Why Sacramento mayoral candidate Flojaune Cofer waited months to reveal an alleged bribe
Former Sacramento mayoral candidate Flojaune Cofer caused a stir at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting when she claimed someone attempted to offer her money to secure a commitment to extend City Manager Howard Chan’s contract.
But questions about the allegation remain, including who offered it. Cofer has declined to publicly share the person’s name, citing concerns from her family.
Per Cofer’s account, she received a phone call from “political contributors” on September 24. They allegedly offered her a maximum mayoral campaign contribution of $4,050 if she pledged to continue Chan’s contract for another year, should she become mayor.
“This is the dark underbelly of politics,” Cofer said.
Cofer said she did not publicly share the incident for nearly three months to focus on her campaign. Members of her team also warned against engaging in a public back-and-forth just weeks before Sacramento residents would receive their ballots.
“It would become a whole story, and now I’m talking about that, and not my campaign,” Cofer said.
Cofer repeatedly said she has no reason to believe that Chan knew about or condoned the offer. Still, she worries that other people running for office have been offered “similar propositions.”
“The idea that somebody is willing to break the law around this should raise questions for all of us about what the heck is going on here,” Cofer said.
Chan’s chief of staff, Amy Williams, said the city manager had no knowledge or involvement in any campaign contribution offers. Chan’s tenure as city manager will end in a few weeks after the City Council voted Tuesday to reject his contract extension.
“If she (Cofer) feels that something illegal occurred during the campaign, she should contact the FPPC (Fair Political Practices Commission),” said Williams in a statement.
Mayor Kevin McCarty said he received offers of political support from supporters and opponents of the city manager throughout his campaign. These individuals sought commitments to either extend or reject Chan’s contract.
“Consistent with my record as a 20-year elected official, I rejected all of them,” McCarty said in a statement. McCarty voted against an extension of Chan’s contract on Tuesday.
McCarty significantly outspent Cofer in their mayoral race. Cofer, who ran her first campaign, received mostly smaller donations from individual residents and maintained that she did not accept money from corporations. McCarty went on to win the mayoral election by fewer than 2,000 votes.
Cofer said she has not filed complaints with the Fair Political Practices Commission or Sacramento Ethics Commission. Both organizations are tasked with investigating alleged violations against elected officials and candidates. Cofer’s decision stems from a consultation with her attorney.
“At the time, I was told that my options would be to file with local law enforcement, which didn’t feel right because our local law enforcement reports to the city manager and so I wasn’t sure where that would go,” Cofer said.
The last violation filed with the Sacramento Ethics Commission was in late September, according to its most recent complaint log.
This story was originally published December 19, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
