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The California Progress Report is published by Frank D. Russo, a longtime observer of and participant in California politics.

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“Good Government Activists” Wrong Again in Attacking Fair Political Practices Commission Chair Ross Johnson

towashington 089.gif By Bill Cavala
A veteran of over 30 years in Sacramento

For more than two decades I had staff oversight responsibilities for the California Fair Political Practices Commission with the State Assembly. During that time I also represented, on my own time and without compensation, various targets of FPPC enforcement actions. And, as someone who used his vacation time as a manager of political campaigns, I often filed charges of violations with the Commission.

This background simply to say that I have some familiarity with the Commission’s enforcement actions over time.

Let me use that background to defend Ross Johnson, Chair of the Commission, as he’s skewered by “good government activists” on the charge of being soft to his fellow politicians (Johnson served in both the State Assembly and State Senate). The evidence of his “soft” policy is that fewer dollars in fines were exacted last year than the years prior to his service.

Nothing could be further than the truth.

In the Commission’s heyday, relatively few cases were pursued by the enforcement division – but they were heavyweight cases. The theory was to use the power of the press to punish political malefactors. The size of the fine was really only to get the attention of the press corps and to provide them with a ‘hook’ by which to evaluate how seriously the Commission took the offense.

Beginning with the Chairs appointed by Pete Wilson, a new policy was adopted. If Franchise Tax Board (FTB) audits produced evidence of error, then the Commission applied a strict liability theory of negligence and fined everybody who made a mistake. It resulted in more fines and less discrimination. The press corps ceased to report enforcement actions – other than those instigated by their own investigation.

Deterrence as a goal ceased to exist.

Chair Johnson is making an effort to return to those days when enforcement was taken seriously by the political community because of the threat of detrimental publicity.
He’s well aware that fines matter little to politicians who can pay the fines out of campaign treasuries filled with interest group contributions.

For years, Johnson served on the Elections Committee that I staffed for Willie Brown and four other Speakers. I doubt if we agreed a half dozen times during that period. Johnson was one of the most partisan Republicans seen in Sacramento. He was a hardball player.

But Johnson knew then and knows now the value of an honest umpire who calls a straight game. Those now questioning his motives and ability are shameless seekers of publicity, and the LA TIMES should have denied them the podium.

Bill Cavala was Deputy Director of the Assembly Speaker’s Office of Member Services where he worked for over 30 years.

He attended undergraduate and graduate school in the 1960’s and received a doctorate in political science at UC Berkeley. He taught political science at UC Berkeley during the 1970's while he worked part-time for the State Assembly.

Cavala left teaching at UC Berkeley and went to work for Assembly Speaker Willie Brown in 1981 until his tenure as Speaker ended in 1995, and he has worked for his five successors as Speaker up to and including Speaker Fabian Nunez.

Mr. Cavala manages election campaigns for Democratic candidates.

Posted on February 27, 2008

Comments

The good-government group comments about concern in the drop in the number of fines given out by the FPPC was in the context of an article about the FPPC’s limited resources and the proposed 10% budget cut to the FPPC.

Ross Johnson may be right that given those limited resources that they need to get rid of the backlog of more technical violations to focus more on more significant cases and issues. But the FPPC shouldn’t have to make those choices because of a lack of resources. Its budget has dropped dramatically in inflation-adjusted terms over the years, so much so that it has one-third fewer employees than it did in 1990. Chopping it further would make it even more likely that violators will be able to get off the hook.

I think that good government groups generally are pleased that the FPPC under Johnson’s leadership has put an effort into much-needed new campaign-spending disclosure rules and shined a spotlight on the issue of the “orgy of independent expenditures”, as Johnson put it. They need more resources to do their jobs, not less.

Of course, what California really needs is full public financing of campaigns. There can be no money laundering to hide where private donations come from when candidates aren’t taking any private money. Most importantly, elected officials would be beholden only to the public, and not to the large private donors who currently bankroll their campaigns (whether their contributions are openly disclosed to the public, or not).

Trent Lange
President of the Board of Directors
California Clean Money Campaign

Posted by: Trent Lange at February 27, 2008 12:04 PM

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