FPPC's battle with Migden part of a bigger war

The warfare between state Sen. Carole Migden and the Fair Political Practices Commission this week is only the latest sign that the watchdog agency is ruffling feathers under Chairman Ross Johnson.

Johnson, a former GOP lawmaker, took the job a year ago, vowing to shake up the status quo if necessary to help voters identify politicians abusing the public trust.

"We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there, as the old song goes," said Johnson, who in 1988 wrote the first successful ballot measure to impose limits on campaign contributions.

The FPPC has slapped Migden with the largest fine ever assessed a state official, $350,000, in a negotiated agreement involving dozens of campaign spending and disclosure violations.

Migden is suing the FPPC in a related matter, challenging its ruling that she cannot spend $647,000 in donations she raised before becoming a senator. The FPPC on Tuesday filed a massive $9 million countersuit alleging a "pattern of deception" in Migden's spending reports.

"I've actually been very impressed," Bob Stern, a former co-author of the state's Political Reform Act, said of Johnson's leadership of the watchdog agency.

"He was a real partisan in the Legislature, but he has not been a partisan on the commission," said Stern, president of the nonprofit Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles.

The FPPC collected less in fines during Johnson's first year, and it has not fought to reduce campaign contribution limits or the multimillions spent on political candidates.

But the agency has responded quickly to allegations of improper spending or loopholes in political disclosure laws by:

• Launching an investigation into Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez's spending of tens of thousands of campaign dollars on overseas travel and luxury items in recent years. Núñez contends his purchases were legitimate. No ruling has been released.

• Requiring additional disclosure – after questions arose about Núñez – of campaign-related shopping, dining and out-of-state travel, including names of recipients receiving a gift worth $25 or more and whether any relatives traveled with the officeholder.

• Toughening restrictions on legal defense funds. Sen. Ronald Calderon, D-Montebello, had used such funds for several Hawaii restaurant tabs and on fundraising ranging from day spas to golf outings. Politicians now must disclose why they need such a fund and limit its use.

• Posting online all political behests, which are solicitations by politicians to help pet causes. The FPPC acted after controversy erupted over use of such fundraising for television advertising or community events that promoted legislators' campaigns.

The FPPC also has proposed a rule to prevent elected officials from hiding lavish trips financed by companies and nonprofits by routing the money through their government employers. Many leaders, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, have used public agencies as the recipient of such gifts, making it more difficult to track contributions.

Christina Lokke, spokeswoman for California Common Cause, applauded Johnson's focus.

"You're never going to remove money from politics," Lokke said. "But you can help inform the voters, and the public, about where the money is coming from and how it's spent."

Lokke said that the drop in fines the FPPC has collected raises questions about aggressiveness but that statistics can be misleading, particularly given Johnson's short time in office.

Total fines collected by the FPPC fell by more than 50 percent between 2006 and 2007 – $1.29 million vs. $583,474. The number of warning letters skyrocketed during the same period.

"We should be concentrating on people who just plainly think the law ought not apply to them, that their winning is important enough that ignoring the law is OK," Johnson said.

"I'm willing to give them a little leeway right now," Lokke said. "They're at least talking the talk. … They've really seemed to take the (watchdog) role and run with it."

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• Call Jim Sanders, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5538.