The Texas Ethics Commission ruled this week that the San Antonio police union’s treasurer, Jason Sanchez, violated state election code in the local 2021 general election when he filed more than $615,000 in campaign expenditures under his own name.
Those reports should have been filed under the San Antonio Police Officers Association PAC’s name, the order states, as the money was used toward the union’s narrowly successful battle to defeat Proposition B, which would have stripped the union of its ability to collectively bargain.
“This goes to prove that our police union not only floods elections with money to drown out our voice and vote, but also violates election laws to do it,” Ananda Tomas, executive director of ACT 4 SA, stated in a news release. “We hope that by bringing this to light we can open up our community’s eyes to how this political organization truly operates.”
It’s unclear who will pay the $5,000 civil penalty. Sanchez directed inquiries to the union’s public relations firm, which sent a statement from union president Danny Diaz.
“The San Antonio Police Officers’ Association fully cooperated with the Texas Ethics Commission throughout the proceeding to address this matter,” Diaz said. “We have consented to their proposed resolution and have resolved the sworn complaint.”
Fix SAPD led the 2021 ballot initiative. Tomas, who was previously the deputy director of Fix SAPD, filed a complaint against the union in February 2023, amid ACT 4 SA’s Justice Charter campaign to reform a wide range of public safety issues including abortion ban enforcement and the city’s cite-and-release policy. Voters overwhelmingly rejected the measure in May.
According to the order and agreement signed by Sanchez and the executive director of the ethics commission, Sanchez said that the “disclosure violations were the product of a mistake rather than intentional malfeasance.” He said this was his first time filing reports with the commission and didn’t know he could file under the union’s name. The full name of the union “would not fit in the field provided for the filer’s name” on the form.
Regardless, the public was not given notice of the full scope of the union’s spending until well after the election had concluded. Initially, it appeared from reports that the union had spent just $100,000 in 2021, when in fact they had spent closer to $700,000. Meanwhile, Fix SAPD raised nearly $925,000.
“[Sanchez’s] error made SAPOA’s political expenditures difficult for the public to find and thereby frustrated effective disclosure of a substantial amount of activity,” the ethics order states.
