The San Francisco Ethics Commission has reached a settlement that will fine mayoral candidate Mark Farrell about $108,000 for commingling funds between his campaign committees, a practice his rivals have long criticized as a circumvention of the city's campaign finance limits had.

Farrell and Ethics Commission staff signed a settlement agreement on October 25, and Farrell acknowledged responsibility for the violations and agreed to pay the fine.

“If approved, this case will represent the largest penalty imposed in the history of the San Francisco Ethics Commission,” wrote Olabisi Matthews, the Ethics Commission’s enforcement director.

The “record penalty,” Matthews wrote, reflected “the serious harm done to the public’s right to timely and accurate information about campaign finance” and “the seriousness of the violation of the $500 contribution limit that one of the worst.” Basic rules that all candidates must follow.”

While ethics penalties are often imposed years after the violations, in this case a turnaround was achieved quickly – the news was made public just a day before the election.

“The Enforcement Division has done everything in its power to publicly resolve this case before Election Day so that the public has information about these violations when it matters most,” Matthews wrote.

Paul Melbostad, a lawyer and former ethics commissioner, praised the commission's quick response. “The ethics committee is finally taking decisive action in a timely manner – that makes a difference,” he said.

In a statement, Farrell attributed the violations to a mistake and said he had fired his former campaign lawyer over the matter.

“We agreed to a settlement over an accounting error that we corrected and publicly disclosed months ago and a disagreement over staff time allocation during the campaign that resulted in us terminating our previous legal counsel in this matter,” he said. “As the leader of both campaigns, I take full responsibility for these issues – that’s the type of responsibility I want to model for my children.”