Editorial: Fuller Should Resign From Oakley City Council After False Money Laundering Claims

Oakley city councilmember George Fuller should resign after accusing members of the Oakley City Council of money laundering and conspiracy of campaign funds.

It is one thing to believe a crime occurred and report it, but its another to double down after being told the investigating agency declined to move forward with the complaint citing lack of evidence and then to lie about the reason while on the dais and on social media. If one is going to make these kinds of complaints in public, one better have not only proof, but rock solid documentation–not insinuations, cleverly placed “trigger” words or conspiracy theories. Fuller must now face consequences for his irrational behavior and actions.

Fuller doubled down Monday with claims that Hugh Henderson and Shannon Shaw money laundered campaign funds. He also accused Councilmember Aaron Meadows of influencing campaign donations as part of the overall conspiracy.

Anyone using common sense should see the accusations by Fuller are both bizarre and unfounded, yet are retaliatory in nature.

Fuller submitted his complaint to the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) on Nov. 25 (a Saturday) only to receive a response days later (Nov 30) saying they would not be pursuing the complaint due to lack of evidence.  Fuller then chose to misled the public on the dais claiming it was due to FPPC staffing levels.

Although the FPPC will not comment directly on statements made by Fuller, one can interpret their decision not to pursue this case and complaint because its unfounded. They also clarified lack of resources would never be used as an excuse not to pursue a legitimate complaint. I would argue the FPPC has dealt with much more “complex” complaints than the one submitted by Fuller.

Ironically, the documents referenced by Fuller were available last year and only now he brings them forward for political grandstanding purposes on his “blog” after being bypassed as vice mayor of the Oakley City Council. It also appears he is using his council position to create a public record of his accusations while attempting to embarrass others which could have an impact on Henderson, Meadows and Shaw in future elections, business and job opportunities or partnerships involving the city of Oakley or non-profits.

Its actually quite disgusting to make such accusations without proof — and knowing the FPPC already had chosen not to pursue the complaint due to lack of evidence.

The accusation first became public during the reorganization of the city council on Dec 12 after the City Council named Anissa Williams as its next mayor; however, they then bypassed Fuller as vice mayor for several reasons and voted in favor of Shaw as vice mayor.

In response, Fuller went on the offensive attempting to prevent the nomination of Shaw:

“If the nomination for councilmember Shaw goes through, I would ask to postpone that until the California Attorney General can review circumstances that regrettably have developed. I have reason to believe, and so do many others, that councilmembers Shaw and Henderson laundered their campaign contributions from O’Hara Properties and from DeNova Homes. They sent the donations back and the California Real Estate Association Political Action Committee reissued the same amount within a few days to the councilmember allowing them to vote on their projects—especially Mr. Banke’s project regarding the McDonald’

At the council meeting, Fuller also claimed SB 1439 was signed and in law–which it wasn’t. He later walked that back in his written statement.

Then on Monday Fuller wrote:

There is strong evidence that Oakley Councilmembers Shannon Shaw and Hugh Henderson laundered campaign contributions received from Ohara Properties (Matt Beinke) and DeNova Homes through CREPAC. CREPAC is the California Real Estate Association Political Action Committee. Below is the narrative explaining my concerns to the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC). Shaw and Henderson returned their campaign contributions to DeNova Homes and Ohara Properties. They arranged to have CREPAC donate the same amount of money to them as was returned to the other two organizations. The arrangement with CRPAC was to facilitate Shaw and Henderson to bypass the requirements of SB1439 and vote for Benike’s favorite McDonald’s and Quick Quack Car Wash at Laurel Plaza.

Fuller continued:

Oakley Mayor Aaron Meadows was heavily involved in Shaw and Henderson’s campaign. Mayor Meadows maintains a close association with DeNova Homes and O’Hara Properties. I would not be surprised if Mayor Meadows conspired with DeNova Homes, O’Hara Properties, and CRE-PAC to launder Shaw and Henderson’s campaign.

