"Angelides Mailers Use Preschool Issue to Skirt Campaign Contribution Limits"

The Los Angeles Times offers this report, which begins: "Sidestepping California's campaign contribution caps, state Treasurer Phil Angelides is using a loophole in the law to tout himself in statewide mailings that promote a preschool initiative on Tuesday's ballot. Angelides, locked in a tight race for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination against Controller Steve Westly, is pictured smiling and surrounded by children in ads for the initiative, Proposition 82, sent to voters." Another snippet: "Under California law, a single donor cannot give more than $22,300 to a gubernatorial candidate. But there are no caps on contributions to campaigns for or against ballot measures. Last month, Angelides established a new ballot-measure campaign account called Standing Up for Our Kids. He transferred more than $750,000 into it from another account, and spent the money on the Yes-on-82 mailers. Much of that money was donated in sums as high as $250,000 -- far in excess of what Angelides can accept in his gubernatorial campaign." The campaign finance initiative proposed by the California Nurses Association (which I am consulting on) and awaiting signature verification in California would close this loophole. Proposed election code section 91137(b) provides:

No person shall make a contribution or contributions totaling in excess of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) to any committee that is established for the purpose of supporting or opposing a state or local ballot measure and that is controlled by a candidate for elective state office or an elected state officer. This contribution limit shall apply as an aggregate limit upon all contributions made by any person to all ballot measure committees controlled by the same candidate for elective state office or the same elected state officer, even if those committees are established for the purpose of supporting or opposing different state or local ballot measures, and even if one or more of those ballot measure committees are controlled by more than one candidate for elective state office or elected state officers.

I defend the constitutionality of such a measure here.

Posted by Rick Hasen at June 2, 2006 09:44 AM