Campaign fairness code for Modesto City Council races: Who signed and who didn’t
All but two of the five candidates in the contested Modesto City Council seats signed a voluntary campaign fairness code.
The Code of Fair Campaign Practices is centered around “basic principles of decency, honesty and fair play, which every candidate for public office in the State of California has a moral obligation to observe and uphold.”
The form focuses on conducting an open campaign, refraining from character defamation, discrimination based on protected categories, election interference and coercion for contributions by employees. It also requires immediately repudiating any attempts by supporters to use tactics the candidate condemns and to take action against any subordinate who violates the code.
The two candidates who did not sign the pledge are Joel Gutierrez Campos, who is running for the District 1 seat, held by Rosa Escutia-Braaton, and Austin Grant, who is challenging incumbent David Wright in District 6.
Though candidates are required to receive the code under California law, they are not required to sign it.
Grant said he was going to sign the document but didn’t because Wright had not yet done so.
“For me, I was just trying to be fair to myself,” Grant said. “Because if my opponent didn’t sign that, I didn’t feel that I needed to sign it even though throughout my campaign, I haven’t necessarily put out any op ads or anything in relation to my opponent.”
Wright did sign the document on July 30, 2024. He did not respond to a request to be interviewed on this topic.
Campos said he didn’t sign the document because he was late to the campaign, filing on the last day, and hadn’t read it. He said the clerk provided him a basic rundown.
“If it’s optional and I haven’t reviewed it yet, I don’t feel comfortable signing it,” he said. “My understanding is it was probably talking about how you don’t want to say things about their family and stuff like that. I’m not going to go there anyways.”
Escutia-Braaton said she signed the form without even reading the details. Her form was received by the Modesto City Clerk on July 15. “I signed it without hesitation,” she said. “It was a no-brainer to me that I would run a campaign based on high integrity.”
John Gunderson, her other opponent in District 1, also signed the document that day. “Yeah I signed it, no problem, easy,” Gunderson said. “I don’t have to mess with anyone.”
Escutia-Braaton said she can’t imagine why someone wouldn’t sign it. “It’s inconceivable to me that anyone would have any reservation to sign that form,” she said.
Gunderson said that if candidates take the code to heart, it is important, but he didn’t know how binding the document was. “I don’t think they can slap your hand or anything,” he said. “It’s just kind of a gentlemen’s agreement.”
Grant said for anyone running in the future, the code is useful.
“Because it does show character, it shows morality, it shows you don’t necessarily want to down-talk your opponent,” he said. “Even though I didn’t sign it, I still showed morality and fair practices throughout this campaign.”
On top of the voluntary form, there are FPPC requirements and restrictions associated with how and when to disclose information on campaign ads.
“It can get very complicated,” said Jay Wierenga, communications director for the Fair Political Practices Commission.
He said they do offer a place where people can send in pictures or video to their enforcement division, called “AdWATCH,” and they can do so without filing a complaint.
“Enforcement will try to look at it as quickly as possible and even open an investigation if needed, or sometimes, at the very least, if they can find out who’s behind it, get them to put the disclosure on any future ads and take down the current, disclosure-less ads,” he said.
Escutia-Braaton and Gunderson both reported that flyers and text messages disparaging Escutia-Braaton were disseminated without disclaimers, or any indication as to who created them.
Gunderson and Campos have denied distributing the flyers.
“This is my fifth run for office and I have never attacked my opponents. Just not who I am,” Gunderson said. “In a sense, since they are unsigned, it is an attack on me.”
Campos also said the flyers were not from him or his campaign. “Did I send them? No. Is it my campaign? No. But am I kind of happy about it? Yeah,” Campos said.
A denial Campos posted on Facebook which was received by the Bee via screenshot, has since been deleted. Campos said that he felt pressure to post it in the first place and that it was bringing negative attention to his campaign.
“I go and look at my Facebook page and that post was the first thing that’s on there,” he said. “People were actually accusing me because of the post denial.”
The unsigned flyers claim that Escutia-Braaton is unresponsive to her constituents. They do not endorse a candidate. The text message without a disclaimer starts with a call to vote for Joel Campos and makes statements about Escutia-Braaton increasing taxes and raising council pay.
“I’m not afraid to put my name on an attack,” Campos said. “I kind of wish, I should have sent that ‘gave herself a raise,’ that felt pretty clever.”
The FPPC cannot provide guidance without looking at the specifics of a particular case and conducting an investigation.
“What I can say is we (the FPPC as a whole) always encourage disclosure to be included, no matter the type of advertising, even if it is not legally required,” Wierenga said.
This story was originally published November 1, 2024 at 6:00 PM.
