Bill to Close the Stanford Loophole Gains

Legislation that would have prevented former state Fair Political Practices Commission Chairman Dan Stanford from running in Tuesday’s Republican primary for state controller was passed Thursday by the Senate.

The bill, which has the backing of the FPPC, won final Senate approval on a 28-4 vote. It went to the Assembly for further action.

Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara), the bill’s author, said the legislation was drafted specifically to avoid a repeat of the Stanford situation.

Closing a Loophole

Under present provisions of the Political Reform Act of 1974, commissioners may not hold or seek election to another public office during their tenure on the board. But there is nothing in the law to prevent a member from resigning and then running, which is what Stanford did.

Hart said his bill would close what he called a loophole in the law. The legislation would prevent commission members from running for office at any time during their four-year terms, even if they no longer were members of the commission. Thus, Stanford would not have been able to run since his term was not due to expire until January, 1987. He resigned last December.

During Thursday’s debate, supporters of the legislation said the bill would maintain the independence and integrity of the political watchdog commission. Among other things, the commission is charged with regulating lobbyists’ spending, overseeing campaign contributions and expenditure reports of candidates and investigating violations of the Political Reform Act.

Opponents maintained that the bill treated members of the commission differently than other public officials, who will remain free to pursue political careers.

Access to Data Cited

But Hart argued that a politically motivated member of the commission could abuse his access to privileged information, as well as the commission’s prosecutorial powers. One of the commission’s main responsibilities is to investigate possible violations of election law.

The senator said that as long as members of the commission are free to pursue political careers, the public would not know whether charges emanating from the panel are legitimate or designed to promote a commissioner’s political career.