Legislators have no fundraising limit for ballot measure accounts

Karen Bass, the speaker-elect of the state Assembly, gathered checks last month from big contributors at The Kitchen, the exclusive Sacramento eatery.

The price of admission was $5,000, well above the $3,600 cap on direct donations she can receive in her re-election account.

But Bass, like a growing number of the state's leaders, wasn't collecting funds for her re-election. Instead, the money went to a ballot measure committee she controls.

Despite a 2000 law meant to curb the size of checks California politicians could collect from deep-pocketed interest groups, many lawmakers are skirting those limits by soliciting funds for ballot accounts.

In many cases, the money is arriving in increments of tens, and even hundreds, of thousands of dollars.

The ballot accounts are legal and can be created without a specific ballot measure in mind. Donations to them can be limitless. The only difference is that elected officials can't spend the money directly on their own re-election campaigns.

Ross Johnson, chairman of the state campaign watchdog agency, the Fair Political Practices Commission, calls the differing rules "absolutely illogical" with "potential for abuse."

Politicians have used the funds for everything from TV ads featuring themselves to family Christmas cards to leverage in policy negotiations with well-heeled special interests. At the Capitol, where clout is often measured by the size of a candidate's campaign chest, supporters say ballot committees are a necessary fact of life.

But watchdogs fear the oversized checks come with outsized influence.

"It doesn't matter what pocket that special interest is putting the money in," Johnson said. "Whether it's your shirt pocket or your coat pocket or your pants pocket, it is the receipt of the money that carries with it the potential for undue influence."

Dan Weitzman, a prominent Democratic fundraiser, said the accounts are a way to show leadership in the Capitol. Among his clients are Bass and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez.

"My guys do it because it is leading," Weitzman said.

'Heavy lifting'

Roughly one in 10 state lawmakers now control such accounts, including both legislative leaders and several of the former candidates for Assembly speaker. Not every lawmaker is actively raising money.

"We have to do such heavy lifting with fundraising," said Bass, who takes over as speaker in mid-May. "We have our re-elect committee that we can raise money for, but the contribution limit is $3,600."

Bass, who said she is considering sponsoring a foster care initiative, has raised more than $244,000 for her ballot committee. The largest donation was $50,000 from Anschutz Entertainment Group, the owner of Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Anschutz was the sponsor of 2007 legislation, passed in the waning days of the session by both houses and later signed by the governor, to make the downtown area surrounding the Staples Center eligible for millions of dollars in housing bond funds.

The day the bill passed out of the Legislature, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata's ballot committee received a $10,000 donation from Anschutz, campaign records show. Both Anschutz and Perata have denied any connection between the bill, which Bass also voted for, and the donation to Perata's account.

Assemblyman Kevin De León, who created a ballot account last year, said it is important for lawmakers to raise funds above the re-election account limits. Otherwise, he said, "only the multimillionaires or multibillionaires would control the ballot initiative process."

He said "misinformed government types" who suggest the influence of special interests is heightened with larger checks are "political scientists who work in the theory of politics but have limited life experience when it comes to real politics."

De León, D-Los Angeles, has raised $100,000 from six contributors in his ballot committee, including $65,000 from insurance companies. De León is a member of the Assembly Insurance Committee.

About the writer:

• Call Shane Goldmacher, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5544.