Originally posted at San Diego Free Press.
By Doug Porter.
San Diego County’s District Attorney is getting a lot of heat as reporters continue to unearth new details about a campaign finance scandal spanning the last couple of years.
Prosecutors have determined that more than $200,000 was illegally funneled into independent campaign committees in support of her failed mayoral candidacy in 2012. UT-San Diego ran a front page story claiming candidate committees directly under Dumanis’ control received $13,250 connected to three persons connected with the ongoing investigation.
Calls for an additional investigation are mounting. The District Attorney has returned $1,400 in contributions to her current re-election campaign since the scandal unfolded and is refusing to re-open earlier campaign committees to give back monies from earlier contests.
Former City Attorney Mike Aquirre told 10News that it’s time for federal investigators took look into the matter, including Dumanis’ apparent lack of action after learning, via a City Beat article in May 2012, about an illegal $100,000 contribution to a political action committee from Mexican tycoon Susumo Azano.
Robert Brewer, one of two former prosecutors running against Dumanis in 2014, has called for a full accounting of her connections to the defendants named in the complaint. His campaign has garnered widespread support from law enforcement groups, who have publicly complained about the politicalization of the prosecutor’s office under her administration.
Brian Marvel, president of the San Diego Police Officers Association told NBC7News: “We’ve been disappointed with Bonnie’s communication with our communities. It seems we only hear form her when election day approaches. She has consistently placed politics above her responsibilities as D.A.”
Opponent Terri Wyatt told 10News “It erodes the trust in the district attorney when you have this going on, when she’s connected to that.”
Following the revelation that the DA lunched with Azano at his Coronado home (at a date she cannot recall), she met with UT-San Diego reporters…
…and repeatedly said she intends to return no further contributions. She noted that most of the money was given to her mayoral campaign, which has been closed out and is therefore not in a position to cut checks.
Dumanis told UT-TV:
“I have nothing to hide. My name is being dragged through the mud because I met somebody. I had nothing to do with that committee.”