The Fair Political Practices Commission has opened a formal investigation into a complaint concerning Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, the latest ethics matter involving her votes. The agency notified Sebastopol resident Adina Flores on Thursday that her sworn complaint had advanced to an investigation and assigned it Case No. 2026-01107.
Flores described the notification in a post on her Substack, writing that she received written confirmation from the FPPC’s Enforcement Division on November 5. The letter said the agency had not determined whether the allegations are valid or whether Hopkins is responsible for a violation. It did not identify the specific allegations under investigation or announce preliminary findings.
The letter was signed by Kendall L.D. Bonebrake and copied attorney Olivia Clark on behalf of Hopkins. The notation indicates Clark is acting on Hopkins’s behalf in the matter, but does not establish who is paying for the representation or whether Sonoma County is involved. Clark is of counsel at Best Best & Krieger LLP, where she advises public agencies on the Political Reform Act, the Brown Act, public records, land use and governmental ethics.
A prior case ended in a fine
Flores’s reporting lays out two prior board votes she has connected to organizations fiscally sponsored by the Tides Center, though the new case has not been publicly described as addressing either one specifically. On December 5, 2023, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors considered a package of housing and homelessness initiatives that included the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority’s proposed bond measure, the CSAC At Home program, and All Home’s Regional Action Plan, and authorized a collaboration agreement with All Home for technical assistance. According to meeting records cited in Flores’s reporting, Hopkins voted in favor of those resolutions and the related authorization. All Home has identified the Tides Center as its fiscal sponsor…