Local News in Brief : FPPC Sued Over Campaign Fund Rule

A government watchdog group has sued the California Fair Political Practices Commission in an attempt to void regulations that will allow political candidates and committees to use funds raised before Jan. 1 in election campaigns after that date.

California Common Cause alleges in its Los Angeles Superior Court suit that the FPPC violated a provision of Proposition 73 when it decided in September to let politicians use existing war chests on future campaigns.

The campaign reform measure approved by voters June 7 included a provision that stated that effective Jan. 1, candidates could use contributions collected earlier “for any lawful purpose other than to support or oppose a candidate for elective office.”

But the five-member commission amended the provision after FPPC attorney Kathryn Donovan told the panel that preventing politicians from using campaign money that was raised before Jan. 1, but in sums modest enough to meet the initiative’s limits on contributions, posed constitutional questions.