Former Fresno councilmember used $30K in taxpayer funds for Facebook ads during election year

"No oversight. Just 11 days after the Fresno City Council doubled the city's contracts approval threshold to $100,000, former Councilmember Luis Chavez inked a new contract with Alex Tavlian's consulting company worth that exact amount. It was July 2024 - just four months away from the November election that year. The race for Fresno County District 3 supervisor was down to two candidates: Chavez and his former boss Sal Quintero, an incumbent running for a third term."

"A Fresnoland review of line-item invoices found that during an election year, Chavez's use of taxpayer dollars for advertising and public relations services from Tavlian's company reached a high, as the consultant put out social media ads for Chavez and did outreach to residents in his district on his behalf. Between July 2024 and January 2025, Chavez's council office paid Tavlian's company for constituent outreach services - a total of $99,999.99."

"Payments for Tavlian's services peaked in October 2024 - the month before the election - when Local Government Strategic Consulting billed Chavez's office $16,666.66 for constituent outreach and $9,915.33 for Facebook ads. That same month, Park West Associates - Tavlian's political consulting company - spent $7,626.12 on attack mailers falsely accusing Quintero - a longtime Democrat and Chavez's only opponent - of supporting a MAGA Republican measure to censor books in Fresno County libraries."

Eleven days after the Fresno City Council doubled the contracts approval threshold to $100,000, former councilmember Luis Chavez signed a July 2024 contract with Alex Tavlian's consulting company for $99,999.99. Chavez's council office paid Tavlian's firms $99,999.99 for constituent outreach between July 2024 and January 2025 and another $31,042.36 for Facebook ads around the November 2024 election. Payments peaked in October 2024 with $16,666.66 for outreach and $9,915.33 for ads. That October, Park West Associates spent $7,626.12 on attack mailers falsely accusing Chavez's opponent Sal Quintero of supporting a MAGA book-censorship measure. Dark money from an Orange County group subsidized most of the attack mailer funding.

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