FPPC Bars Use of Public Funds on Elected Officials’ Newsletters

The Fair Political Practices Commission, in its first act to implement Proposition 73, adopted emergency regulations Tuesday prohibiting elected officials throughout the state from spending public funds to send newsletters and most other “mass mailings” that include their names or photographs.

Designed to clarify an ambiguous section of the campaign finance initiative, the regulations at the same time will allow government agencies to continue sending out newsletters and mass mailings that are part of their regular business and do not promote individual elected officials.

The commission’s decision came as it grappled with a series of complex questions raised by the passage of both Proposition 73 and Proposition 68, rival campaign finance initiatives on the June 7 ballot.

Among the issues remaining to be resolved are how candidates may spend campaign money after Jan. 1 that they previously raised, how the initiative will affect cities like Los Angeles that have their own campaign finance laws and what sections of Proposition 68--which won with fewer votes than Proposition 73--will take effect.

John H. Larson, chairman of the political watchdog commission, said the panel will meet again in September and attempt to settle the issues so that candidates and political organizations can plan their spending and fund-raising strategies before the November elections.

“We want to make sure we get these things in place as quickly as possible,” Larson said after the meeting. “Sometimes that’s easier said than done.”

As the commission discussed the matter and listened to testimony from dozens of officials, attorneys and lobbyists, the number of issues that must be resolved continued to grow.

Proposition 73, for example, will prohibit candidates from spending money they have raised in previous years on any race that takes place after Jan. 1, when the initiative takes effect.

But Assemblyman Ross Johnson (R-La Habra), the primary author of Proposition 73, told the commission he believes that it also prohibits political action committees from giving money they have already raised to candidates after the initiative takes effect on Jan. 1.

In addition, Johnson argued that Proposition 73 would prohibit candidates from using any campaign assets after Jan. 1 that they have accumulated in previous years--including money, mailing lists and office computers.

“We can’t stand with one foot in the new system and one foot in the old,” Johnson said. “The issue should be fairness--a level playing field for all candidates.”

The emergency regulations on newsletters is intended to clarify a section of Proposition 73 that reads: “No newsletter or mass mailing shall be sent at public expense.” A mass mailing is defined by the initiative as 200 or more pieces of mail that are substantially similar.

Many officials had interpreted the section to mean that government agencies were prohibited from sending out such routine mailings as community college course schedules, voter pamphlets and possibly even paychecks.

The newsletter ban took effect the day after the election, and many government agencies stopped sending out even routine mailings.

In unanimously adopting the regulations, the commission agreed with Johnson that the intention of the voters was to prohibit self-promotional mailings sent by elected officials at the taxpayers’ expense.

Under the regulations, the names of elected officials may appear in a mailing only on the letterhead of the stationery. Their names, photographs or signatures may not appear elsewhere in the mailing.

Exceptions include press releases sent to news outlets, mailings sent from one governmental agency to another, mailings sent in connection with the payment or collection of money, mailings essential to the functioning of a program and mailings required by a law or court order.

Among those testifying before the commission were representatives of many cities and counties who urged the commission to adopt regulations that would allow them to continue sending out newsletters to their constituents.