Former San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher spent hundreds of thousands of dollars from his abandoned state Senate campaign to pay for his legal defense in an alleged sexual assault lawsuit, according to campaign finance disclosures.
The documents show Fletcher’s campaign paid Fisher & Phillips LLP a lump sum of $323,220 for “professional services” late last year.
The firm is representing Fletcher in a lawsuit filed last March by Grecia Figueroa, a former spokesperson for the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS). The suit alleges the then-county supervisor sexually assaulted Figueroa on multiple occasions.
Fletcher, who has repeatedly denied the allegations and claimed the relationship was consensual, terminated his Senate candidacy days before the lawsuit was filed.
Fletcher’s use of campaign funds to pay his legal bills in the alleged sexual assault lawsuit might fall into a legal gray area. State law requires campaign funds to be used on expenses reasonably related to political or governmental matters, even after a candidate drops out of a race. Campaign finance experts say Fletcher may be testing this rule.
His actions also raise questions about whether it’s ethical to use contributions from supporters to fend off sexual assault allegations.
Jim Sutton, Fletcher’s campaign attorney, said in an email that the use of campaign funds is legal because the expenditure is reasonably related to a political purpose.
“The use of these campaign funds to fight this lawsuit is clearly appropriate and allowed by state law,” Sutton wrote. “Ms. Figueroa and her attorneys have referenced Mr. Fletcher’s public profile as a candidate for the State Senate (sic) throughout their legal filings.”
Without Fletcher’s run for state Senate, he added, “there would be no lawsuit.”
Sutton said he did not know whether Fletcher has paid for other legal expenses out of pocket.
Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School, said Fletcher’s use of campaign funds is “potentially pushing the lines of what is allowed” by the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), which enforces state campaign finance and political ethics regulations.
“I think there's a real question as to whether or not this is a legal use of campaign funds,” she said. “I think it's fair to say that this is probably not what the FPPC and those who drafted the statute intended.”
Levinson added that the FPPC will likely have to provide further guidance regarding whether these kinds of campaign expenditures are permissible.
The FPPC does not typically comment on specific cases, but an official did address general questions about the use of campaign funds for legal fees.
“Generally speaking, a candidate, even if they withdraw from the primary, can expend campaign funds for purposes reasonably related to a political, legislative, or governmental purpose,” said Lindsey Nakano, senior legislative counsel at the FPPC, in an email.
She added that using campaign funds for attorneys fees “is permissible if the litigation is directly related to activities of the (campaign) committee that are consistent with its primary objectives.”
“If litigation is unrelated to the activities of the committee/campaign, campaign funds may not be used to pay legal costs associated with that litigation,” Nakano said.
Allison Hayward, a former FPPC commissioner, said Fletcher’s use of campaign funds is legally murky. But even if it is technically legal, she argued, it isn’t necessarily ethical.
“When people contributed to this (campaign), they were contributing to further someone's ambitions as a potential state legislator,” she said. “In a time where people have grown very cynical about politics … campaign funds should be used for campaigns.”
Sutton disagreed with this characterization.
“It is appropriate because the law specifically allows it,” he said.
If Fletcher can legally use his campaign funds to pay his legal defense bills, a law passed in 2019 adds further complexity to the situation.
Under the law, a candidate who uses campaign funds for lawyers in sexual assault, abuse or harassment lawsuits must repay the campaign if they are found liable. Additionally, the candidate would be prohibited from using campaign funds to pay for a penalty, judgment, or settlement. The law applies to civil, criminal and administrative proceedings.
Sitting on mountain of cash
While Fletcher dropped out of the Senate race more than a year ago, his campaign is still sitting on a mountain of cash.
Fletcher amassed more than $900,000 in contributions since he first filed to run in 2022. In the months after suspending his candidacy, according to campaign finance filings, he returned tens of thousands of dollars in contributions to some high-paying supporters. But the campaign retained most of the money it raised.
Then in the second-half of 2023, Fletcher’s campaign paid Fisher & Phillips more than $323,000 for “professional services.” The date of the expenditure, according to the state campaign finance website Cal-Access, is listed as Dec. 28, 2023. It made up the vast majority of the expenditures made by the campaign during that six-month period.
At the end of 2023, the campaign still had more than half a million dollars in cash on hand. Sutton said he did not know whether Fletcher would continue to use campaign funds for his ongoing legal bills.
The harassment allegations
Fletcher was elected to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors in 2018 and named chairperson of MTS in 2019. Figueroa, meanwhile, worked in MTS’s communications department.
In court filings, she and Fletcher acknowledge the two crossed paths professionally at MTS and met up on at least one occasion outside of work after messaging back and forth on social media. But their characterizations of those encounters differ drastically.
Figueroa claims Fletcher started “stalking” her on social media in 2021 and messaging her to meet up. Her complaint acknowledges she met up with Fletcher in May of 2022 at a hotel where he was staying. According to her complaint, Fletcher tried to kiss her but she rejected his advances. In the coming months, Figueroa claims Fletcher sexually assaulted her after two MTS events.
Figueroa claims she was abruptly fired on Feb. 6, 2023 — the same day Fletcher announced his candidacy for District 39 in the state Senate. Her complaint alleges she was fired because she was sexually assaulted by Fletcher and “possessed information that could be damaging” to him and MTS.
An independent investigation commissioned by MTS found agency officials did not have knowledge of any personal relationship between Figueroa and Fletcher prior to her firing, and that Fletcher was not involved in her termination.
Fletcher tells a different story in court filings. He acknowledges that the two had a relationship but describes the affair as consensual. He has since filed a defamation counter-complaint against Figueroa, claiming she tried to force him to pay millions of dollars to keep their affair quiet and then attempted to destroy his reputation when he refused. The defamation suit does not specifically mention his campaign for state Senate.
Fletcher dropped out of the Senate race in late March of last year, citing his struggles with post-traumatic stress and alcohol abuse. Days later, Figueroa filed her lawsuit against Fletcher. He then announced his resignations from MTS and the County Board of Supervisors.
