State’s campaign watchdog imposes rules on leaders

SACRAMENTO — California’s campaign watchdog panel reversed itself Thursday and restored a rule prohibiting its members from giving to federal political candidates, citing concerns that its suspension of the restriction in September undermines an appearance of nonpartisanship crucial to its mission.

The Fair Political Practices Commission faced public backlash over the Sept. 19 decision to suspend the policy restricting donations pending a legal opinion from the state attorney general on whether it violates the First Amendment rights of commissioners. FPPC Chairman Richard Miadich proposed Thursday to reinstate the rule, saying he believed the panel’s members “should refrain from federal campaign contributions while we are commissioners.”

The FPPC also voted to remove Commissioner Brian Hatch from the panel’s Law and Policy Committee, which he chairs, after the Los Angeles Times reported that Hatch had donated to the presidential campaign of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders before the rule was suspended.

Commissioner Frank Cardenas told his fellow commissioners that the FPPC must be seen as an impartial watchdog over campaigns and said the recent controversy has undermined that perception. He noted that the panel has been criticized in letters from the public and newspaper editorials for suspending the rule.

“This body’s willingness and even ability to do that has been questioned in the last several weeks and that’s wrong,” Cardenas said. “That has just got to be understood as being an abomination. It is not our place to bring this kind of disrepute onto this body.”

In a letter to his colleagues, Cardenas added that the controversy goes to the core of the FPPC’s mission.

“The essence of the questions concerning the commission’s decision to suspend the prohibition center around a question of the commission’s impartiality and nonpartisanship,” Cardenas said.

In one email to the FPPC, retired Los Angeles attorney Jane Goichman singled out Hatch’s decision to contribute to a campaign before the rule was lifted.

“Regardless what his First Amendment rights are, he should have and should now recognize that in accepting the position, it is imperative that the FPPC members not appear biased,” Goichman said. “If he felt that he could not accommodate the prior rule barring gifts to certain political candidates while he serves on the FPPC, he should have refrained from accepting the position.”

In another email, San Diego resident Chelo DiazLudden wrote: “Shame on you for suspending your policy banning members from contributing to campaigns.”

Miadich began the FPPC’s monthly meeting Thursday with a statement that said he and other commissioners did not know Hatch had made contributions to Sanders at the time they voted to suspend the rule barring giving to federal candidates.