“San Francisco’s Department on the Status of Women appears to have violated local laws by approving a $30,000 overpayment to a political nonprofit with close ties to a city official who is currently suspended,” The San Francisco Standard reported April 1 after investigating the matter and obtaining “a trove of documents that the department previously claimed did not exist.”
The Standard wrote: “A review of contracts and invoices for last spring’s Shift Happens women’s policy summit – an eight-hour event that cost almost $620,000 and featured massages and a fashion show – found that Ignite National received $100,000 to put on the event. The payment was 43 percent more than what was allowed in the contract. A source with knowledge of the situation said Kimberly Ellis, the department head who was placed on paid leave almost two weeks ago, overruled an employee who raised concerns during a budgeting reconciliation process and forced through the excess payment.”
Prior to Ellis taking a job with the city, her consulting company had been paid $10,000 by Ignite, The Standard added.