Illegal donations
Dumanis ran to become the mayor of San Diego in 2012 and lost. Not long after,Dumanis was accused of accepting illegal donations. [25] She testified in a federal court trial for JoséSusumo Azano Matsura,a wealthy Mexican businessman,who was charged with making $600,000 in illegal political donations. [26] [27] Although it is illegal for foreign nationals to make donations to U.S. political campaigns,he donated to officials including Dumanis and Bob Filner. [28] Dumanis said under oath that she had believed Matsura was a U.S. citizen and barely knew him,having met him on only two occasions. Matsura claimed she knew he was a foreign citizen. Later,Matsura's attorney contended in a court filing that Dumanis had visited Matsura at his home,and that Matsura had told Dumanis in a meeting he only had a Mexican passport and a visa. When asked why she had accepted a contribution worth about $100,000 from Matsura just two months after the meetings,she said she hadn't known where the money came from at the time. [29] It also was revealed that in September 2012,four months after the meetings,Dumanis wrote a letter of recommendation for Matsura's son (whom she had never met) to include in his application to the University of San Diego. [30]
Pension "double-dipping"
Dumanis has been accused of taking two pensions at the same time and using her lawyers to influence 2017 pension law changes that would allow her to receive the salary for County Supervisor in addition to her current two pensions. She had previously fought to end guaranteed pensions in San Diego. [35]
In 2015,while district attorney of San Diego,Dumanis began receiving a pension of $29,318/year (she was a judge in 1995–2003) in addition to her salary,and she received both pension and salary from January 2015 to July 2017. [36] The practice of double-dipping pensions is largely banned in San Diego county,but as of 2018 after retiring from both jobs,Dumanis continues to receive both pensions for a total of about $298,400/year because they come from different pension systems. [36]
Not long before Dumanis announced her intention to run for San Diego county supervisor in September 2017,there was a change in county laws regarding pensions. Under the new system,she would be allowed to take the county supervisor salary in addition to her current two pensions. [37] In January 2018,it was reported in the San Diego Union-Tribune that Dumanis' lawyers had extensively lobbied pension officials to change the law,with more than 80 pages of exchanges between Dumanis' lawyers and pension officials throughout 2017. [38] She paid the lawyers with campaign contributions for about $5,600 worth of services. [39] [40] Dumanis' lawyers also sent a memo confirming that the new legislation would allow a former official with a pension (like Dumanis) to also take a salary. [41] This led to widespread speculation that Dumanis was planning to try to take the salary in addition to her two pensions.
Dumanis stated that the change of law had nothing to do with her. [38] When asked why her lawyers had been so closely involved with the law change,Dumanis said they had sent a "strategy memo",and that she knew of five other people in government who received a salary and a pension at the same time. [39] After the controversy,she pledged multiple times to forgo the $172,000 county supervisor salary if she won the seat. [39]
