Facebook data refutes school trustee’s claims of faked ads

ENCINITAS — Last week, San Dieguito Union High School District Trustee Michael Allman alleged that his opponent in the November election photoshopped images of two ads for his campaign on Facebook in order to make it appear that Allman violated election law.

However, recent backdoor searches of Facebook’s ad database indicate that the ads were briefly run by the Michael Allman for School Board campaign page but are “no longer available” because Facebook had either taken them down or the user deleted them.

The California Fair Political Practices Commission is investigating these ads. In June, resident Bob Ayers submitted a complaint to the commission alleging that Allman ran two ads for his campaign on Facebook without the proper disclosures.

In the complaint, Ayers attached screenshots appearing to show records of two ads run by Allman’s campaign page in June. The screenshots appeared to be from the Meta Ad Library, Facebook’s online transparency database documenting all active and inactive ads that have been paid for to run on the social media platform.

Questions arose after manual searches of the ad library did not turn up results for the two ads included in the complaint. The situation escalated after Allman publicly alleged that Ayers and his opponent, Kevin Sabellico, had doctored the screenshots. 

However, further searches of the ad library using the unique identification numbers from the screenshots show a message stating the ads are “no longer available.” This confirms the ads existed at some point but provides little additional information. Facebook does state that this can happen if an ad expires, is deleted, or is incorrectly categorized as an ad about social issues, elections or politics.

When asked about this search result, Allman still denied ever running the ads.

“Not only do I not remember running these ads, I am stating affirmatively that I did not run these ads. I place all my ads the same way, and all of the ads I have placed are on my Facebook Ad Library, which we have reviewed together. As such, I did not take them down because I did not put them up,” Allman said.

Ayers accused Allman of lying about the ad being fabricated.

“Most people would fess up after being caught red-handed in a twisted lie about me. But not Michael Allman who, in my personal experience, takes credit for things he didn’t do and avoids responsibility for problems he causes. He would like us all to think the FPPC’s investigation is a witch hunt, but the truth is Allman broke the law and won’t accept the consequences of his actions. Michael Allman needs to return to kindergarten to learn valuable lessons. Michael Allman does not belong on our high school board,” Ayers said.

Sabellico, a political campaign consultant running against Allman for the board’s District 3 seat, claimed that Allman deleted the ads in order to avoid punishment by the FPPC. (This has not been confirmed, and The Coast News has reached out to Facebook for clarification about why these ads are no longer available.)

“The cover up is worse than the crime. Forgetting a disclaimer is a minor offense, but obstructing an investigation by deleting evidence is a major offense. I hope he has a good lawyer,” Sabellico said.

Allman provided the FPPC with invoices from Meta, which he said show all payments he has made for ads since launching his re-election campaign in late June. He pointed out that the invoices do not include any payments for ads matching those referenced in the complaint.

Allman was also the subject of a second FPPC complaint from Ayers filed in July, alleging that the trustee failed to file an amended Form 410 within 10 days of raising more than $2,000 for his campaign. Allman has admitted that he missed this deadline.

FPPC spokesperson Jay Wieranga said the agency does not comment on any details of active investigations and could not confirm a timeline for the completion of the investigation regarding Allman’s ad. Some investigations can take up to a year.

Penalties imposed for the Political Reform Act violations can range from a warning to a $5,000 fine. Wieranga said an investigation takes into account multiple factors, including “whether intent can be proven” or whether it was an unintended mistake.

Other factors include whether someone is cooperative, the level of harm to the public, and whether the person is an experienced political operative who should have knowledge of the law or a first-time, inexperienced candidate. The FPPC also considers precedent for penalties imposed on similar violations.

This dispute marks the latest chapter in the contentious race for the district board’s Area 4 seat, which has seen multiple accusations of dishonesty and heated exchanges between both candidates.

In August, the San Dieguito Union High School District denied Sabellico’s claims that he had been hired to work there, and a San Diego Superior Court judge ruled that Sabellico’s ballot designation as an “educator” was false and misleading.

Allman himself has also been at the center of several controversies on the board over the past nearly four years, including overcoming a recall effort early in his term, supporting a trustee area map that would land the district in a gerrymandering lawsuit, and being accused of bullying behavior toward fellow board members, students, district staff and the former superintendent.

Allman is seeking his second term representing Area 4, which covers Rancho Santa Fe, on the five-person board.