Also, Bryan Montgomery, Oakley’s former city manager and now Indio’s city manager, took an extraordinary interest in O’Hara Properties to build a McDonald’s Fast Food facility in Oakley. In addition, an investigation of City Staff take place to ensure none were involved in laundering campaign funds.

Unfortunately for Fuller, while he may believe there is “strong evidence” of money laundering going on, the FPPC doesn’t believe there is and will not pursue the matter — again, it has nothing to do with staffing levels or funding as Fuller wants the community to believe.

Fuller, who admits the FPPC is not pursuing the matter, claims its because its “highly complex” and “did not have the resources” to pursue it.  That may be his perception, its not true.

On Monday, the FPPC said in a statement they never reject a complaint based on workload/lack of resources. Furthermore, the FPPC investigates far more complex complaints than what Fuller submitted. Basically, Fuller had no evidence to support his claims and within 72-hours issued the response they would not pursue the matter.

FPPC Found no evidence to Fullers claims submitted Nov 25, 2023.

In speaking with Jay Wierenga, spokesperson for the FPPC, he stated that every complaint undergoes a review process which can take several days to a few weeks depending on the allegations involved.

He shared, for example, a complaint which says someone missed a filing deadline might be relatively easy, because it’s a deadline, it’s simple to determine. A complaint that might deal with complex matters such as conflicts of interest, or laundered campaign funds, or personal use of campaign money, those might take a few weeks to make a determination.

“But we never reject a complaint based on workload/lack of resources,” stated Wierenga. “We only open complaints into investigations when there appears to be enough evidence or information to indicate a potential violation. We do not open investigations unless we have a reasonable information, facts, evidence and the like, to show potential violation(s) MAY have occurred and there is a reasonable expectation of being able to find the information to either prove or disprove violations.”

Its telling that the FPPC says an investigation into money laundered funds could take weeks to determine, however, based on evidence provided by Fuller, it took them less than 72-hours to determine there was nothing to his accusation. The FPPC wants to go after elected officials who break the law or are doing illegal things, but in this case, there was no evidence of this going on, regardless of what Fuller may believe or lead others to also believe.

As for SB 1439, the pay-to-play bill from Senator Steve Glazer, which bans local officials from voting on matters after a contribution of $250 or more was received (also blocking donations for a year after a vote),  the bill went into law on November 18, 2022–meaning it doesn’t even apply to the 2022 election.

Also worth noting and getting into the weeds a bit, SB 1439 was challenged and placed on hold after claims it makes it harder for diverse candidates to raise money while also voting on local issues—in May 2023, the court upheld the anti-corruption law.

Bottom line, Fuller is intentionally misleading the public on SB 1439 to fit his narrative, doesn’t understand SB 1439 or just wants to make Henderson, Shaw and Meadows look bad.

It gets even worse, without proof, Fuller on Monday insinuates Mayor Aaron Meadows was involved and influenced the California Real Estate Association of California with donations to Henderson and Shaw, but also conspired with DeNova Homes, O’Hara Properties, and CRE-PAC to launder funding.

If Meadows has the ability to control money flow like this, he is in the wrong elected seat and should be a US Congressman. It is a rather silly, yet crazy accusation to make–let alone put it in writing for the world to see.

Oakley Must Take Action Against Fuller

The Oakley City Council has tolerated Fullers antics for too long–including dealing with misleading statements and flat out lies over the past two years. He has now crossed the line to borderline slander and libel while opening up the city lawsuits.

Given Fullers statements at the dais and on his blog and in social media, the Oakley city council must ask for a public apology followed by his resignation. If he won’t resign, the council has little choice but to first censure him and remove him from all his committee assignments.

We can disagree on policy, ordinances, development projects or whatever else, but one doesn’t get to go all conspiracy theorist and accuse council members of breaking the law while also bringing up others in the process without consequences.

Fuller’s actions are just one reason why so many people who would make great city councilmembers no longer want to run or serve their community because they have to deal with so much nonsense and false accusations to do a thankless job.

Fuller has no business serving the public on the Oakley City Council nor representing the City of Oakley in any capacity going forward.

Mike Burkholder
Publisher of ContraCosta.news
[email protected]