(TNS) — New campaign transparency rules proposed in San Diego would force more disclosure of which donors paid for mailers, curb perpetual fundraising by candidates and crack down on artificial intelligence usage.
The package of rules, which a key committee forwarded Wednesday to the City Council for final approval, would also fight shadow campaigns — where candidates skirt disclosure rules by delaying when they officially file to run.
The proposals come just as a new record has been set for spending in San Diego elections by independent committees, which some of the reforms target for more transparency.
More than $3.15 million has been spent this election cycle by independent committees, which tops the previous record of $3.1 million in 2018, the local chapter of the League of Women Voters said Wednesday.
And the record was set with nearly three weeks left until Election Day on Nov. 3, said Kim Knox, a past president of the chapter.
The proposed reforms, which are being spearheaded by Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, aim to restore voter confidence by making it harder for wealthy interests to buy San Diego elections.
“People are cynical about politics for a reason,” Elo-Rivera said. “We have to give them a reason to trust.”
The region’s top labor leader endorsed the proposals Wednesday.
“Every election cycle we watch wealthy developers, hoteliers and corporate interests hide behind slick mailers and shadowy committees,” said Brigette Browning, president of the San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council. “They pretend to be grassroots community groups, and sometimes they even pretend to be workers’ groups when we know they are diametrically opposed to anything that’s good for workers.”
Perhaps the centerpiece of Elo-Rivera’s proposal is a requirement that groups with names like San Diegans for Good Policies disclose their top five financial contributors on mailers and other campaign literature.
“Behind too many of these innocent-sounding names are some of the most powerful and wealthy interests in the world,” Elo-Rivera said.
A related concern Elo-Rivera is trying to combat is donations that get funneled from a donor through multiple committees to obscure the original source of the money.
Another key proposal is forcing candidates and campaigns to disclose the use of artificial intelligence, such as fake images or images that show candidates doing or saying things they never actually did or said.
For example, a mailer this fall opposing District 8 City Council candidate Gerardo Ramirez shows a computer-generated image of President Donald Trump whispering in Ramirez’s ear. Ramirez is in a Democrat-versus-Democrat runoff with Antonio Martinez.
The reforms also aim to end what Elo-Rivera calls “perpetual” campaigns by shrinking the window for candidate fundraising to exactly one year before the election they are targeting takes place.
The proposal also addresses shadow campaigns by requiring a candidate who received support before officially declaring their candidacy to immediately file a “look-back” disclosure and reveal who funded all that preliminary support.
Elo-Rivera says an example of this practice is District 2 council candidate Richard Bailey. Multiple mailers featuring a picture of Bailey and his signature were sent out weeks before Bailey officially declared himself a candidate last winter.
Bailey has said those preliminary mailers are protected free speech under the First Amendment.
Councilmember Raul Campillo voted in favor Wednesday of sending the package to the full council for approval, but he expressed concerns that some of the new rules could be unconstitutional.
He asked City Attorney Heather Ferbert’s staff to weigh in on those concerns when the reforms are presented to the full council.
Other critics expressed concerns that the new rules would be hard to enforce.
Council President Joe LaCava said he’s optimistic that the city’s Ethics Commission could enforce them, and stressed that the city can’t let enforcement concerns stop it from trying.
“Every time we close a loophole, they’ll find another loophole,” LaCava said. “We do the best we can.”
©2026 The San Diego Union-Tribune. Visit sandiegouniontribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
San Diego Seeks to Crack Down on AI and Shadow Campaigns
Proposed election reforms would tighten disclosure requirements and close campaign finance loopholes as spending by independent political committees reaches a record $3.15 million.
