Crap: Preliminary ruling on Citizens to Save California vs. FPPC


The case against Schwarzenegger and his crack team of corporate pirates, Citizens to Save California (CSC), has taken a turn for the worse.

Based on a preliminary ruling, we can expect that the Governor will be allowed to raise unlimited amounts of money for the ballot initiatives he's sponsoring in the let's-hope-it-doesn't-happen special election in the fall.

For those of you just joining us, check out our previous posts on this story (keep following the links backward until it starts making sense...)

The ruling that came down yesterday is a resolution of an action filed by CSC against the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), essentially in response to a complaint filed before the FPPC by a citizens' group called TheRestOfUs. The idea behind the first claim is that Schwarzenegger's fundraising violated campaign finance restrictions passed by the FPPC two years ago; the counter-claim argues that the FPPC exceeded its jurisdictional bounds in making the initial ruling in the first place.

If you're not dizzy, read on:

The preliminary ruling finds in favor of CSC, basically saying yes, the FPPC overreached and was overbroad in framing the restrictions in the first place. Therefore, so the ruling says, there would be no grounds for an FPPC filing against CSC, because the rules on which the filing was based are bunk.

So, what does this all mean?

Under the initial FPPC rules being challenged in CSC's case, CSC would have been limited to raising only around $22,000 per donor (the amount that the Governor would be limited to if he were raising money for himself), because CSC is a so-called "controlled committee" under the supervision of a candidate who stands to gain politically from the outcome of the ballot initiatives.

Now, however, it looks like Arnold's proxies will be able to raise as much money as they want from any one individual, allowing (literally!) million-dollar donations from HNWIs and giving the Governor a much better shot at raising the $50 million that he wants to use to plug his ballot measures.

It doesn't look good, but it's not over: There's still time for the FPPC and its friends to change the judge's mind. In any event, regardless of what happens, the final decision will certainly be appealed by the losing side, with ultimate resolution in the California Supreme Court. (On second thought, not being a lawyer, I don't know whether there are grounds for further appeal to the US Supreme Court, so I reserve the right to change the word "ultimate" to "ultimate or penultimate").

One loose end: TheRestOfUs, the group that filed the complaint before the FPPC, also has a court case against CSC and the Governor. I can't evaluate the impact of this ruling on that case, but it's still alive and I'll be following it closely. I don't know to what extent the court case relies on the same FPPC ruling that the CSC vs. FPPC decision may end up overturning. Weirdly, TheRestOfUs blog doesn't have an update on this story yet.

OK. the ruling may be finalized sometime today. Check back for updates.

For more coverage in the print media, see...
Governor wins fundraising race (LA Times)
Governor appears winner on funds (Sacramento Bee)
Judge set to lift caps on cash for measures (Merc)

Posted: Thu - March 24, 2005 at 12:43 PM   | Category:     |   |   | |


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