Public Comment

It seems like the national news media is hanging in anxious anticipation for that “October Surprise” event, revelation, or catastrophe that will swing the Presidential election one way or the other. 

And, then there is Berkeley. 

Some of us received the forwarded letter from Paola Laverde that starts with, “Today I filed a complaint against Sophie Hahn, Mayoral candidate in Berkeley, with the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC).” 

The complaint revolves around the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) Form 700 and failure to report. 

I requested and received the full packet with the complaint from Paola Laverde and it is best summarized as thorough with substantial supporting documentation. Laverde used the California Form 700 filings, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings and business reports as documentation. 

Here is an excerpt from that filing: 

“Sophie Hahn (Ms. Hahn) is both a current City Councilmember for the City of Berkeley, first elected in November, 2016, and also a candidate for Mayor of Berkeley in the upcoming November 5, 2024 election. In her FPPC Form 700 filings, dating back to 2020, if not earlier, it appears Ms. Hahn failed to report, as required by the FPPC, her 50% share of yearly earnings from her spouse (Mr. Eric Bjerkholt), currently Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Mirum Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company. These earnings likely averaged at least $500,000 per year during this period and were closer to $1 million/year for 2023 and 2024. A recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing listed Mr. Bjerkholt’s compensation at $4,337,928 for 2023 although this included stock options that may not yet have been awarded. (Ex. 1) Ms. Hahn also appeared not to report (other than 2020), as required by the FPPC, her family’s substantial stock holdings in various biotechnology companies. These holdings have been estimated as high as $4 million. (Ex. 2).” 

In writing this Activist’s Diary, I went through the mandated Form 700 filings by Sophie Hahn going back to 2014, when I first started attending city meetings. I started with the State FPPC website, but the back and forth of when Hahn included her husband’ compensations in the biotech industry and when she didn’t was so hard to follow that I switched to the City of Berkeley website (which had the same Form 700 filings) where the documents were easier to view, save and print. 

Here is the explanation of the Form 700 from the State of California FPPC website: 

“Every elected official and public employee who makes or influences governmental decisions is required to submit a Statement of Economic Interests, also known as Form 700. The Form 700 provides transparency and ensures accountability in two ways: 

1. It provides necessary information to the public about an official’s personal financial interests to ensure that officials are making decisions in the best interest of the public and not enhancing their personal finances.
2. It serves as a reminder to the public official of potential conflicts of interest so the official can abstain from making or participating in governmental decisions that are deemed conflict of interest.”

For comparison and to be thorough I also reviewed the Form 700 filings completed by candidates Kate Harrison and Adena Ishii. 

To look at the Form 700 filings go to the City of Berkeley and type in Conflict of Interest in the search bar. Then click on submitted forms. When the request page comes up you can change the dates and type in the last name of anyone you want to search. https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/public-records/conflict-interest-reports 

Not every Form 700 filing by an elected person in Berkeley is listed in the City of Berkeley filings. For example, Mayor Arreguin and Auditor Jenny Wong filed the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) sponsored trips to Israel with the State FPPC, but those same forms of the controversial trips to Israel are not in City of Berkeley filings. A person looking only at Berkeley Form 700 filings would not find the documentation of Arreguin’s and Wong’s sponsored trips to Israel. 

For Form 700s filed with the state use https://fppc.ca.gov/transparency/form-700-filed-by-public-officials/form700-search.html 

I was looking at councilmember Hahn’s 700 form filings a few weeks ago in relation to her trip with the Jewish Community Relations Council to Israel (JCRC) in March of 2023, so I was only looking at the recent 700 forms. What I found strange in Hahn’s filings was that her only investment was Jimmy’s described as “Environmentally smart dog food” with the box checked as stock with a value of $100,001 - $1,000,000 and the house she owns with her husband in the Berkeley Hills. 

A dog food company by the name of Jimmy’s does not exist. Hahn did not bother to correct the name in her fillings of 3/10/2022, 4/3/2023, 3/15/2024. Most would probably excuse the misspelling of Jiminy’s as Jimmy’s as carelessness. It wasn’t until she completed her August 8, 2024 Form 700 filing as candidate for mayor that Jiminy’s was listed. In those same years Hahn listed only her house with a value of greater than $1,000,000 and did not list the income or any other investments. She did not list the substantial household income of her spouse that Laverde found in her searches 

Jiminy’s is a privately held Berkeley initiated and based company with a Solano Avenue address. In the “profile preview” PitchBook Platform webpage it lists five of nine investors. Hahn is not listed in the five named venture capital investors. https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/459645-22#team 

Hahn’s house is in fire zone 2 in the hillside overlay on a parcel that is designated as a landslide zone. Her house made only two of the three criteria for what I call the Berkeley Hazard Trifecta which are parcels/lots/properties that are in the very high fire hazard severity zone, in a landslide zone and also sit on top of the Hayward fault. 

In the March 5, 2021 filing Hahn lists Chinook Theraputics stock with a value of $100,001 - $1,000,000. Hahn’s Form 700 filings of Chinook Theraputics lists an acquired date of 11/10/20 and then it just disappears from future filings. 

