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Former California Assemblymember Evan Low was fined $106,000 after he admitted to deliberately hiding a $227,000 payment to Alec Baldwin for the actor's appearance at a political fundraiser, the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) reported in a press release on Thursday. Low did not dispute the charges and agreed to pay the fine.
Low was fined for fundraising tied to his Evan Low for Assembly 2020 and the Foundation for California’s Technology and Innovation Economy (FCTIE), a nonprofit 501(c)(3) he founded in 2017. The FPPC found Low and his various committees committed 23 different violations of California’s campaign finance laws during his successful run for the State Assembly in 2020.
Baldwin appeared at a charity fundraiser for FCTIE on February 7, 2020. Later that evening, he appeared as the “special celebrity guest” at a ticketed fundraiser for Low’s campaign held at a Chinese restaurant in San Jose’s Little Saigon.
Low initially claimed Baldwin voluntarily appeared at his fundraiser on February 7, 2020, without payment and was paid only for his appearance at the FCTIE function. However, internal messaging and records showed the payment to Baldwin was split between Low’s reelection committee and the FCTIE.
“During the investigation of this matter, the Enforcement Division identified multiple accrued expenses, paid for by the Foundation, that the Committee and Low failed to timely disclose in violation of the Act,” the FPPC said in its final report on the investigation. “Additionally, the Committee and Low failed to timely disclose subvendor payments made associated with the accrued expenses, failed to maintain records of the accrued expenses and subvendor payments, and improperly terminated the Committee. Furthermore, Low failed to verify each of the Committee’s campaign statements were true and correct, in violation of the Act.”
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“I am pleased that the California Fair Political Practices Commission has concluded an overdue process to address these claims with closure. I am now focused on the important work of building and growing a pipeline of LGBTQ+ elected officials across the country," Low said in a statement sent to The Advocate. Low is now the president of the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund.
Angela Brereton, FPPC’s assistant chief of the enforcement division, was scathing in her assessment of Low’s actions, describing his actions as “egregious” and deserving of the charges and fine.
“We don’t typically charge for every single violation,” Brereton told the BAR. “Often, we will combine counts or use certain violations that might qualify under the streamlined program and not charge individual stipulations. We did not do that here.”
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