CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / SECRETARY OF STATE : Woo Assails Rival’s Reduction of Fines for Campaign Violations

Secretary of state candidate Michael Woo charged Thursday that one of his chief rivals, acting Secretary of State Tony Miller, has regularly forgiven fines against violators of election filing requirements--reducing $2.5 million in potential penalties to $400,000 over the last three years.

Under Miller, the office has “become a lap dog rather than a watchdog,” said Woo’s campaign manager, Steve Glazer.

The Woo campaign released a list of 2,335 fine reductions and waivers granted by Miller, who was chief deputy to Secretary of State March Fong Eu until she stepped down in February.

Among those able to persuade Miller to reduce their fines substantially were a number of major California developers, banks and corporations, including Sony Pictures and US Ecology Inc., the company contracted to run the proposed low-level nuclear waste disposal site in Ward Valley.

Miller defended the fine reductions. He said they were for non-willful violations of the state’s reporting requirements for major donors, lobbyists and campaign committees. Without the possibility of receiving a waiver, Miller said, those who did not file by the deadlines might disregard the rules and not file at all.

Miller said he has reviewed each request to reduce the fines and has granted many of them impartially, without regard to political affiliations. “We do factor in things like earthquakes, family deaths and those kinds of things,” he said.

But Woo contended that “stiff penalties are the most important deterrence for ensuring allegiance to the law in the future.”

Under the state’s Political Reform Act, the secretary of state can waive or reduce a $10-a-day penalty for those who are late in filing the required campaign or lobbying reports. The small daily fine can add up to a sizable sum when a violation is finally discovered--sometimes years after several reports should have been filed.

Woo, who is running against Miller and Assemblywoman Gwen Moore of Los Angeles in the June Democratic primary, pledges strict enforcement of fines against those who fail to report their campaign donations and lobbying expenses.