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Bates faces campaign finance allegations

By Kurtis Alexander
Friday October 11, 2002

 

Two weeks after Mayor Shirley Dean was found in violation of the city’s campaign finance law, her challenger in the November election faces similar charges. 

Berkeley resident Marie Bowman filed a complaint with the city’s Fair Campaign Practices Commission Thursday, alleging that mayoral candidate Tom Bates accepted $1000 in illegal contributions. 

According to Bowman, four contributors gave Bates $500 during the latest election cycle. City campaign law allows individual contributions of only $250 during that time span.  

Bates could not be reached for comment. 

Last month, Bates’ campaign treasurer Mal Burnstein charged Dean with wrongly classifying $3000 of campaign contributions as office expenses. 

In a second charge, Berkeley resident Carrie Olson claimed that Dean accepted between $550 and $700 of illegal contributions in her 1998 run for mayor. 

City commissioners found the mayor in “probable violation” of both charges and have asked her to accept responsibility. 

“It’s just a matter of sorting out some record-keeping stuff,” said Dean’s campaign manager Bryan Schwartz. 

Members of the Fair Campaign Practices Commission, nor Bowman could be reached for comment.