From the Los Angeles Times
State Sen. Migden fined for campaign finance violations
The San Francisco Democrat agrees to pay $350,000 after admitting that she used political funds for personal benefit.
By Patrick McGreevy
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
March 19, 2008
SACRAMENTO -- —
State Sen. Carole Migden has agreed to pay a record $350,000 in fines for 89 violations of state campaign finance laws that include using political funds for personal benefit and failing to disclose what her political committees purchased with credit cards, according to documents released Tuesday.
The San Francisco Democrat, who is chairwoman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, also admitted raising funds for her current reelection campaign before filing the proper papers and failing to report contributions by state deadlines.
Migden, campaign treasurer Roger Sanders and campaign aide Eric Potashner committed campaign reporting and related violations over a four-year period, according to a report prepared by enforcement staff of the state Fair Political Practices Commission.
"The public harm inherent in these types of violations is that the public is deprived of important information such as the sources and amounts of contributions to a campaign and the amounts expended by the campaign," the document says. "However, the severity of the violations in this case has been substantially aggravated by the clear pattern of violations of the act."
Migden's attorney, James C. Harrison, said the senator agreed to settle because "she recognizes there were many technical violations of the law, and she is willing to accept responsibility for them."
The senator's agreement to pay administrative fines, which the commission is scheduled to consider Thursday, comes as she faces a tough fight for reelection. The violations involve three campaign committees.
Migden admitted that $16,000 spent by her campaigns violated the requirement that they be reasonably or directly related to a political, legislative or governmental purpose.
"Instead, these expenditures conferred a substantial personal benefit on respondents Migden and Potashner," the report said. She has since reimbursed her campaign committees.
patrick.mcgreevy
@latimes.com
