Watchdog agency opens second investigation into ex-Windsor Mayor Dominic Foppoli

The state political ethics watchdog has opened a second investigation into former Windsor Mayor Dominic Foppoli, focusing on potential conflicts of interest he may have had while voting on a massive proposed Town Green development.

Foppoli resigned as mayor in May amid a widening sexual assault scandal with at least nine women publicly accusing him of rape, sexual abuse and sexual misconduct from 2003 until this year. Criminal investigations are ongoing in Sonoma County and Palm Beach, Florida, and Foppoli has denied he violated the law.

The latest Fair Political Practices Commission stems from an anonymous complained filed on July 20 and concerns Foppoli’s involvement in council discussions about the controversial proposed civic center project. The commission alerted Foppoli the following day and asked him to respond within 14 days. It’s unknown if he did and the FPPC doesn’t comment on the details of its investigations.

Foppoli was first elected to the council in 2014 and was re-elected in 2018. He won the town’s first direct election for mayor in 2020 but resigned in May after widespread public outrage over the women’s allegations.

The complaint, which includes copies of town council meetings and Foppoli’s financial disclosure forms required of elected officials, alleges that the former mayor “participated in the council’s consideration of a developer’s proposal to build on land currently owned by the town and the school district, although he is a part owner of a building and business that would most likely be impacted by the new development.”

The development at issue, the disputed civic center redevelopment, is estimated to cost in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Encinitas-based Robert Green Co. holds exclusive rights to negotiate that contract, which also envisions a 151-room boutique hotel on the Town Green, plus new municipal offices, housing and commercial retail space.

On Aug. 9, the commission notified Foppoli that based on the complaint, the FPPC’s enforcement division “has commenced a commission-initiated investigation regarding your potential violations of the conflict of interest provisions of the Political Reform Act.”

The complaint notes that Foppoli was involved in the project from the time the council began to formally consider the proposal in early 2019, or possibly earlier, until he recused himself at the November 18 council meeting last year.

Foppoli said in an email that he sought advice from the town attorney and town manager on whether his property would pose a conflict.

“I fully followed the guidance and legal advice I was given by our town attorneys and recused myself when advised to,” he wrote.

In April 2019 the town entered into an exclusive negotiating agreement with Green on a proposal to build a luxury hotel and residential units where the library, town hall and other civic buildings are located, and to relocate the civic buildings to sites the town would buy from private owners.

The complaint alleges that Foppoli violated state conflict of interest laws from 2019 to 2020 when he took part in the town council’s discussions of the proposal despite his ownership stake in at least one nearby building that could be affected by the development.

Foppoli in 2020 and 2021, the complaint shows, disclosed his financial connections in the FPPC’s required annual Form 700 which requires many public officials to disclose their stocks, bonds, property assets, trusts, income sources, debts and other financial information.

They show he owns at least a stake in a commercial building at 9000 Windsor Road and receives between $10,001 and $100,000 income from it annually.

The building is, according to the complaint, about 630 feet from the edge of the proposed civic center development and could significantly benefit from the huge planned development steps away.

On March 2 – two years after the town began considering the development and five months after he began recusing himself – town officials sought advice from the FPPC about whether Foppoli should be allowed to participate in the ongoing discussions and decisions.

Foppoli had already voted, with the rest of the council, to approve the exclusive agreement with Green on April 17, 2019, and on 4-1 votes to proceed further in the agreement with Green in February and June 2020. Councilman Sam Salmon was the lone no vote.

In none of the votes did Foppoli declare his ownership of the building near the Town Green nor seek advice from the town’s attorney, council minutes show.

He did however declare a conflict of interest on a different item before the council in June 2020 because he owned part of a building located nearby. The minutes show he abstained from voting on that item, the granting of a utility easement for a Windsor River Road project.

Council records also show Foppoli participated in closed sessions for property negotiations for the proposed new civic building sites.

Until Foppoli recused himself at the the November 18, 2020 council meeting, he claimed to have been cleared of any conflict in the Green civic center project, the complaint alleges.

In the email exchange Tuesday, he said the town kept an active list of properties owned by council members and commissioners and had a tool to measure distances for potential conflicts.

“We would be told in advance if there were any possible conflicts with items coming up in the agenda,” he said. “Up until 2020 I was always told by staff that the property was not a conflict because it was more than 500 feet from the development. Even after that I was told it was only a possibility of a conflict which is why the town attorney asked for further clarification from the FPPC at my request.”

The FPPC didn’t offer any advice on the town’s request, sent by town attorney Jose Sanchez on behalf of Foppoli, because the potential conflicts of interest had already occurred, according to the agency’s response dated March 22.

“Because your request for advice relates to past conduct, we are unable to provide advice with respect to the Political Reform Act at this time,” agency officials wrote.

Salmon said he and other council members knew of Foppoli’s nearby brewery building, which is now for sale, but no one – including the town attorney – apparently raised it as a potential conflict.

Town Manager Ken MacNab didn’t return phone messages seeking comment Tuesday.

Salmon said a conflict may not necessarily be black and white in the law.

“Your conflict is really personal… He may have had reason to believe he didn’t have a conflict,” he said of Foppoli.

But, if the FPPC rules Foppoli did have a conflict of interest, it could invalidate any votes, he said.

“You can believe what you want, but if you’re wrong, you’re in trouble,” Salmon said. “The worst part is it could have ramifications for the town: ‘The decision you made, City, is nonbinding.’

“All of a sudden you get contracts that are void? It’s not so much what it could do to you, it’s what it could do to the city.”

In its Aug. 9 letter to Foppoli, the FPPC said it hasn’t made any determination about any possible violations of the most recent complaint.

“We are simply providing you with this information as a courtesy and may be contacting you to discuss the matter. Should you have any comments on this matter, please submit them in writing,” said the letter, signed by Angela Brereton, the agency’s chief of enforcement.

The investigation is the second ongoing look into Foppoli’s political activities.

FPPC investigators are continuing to look into an April 26 complaint that Foppoli violated campaign finance rules with past payments, including to a former girlfriend and to the finance chief of his family’s Healdsburg winery.

The anonymous complaint questioned Foppoli’s campaign spending on alcohol and airfare, and campaign contributions from developers, including $45,500 donated over six years by developer Bill Gallaher and his wife, Cynthia.

An FPPC spokesman confirmed Tuesday that the April investigation remains open.

You can reach Staff Writer Lori A. Carter at 707-521-5470 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @loriacarter.