FPPC countersues Sen. Migden for $9 million

California's political watchdog agency filed a whopping $9 million countersuit Tuesday against state Sen. Carole Migden, three weeks after she sued the agency for preventing her from spending money she raised before being elected to the Senate.

The counterclaim, filed in federal court in Sacramento, came a week after the San Francisco Democrat agreed to pay a record $350,000 fine for campaign spending violations in a separate case.

Ross Johnson, chairman of the Fair Political Practices Commission, charged Migden has repeatedly "deceived" voters by "filing inaccurate campaign statements, fabricating the elimination of committees and concealing campaign funds."

The "pervasive pattern of deception … has been ongoing for more than five years," Johnson said in prepared statement.

Richie Ross, Midgen's political consultant, accused Johnson, a former Republican member of the Legislature, of a "retaliatory, Nixonian tirade."

Ross contends the FPPC, under Johnson, is preventing Migden from exercising her First Amendment right to free speech by denying her use of the money.

The senator is locked in a tough June 3 primary election battle against two other Democrats, Assemblyman Mark Leno of San Francisco and former Assemblyman Joe Nation of San Rafael.

In seeking more than $9 million in damages, the FPPC contends Migden failed to report a number of large transactions entirely and reported other large transactions that never occurred.

In an unusual move, Migden sued the FPPC and Johnson after the agency ruled she could not spend $647,000 in political contributions she raised before being elected to the Senate.

State law requires elected officials to spend money they raised in office before leaving that office. Those who do not can donate the surplus money to nonprofits or political parties but cannot use it to campaign for another office.

Johnson, who accused Midgen of trying to "bully" the FPPC and distracting its staff from its probe, said she had already spent nearly $400,000 to which she was not legally entitled.

The FPPC said that during the months-long probe that resulted in the $350,000 fine Migden agreed to last week, investigators uncovered multiple illegal transfers of approximately $1 million of surplus campaign funds that occurred over several years.

The money, which the FPPC said Midgen raised as a member of the Assembly and state Board of Equalization, was allegedly funneled through multiple committee accounts controlled by the senator.

James Harrison, an attorney for Migden, said she wants the FPPC to treat her as it did Sen. Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro, who was allowed to use $100,000 she raised before her election to the Senate.

FPPC officials said Corbett was allowed to spend the money after she blamed an accounting mistake and provided a 13-page letter making her case. They say Migden never asked the FPPC's permission.

About the writer:

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