The FPPC requires stocks that are worth $2,000 or more during the reporting period must be reported every year that they are held. The “acquired” and “disposed” are only required if the stocks were acquired or disposed during the period covered by the Form 700. 

Here is the excerpt from the complaint referring to the March 5, 2021 for the year 2020. 

“As noted above, Ms. Hahn did report her share of her husband’s salary and stockholdings in Chinook Pharmaceuticals but only for her 2020 FPPC filing. Chinook Pharmaceutical is the successor to Aduro Pharmaceuticals, through a reverse merger between the two firms. (Ex. 21) Aduro was started in Berkeley in 2015, and operated, and was headquartered in Berkeley, CA until, around the time of its reverse merger in 2020. (Ex. 22) As a result of the merger it relocated most of its operations outside of Berkeley. 

However, this does not excuse the failure to report Chinook Pharmaceuticals for the 2021 through 2023 reporting years as Chinook continued to operate in Berkeley. It retained (and then sublet) the long-term lease with Wareham Development for Aduro’s headquarters at 740 Heinz St. (Ex. 23) as well as acquiring various Aduro patent rights held in conjunction with the University of California, Berkeley. (Ex. 24)  

Chinook’s continued long-term lease in Berkeley should have been known by Ms. Hahn, as it was included in Chinook’s 2023 Annual Report, attested to by her husband in his role as CFO of Chinook (Ex. 23). Additionally, even if Chinook had completely eliminated its Berkeley presence (which it did not), the FPPC requires that candidates continue reporting for the following two years after departure (i.e. 2021 and 2022). Once again, this is something that Ms. Hahn failed to do.” 

In Hahn’s Form 700 filings for March 12, 2017, March 18, 2018, March 7, 2019, April 16, 2020 July 30, 2020, she lists only her residence, no income, no investments. 

The California Form 700 Fair Political Practice Commission is a public document with the cover page title of STATEMENT OF ECONOMIC INTERESTS. It is supposed to tell us in the Schedules (added forms) Schedule A-1 Investments, Schedule A-2 Investments, Schedule B-Real Property, Schedule C- Income, Loans & Business Positions, Schedule D-Income-Gifts and Schedule E-Income Gifts Travel Payments. 

During the years I reviewed 2014 through 2024, Hahn completed the Form 700 Schedule A-1, Schedule A-2, Schedule B and Schedule C forms as required by the FPPC when she was appointed to the Zoning Adjustment Board (ZAB). Those filings ended when Hahn ran for city council and was elected in 2016. The filings for 2017 through 2020 as noted above listed only her residence.  

The FPPC frequently asked questions and answers can be accessed with this link: https://www.fppc.ca.gov/content/dam/fppc/NS-Documents/TAD/Form%20700/2019-2020/Form_700_FAQs_2019.pdf 

I did look at the Form 700 filings for candidates Kate Harrison and Adena Ishii. 

Kate Harrison did not include her husband’s salary as he was a government employee. A spouse or registered domestic partner’s government salary is not reportable. 

Harrison’s husband James Hendry is officially retired, though I understand he may still put in some part time hours. As a government employee Hendry was required to complete Form 700. According to his Form 700 filings I found with the last one dated 3/17/2024, Hendry was a civil servant working as a Public Utilities Commission, Boards and Administration Utility Specialist for the City and County of San Francisco. In his earlier filings Hendry did report Harrison’s non-governmental earnings. 

The Harrison Hendry household holdings of mutual funds do not need to be reported according to the FPPC. 

Stocks in a diversified mutual fund registered with the SEC or in a fund similar to a diversified mutual fund that meets criteria in Regulation 18237 do not need to be reported, nor do defined-benefit pension program plan such as CalPERS do not need to be reported. 

Adena Ishii filed what looks to be a complete Form 700 including Schedule A-1, Schedule A-2, Schedule B, Schedule C, and included income and place of employment of her spouse or registered domestic partner. 

One of the many things in Laverde’s complaint that caught my attention was the connection between Hahn’s husband’s business and Wareham Development. It is Wareham Development that purchased the building that housed filmmakers and Fantasy Studios and filed to change the zoning from arts which were protected into research and development for biotechnology. Wareham lost at the Zoning Adjustment Board which determined filmmaking was an art and protected. 

Wareham appealed the ZAB decision by redefining film as just media and not an art. The Berkeley City Council heard the appeal on July 30, 2024 and voted in favor of Wareham. Hahn did not recuse herself and voted in favor of Wareham. I wrote about filmmaking, the Fantasy Studios and the hearing in my August Activist’s Diary. https://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2024-08-01/article/50779?headline=A-BERKELEY-ACTIVIST-S-DIARY-August-1--Kelly-Hammargren 

Will Hahn’s failure to disclose make any difference to Berkeley voters? 

It would to me, but I had my reservations about Sophie Hahn before this new layer fell in my lap. I have been observing Hahn for nearly ten years first on ZAB, then on City Council and in Council Committees. 

I’ve had my concerns for a very long time.