmaker’s staff then tried to conceal the payment. The money paid for Baldwin’s luxury airfare, ground travel, and lodging for the actor’s round-trip from New York to Silicon Valley. 

Low originally said Baldwin appeared at his campaign event “on his own accord,” but FPPC investigators determined Low’s staff deliberately tried to hide the payment by requesting two separate contracts for the events. This is based on email correspondence the FPPC obtained between Low’s staffer Danielle Sires, who served as a consultant for a committee that Low chaired, and Creative Artists Agency, which represented Baldwin.

“Is there a way to have the lunar year year [sic] portion in a separate contract stating that option is voluntary?” Sires wrote in an email to the CAA according to the FPPC report.

“So two separate contracts but all the money under one? But its not voluntary. If he doesn’t do it, he would still be paid his full fee. That doesn’t work in your favor to include the voluntary part,” the CAA responded to Sires per the report.

FPPC investigators said the correspondence shows a clear coordination to hide the payment for Baldwin’s appearance at Low’s campaign event.

An attorney for Low did not respond to a request for an interview or comment about the allegations or the fine.

Angela J. Brereton, Assistant Chief of the FPPC Enforcement Division, told commissioners during a hearing on Thursday that the violations were extreme.

“This conduct was egregious,” Brereton said. “There was purposeful action taken to conceal this activity and it wasn’t reported for five years.”

The FPPC investigation into Low took years to complete and concluded once he no longer served in public office. The agency has faced criticism for lengthy investigation timelines, which commission representatives and good government advocates say is due to a lack of staffing resources.

Sean McMorris, a program manager with the ethics watchdog group California Common Cause, says the agency needs more funding.

“I think that the people who do work there are experts and do their job really well,” McMorris said. “I just don't think they have enough of them and that is a conscious choice, that's a conscious choice of the legislature on how much they're going to fund that particular agency.”

Low’s fine of $106,000 fine far exceeds what’s typical for a majority of fines the FPPC issues. 

Common Cause’s Sean McMorris said the hefty fine is appropriate given the severity of Low’s violations.

“It clearly sends a message to the public and to potential bad actors that this type of behavior is egregious, it’s a clear violation of the law, and that if others engage in such behavior and they get caught there will be severe financial penalties,” McMorris added.

Low’s use of behested payments to raise funds for his interests outside the legislature is not unique. These types of payments have skyrocketed in recent years, according to data from the FPPC.

Good governance groups view these payments as another way for special interests to curry favor with lawmakers. U.S. Supreme Court rulings on campaign finance also make these payments difficult to limit.

“Politicians quite frankly are using them to shake down special interests who they know are going to have business before them,” McMorris said.

For this reason, McMorris said timely reporting is critical for transparency in this part of California’s political ethics landscape.

FPPC Chair Adam Silver recused himself from Thursday’s vote and left the hearing room during discussion on the matter. Prior to joining the commission, Silver served as counsel to the Assembly Ethics Committee in the state legislature.

Correction: And earlier verion of this story misidentified Angela J. Brereton, Assistant Chief of the FPPC Enforcement Division, as Jenna Rinehart, a senior attorney for the FPPC.