Progressive billionaire Tom Steyer is dealing with backlash from paying influencers to boost his bid for California governor — and now he’s accusing his main Democratic rival Xavier Becerra of doing exactly the same thing.
The Steyer campaign filed a complaint Tuesday with the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission that accuses former Health and Human Services Secretary Becerra of 50 violations of state law, for failing to notify influencers of political disclosure requirements.
Becerra, a Democrat, is currently at the top of polls for the June 2 primary while Steyer tries to compete for first place.
“The evidence cited should be more than enough for the Commission to meet the probable cause standard, open an enforcement action, and aggressively investigate and prosecute the parties and individuals involved,” wrote Ryan Hughes, general counsel for Steyer’s campaign, in the complaint obtained by The California Post.
Furthermore, Hughes alleged, Becerra did not disclose those payments in campaign finance reports.
The complaint calls out two influencers, the first being Jay Gonzalez, who describes himself on social media as a “Mexican American social media strategist.” According to emails in the complaint, Gonzalez’s talent agency offered to create four videos for $16,250.
Between March 23 and May 13, Gonzalez posted at least 34 pro-Becerra pieces of content. Many consist of video interviews with the candidate, arguments against other candidates, or pictures and graphics promoting him. A view of some of those posts show disclaimers they were paid for, but the complaint alleges they were edited into the posts long after the posts were published. Some still have no disclaimers.
On May 6, Becerra’s digital strategist Alf Lamont stated on X the campaign only has one paid influencer.
“What you’re seeing is real engagement from real people. The only person paying for engagement is evidently Steyer,” Lamont said.
However, the complaint claims there was at least another paid influencer under the name of Mermaid Mama Maggie, or Maggie Reed, whose profile suggests she focuses on political comedy. With hundreds and thousands of followers, her talent agency offered to post paid content at $4,500 for one or $7,000 for two videos.
Between September 22 and May 15, Reed had four pro-Becerra videos without a disclaimer, the complaint said. Some of the videos consist of skits and interviews with the candidate.
In both influencers’ cases, the Becerra campaign’s disclosure forms do not list the expenditures, Hughes alleged.
The California Post reached out to the Becerra campaign, Gonzalez and Reed for comment.
Steyer himself has been the subject of a complaint of a similar nature with influencers, some of whom allegedly didn’t disclose they were being paid by the hedge fund billionaire and later nuked the deceptive posts.
The Steyer campaign has called those accusations “baseless” and said they’ve disclosed all those payments and have told influencers of disclosure requirements, even if they didn’t follow through.
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