Migden must pay $350,000

State Sen. Carole Migden will pay a record $350,000 fine for campaign spending violations under an agreement approved Thursday by California's political watchdog agency.

The 89 violations that resulted in the largest fine ever by the Fair Political Practices Commission included personal use of campaign funds and inaccurate disclosure of cash payments and receipts between 2003 and 2007.

The 35-page agreement, disclosed earlier this week, comes as the San Francisco Democrat is battling to retain her seat in the June 3 primary against Assemblyman Mark Leno and former Assemblyman Joe Nation.

David Latterman, a San Francisco political analyst and pollster, said the record fine "is more mud on the pile" in Migden's re-election campaign.

"She's in trouble," Latterman said. "Her poll numbers were already dropping, and this can't do anything but hurt her."

Migden's public image has taken a beating since she was cited last year by the California Highway Patrol and fined $710 after a wild ride on Interstate 80 in which her state-issued SUV rear-ended another vehicle.

A poll of 500 likely Democratic voters conducted Feb. 21 by David Binder and commissioned by Leno showed Nation leading with 27 percent, three percentage points ahead of Leno and 10 ahead of Migden.

Migden, 59, did not attend Thursday's FPPC hearing. But her attorney, James Harrison, attributed the violations to inadequate record keeping by her former campaign officials.

Harrison said the senator delegated authority because she was battling cancer at the time and her energy was focused on her duties as an officeholder.

"She's not pointing the finger at anyone," Harrison said. "At the end of the day, she's the candidate and she's responsible."

Thursday's agreement, which the FPPC board approved 4-1, is the latest development in the stormy relationship between Migden and the agency. In 2002, she was fined $16,000 for not filing timely contribution reports.

Migden also is suing the commission over whether she can use $647,000 in an old campaign account dating back to her 2000 Assembly re-election battle.

In a prepared statement, commission Chairman Ross Johnson said, "Sen. Migden's track record has shown her complete disdain for the Political Reform Act."

During the FPPC's months-long investigation, the agency determined Migden illegally transferred approximately $1 million of surplus campaign funds and had already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The senator was told to stop using the money but instead sued the FPPC in an effort to gain access to $647,000 of the money she had not spent.

The federal lawsuit will be heard April 1 in Sacramento. The FPPC is withholding details of the $16,000 in campaign donations Migden spent on personal use, pending the outcome of the lawsuit.

"We will now focus our attention on that lawsuit and Sen. Migden's numerous other serious and deceitful violations of California law," Johnson said.

Leno was unavailable for comment. But Tom Higgins, his campaign manager, called on Migden to disclose how she spent the $16,000. "Voters expect those who make laws to live by those laws," Higgins said.

Nation said voters "will have to make a decision about how serious this is."

"I've always thought that I'm well-positioned to win this race," he said. "But you never know what will happen in an election."

Although state law allows Migden to pay the fine from campaign funds, she paid the FPPC $100,000 out of her own pocket.

Commissioner Robert Leidigh cast the only vote against the fine, saying he objected to an arrangement that gives Migden up to a year to pay the remaining $250,000.

The FPPC probe was prompted by Leno, who questioned Migden's compliance with campaign finance laws. The feud in San Francisco between the two incumbents has created an opening for Nation, who represented Marin County in the Assembly.

Democrats outnumber Republicans 3-to-1 in the Senate district. That means whoever wins the primary is a shoo-in to represent the district, which includes half of San Francisco, all of Marin County, and Rohnert Park and Petaluma in Sonoma County.

Graeme Boushey, an assistant professor of political science at San Francisco State University, said Migden's "big hope is voter fatigue and low turnout."

"Candidates have survived things like this in the past," Boushey said. "But if her problems with the FPPC catch traction, she's going to be in trouble."

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• Call Aurelio Rojas, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5545.