Updated 10/03/2024 | 3:20pm PST
Updated 10/03/2024 | 8:08pm PST
Updated 10/04/2024 | 12:54pm PST

It appears that the opposition to Measure Y nonprofit that opposes the Kids First Initiative on Pomona’s November 5th ballot has not reported their campaign finances. Recently, they have missed their September 26th deadline. Non-reporting is a violation of California’s Political Reform Act, an act supported by the FPPC, California’s Fair Political Practices Commission. 

The City of Pomona Public Portal for Campaign Finance Disclosure states that "There is no filing activity opposing this measure," but most recently the opposition has been posting yard signs in various neighborhoods and this costs money.

Unfortunately, tracking these campaign finances is difficult. The City of Pomona's Public Portal for Campaign Finance Disclosure is set up more to help citizens access information on candidates rather than measures.

In order for a citizen to track the campaign financing for No on Y and Yes on Y, a citizen has to know the specific name of the political nonprofits who are receiving and dispensing funds for their campaign. In the case of the political nonprofit for the No on Y campaign (the opposition), the name of the nonprofit is Save Our Pomona Public Library Advocacy Group. In the case of the Yes on Measure Y political non-profit the name is Pomona Kids First Ballot Measure.

The opposition political nonprofit has not submitted reports since July and it appears that the reports submitted in July were about routine library advocacy business and not measure Y. However, the Yes on Y political nonprofit is up-to-date with its filings.

Tracking the nonprofit for the opposition to Y campaign, in general, is difficult. Signage for their campaign lists their website address as www.NoOnYPomona.org however, it redirects to savecityfunds.org which is the web page for SOPPL or the Save Our Pomona Public Library Group, a 501(c) (4) organization, California State Campaign Recipient Committee ID number 1351555. It’s confusing that the library advocacy group is also the No on Measure Y advocacy group, however, the No on Measure Y campaigners contend that directing funds toward the children and youth of Pomona would redirect funds away from the library.

In rebuttal, the Kids First Initiative Yes on Measure Y campaign contend that the mechanisms for funding the library will still exist if Measure passes, with funds for the library available from both inside the 10% of Pomona’s General Fund that will be set aside for children, as well as from the remaining 90% of Pomona’s General Fund.

The Opposition to Measure Y campaign (SOPPL), on its yard signs, websites, videos and postings on social media and in public forums, has repeatedly attacked the Yes on Measure Y (Kids First) campaign for accepting donations from out-of-town nonprofits. However, accepting donations from nonprofits based in Los Angeles County, San Francisco, and nationally is not a violation of campaign finance rules, though not filing campaign finances is. The Opposition to Y have based their arguments on the information that the Yes on Y campaigners have disclosed, while Opposition to Y's  have failed to disclose. There is currently no mechanism in place for citizens to evaluate the Opposition to Y's campaign finances.

Curiously, another local non-political nonprofit, Clean & Green Pomona, has posted a page on its website devoted to Campaign Transparency, with a link to Pomona Kids First Primarily Formed Ballot Measure Committee (the Yes on Measure Y political non-profit) campaign finance disclosures, but has failed to post a link to the No on Measure Y/SOPPL political nonprofit campaign finance disclosures. See links below:

https://cleangreenpomona.org/campaign-transparency/#data
https://cleangreenpomona.org/pomona-kids-first/

This omission by Clean & Green Pomona from its 2024 Political Campaign Contribution Data page would appear to be bias by only presenting only the pro side of Measure Y and not the opposing side. Additionally, the omission is also a violation of Clean & Green's own stated standards for transparency.  It is not transparent if Clean & Green Pomona only reveals the campaign finances of one local political nonprofit and not the campaign finances of another local political nonprofit.

The purpose of campaign finance disclosure is to reveal who is influencing public policy. Providing voters with this key information allows them to make informed choices about who or what to vote for.

The Pomona Kids First Yes on Measure Y website here.

UPDATE
There has been a great deal of confusion over the fact that Save Our Pomona Public Library (SOPPL) Advocacy Group is the umbrella organization for the current No on Y campaign. Some of the confusion is over the fact that SOPPL Advocacy Group was not newly formed to oppose Measure Y - SOPPL  has been submitting its campaign finances to the City of Pomona in support or opposition of measures since at least 2012. It is only recently that SOPPL has become the political nonprofit that opposes Measure Y.

As of Wednesday, October 2, at noon, even the City of Pomona's City Clerk was unaware that the  SOPPL Advocacy Group was the political nonprofit that was accepting the campaign finances for the No on Y opposition movement.. It was The Pomonan editorial board that informed the clerk that day that SOPPL was listed  on the No on Y signs. Continuing into the present, the City of Pomona's Public Portal for Campaign Finance Disclosure still continues to state under Pomona Kids First Ballot Measure financials, "There is no filing activity opposing this measure” - which is not true.

By October 3 at 6:30pm, SOPPL Advocacy Group's did post its financials on the City of Pomona's Public Portal for Campaign Finance Disclosure web page - some 6 hours or so after this article was released by The Pomonan, some 30 hours after The Pomonan Editorial Board spoke with Pomona's City Clerk, and some 8 days after the filing deadline dictated by California law. SOPPL Advocacy Group’s submissions of its financial disclosures on October 3 was the Group’s first acknowledgement that the funds they were reporting were related to opposing the Pomona Kids Initiative, Measure Y.

It was on October 2, that The Pomonan Editorial Board not only informed the City Clerk that the SOPPL Advocacy Group was representing the No on Y opposition group, but also that SOPPL had missed their September 26 deadline. On this day, this editorial board asked if the City planned to report the missed deadline to California's Fair Political Practices Commission (the FPPC).

To date, Clean & Green Pomona has not updated its campaign transparency page to include SOPPL's campaign finances for opposing Measure Y. This is problematic because it continues to show their bias, ironically on a page dedicated to “Campaign Transparency.”

The Pomonan has learned that Kyle Brown, the Treasurer and Secretary of Clean & Green Pomona, submitted a formal complaint to California's Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) against the Pomona Kids campaign for not filing on time earlier in the year. However, the FPPC dismissed Brown’s case on September 24, 2024. The Pomona Kids First nonprofit filed on time, but the City of Pomona failed to post it on their Public Portal for Campaign Finance Disclosure. It is posted there now.

The editorial board consists of opinion journalists whose perspectives are shaped by their expertise, research, discussions, and established principles. This board operates independently from the newsroom.