SLO County supervisor candidate accuses group of pushing ‘dark money’ into race
San Luis Obispo County supervisor candidate Adam Verdin accused a newly formed group of inserting “dark money” into the District 4 race after it spent thousands to support his opponent without initially naming any of its contributors.
The South County Coalition filed its first statement of organization with the California Secretary of State’s office on March 18. The group was formed to “advocate for candidates in south San Luis Obispo County,” treasurer and principal officer Dorothy Hines wrote in the document.
Verdin alleged that the coalition may have broken campaign finance rules since it did not list any contributors on its first independent expenditure report, leaving “voters in the dark about who is truly financing this late-hour interference,” the release said.
Any contributions of $100 or more to a committee must include the name, address, employer and occupation of the donor, according to California’s Political Reform Act.
So far, the group has spent more than $13,000 of the more than $45,000 it has raised to date on supporting Supervisor Jimmy Paulding’s candidacy.
According to the South County Coalition’s expenditure reports, it spent $13,045.48 on voter lists, phone calls, printing, professional services and mailers to benefit Paulding’s campaign as of April 20. In its initial report, it did not state any contributor’s identity.
“San Luis Obispo County voters deserve to know who is trying to buy this election,” Verdin said in the Friday release. “This group popped up in the dark of night, filed paperwork in late March, and is now dropping thousands of dollars while hiding their donors from the public. This is the definition of dark money, and it has no place in our local democracy.”
In the release, Verdin said his campaign was evaluating legal options, such as filing a formal complaint to the California Fair Political Practices Commission.
“We are calling on Dorothy Hines to follow the law and immediately amend her filings to show every penny of this dark money,” Verdin said. “Jimmy Paulding needs to answer for why he is being supported by a group that thinks they are above the disclosure laws of the State of California.”
Paulding told The Tribune he has “zero affiliation with outside PACs” and the only knowledge he had about the coalition came from Verdin’s news release. He said he has not contacted the South County Coalition in the aftermath of Verdin’s allegation.
“I’m proud of the people-powered campaign we’ve built, which stands in sharp contrast to an opponent funded by tens of thousands in special interest money,” he said in a statement.
“It is a blatant double standard for Mr. Verdin to attack community members for their involvement in the political process when he cried foul after I called attention to his connection with the founder of a pro-development PAC,” Paulding said, referring to Generation Build founder Michael Massey.
Paulding said Hines — who has endorsed him for the supervisor seat — previously volunteered for his past campaigns. But currently, “she’s not involved in my campaign in any way, shape or form,” he said.
Coalition says delay in filing donor information was an ‘oversight’
On Tuesday, the South County Coalition filed another contribution report listing three donors’ names and information.
According to the document, retired SLO resident Ray Mattison contributed $18,000, retired Nipomo resident Carla Haynie donated $5,000 and SLO resident Don Ernst, an attorney at Ernst Law Group, contributed $22,002.
The coalition told The Tribune in an email that “any delay in filing the information was an oversight on our part.”
When reached for comment Tuesday, Verdin said he found it surprising that Hines, “who has been a treasurer on multiple county campaigns — including Jimmy Paulding’s own campaign — would make this type of oversight error,” referring to when she served as treasurer for Paulding’s 2022 supervisor campaign.
This story was originally published April 22, 2026 at 9:00 AM.
