Democratic Party Is Cleared in L.A. Race

The state Fair Political Practices Commission has found no evidence to support allegations made by James K. Hahn’s campaign that the state Democratic Party received large contributions last spring that were earmarked to support Antonio Villaraigosa’s unsuccessful candidacy for mayor of Los Angeles.

The political watchdog agency, in a letter released Thursday by the Democratic Party, rejected the Hahn campaign’s contention that the contributions to the state party violated state and city campaign reform laws. The finding concludes one of the most hotly contested debates of the mayoral campaign, one that caused ripples through local and national politics as it pitted some of the party’s high-profile donors and figures against each other.

Billionaires Eli Broad and Ron Burkle, both backers of Villaraigosa and leading contributors to state and national candidates as well, each gave $100,000 to the state party in the weeks before the city’s April election. That contest ended with Villaraigosa and Hahn capturing the top spots and facing one another in a June runoff that Hahn would win.

Other Villaraigosa allies, including the California Teachers Assn. and the Service Employees International Union, gave a total of more than $500,000 to the state party during the mayor’s race.

The city’s complex campaign finance laws restricted contributions in the first round of the mayor’s race to no more than $7,000 under certain circumstances. Hahn charged that the huge contributions the state party received amounted to an effort to circumvent city law. The state party, having received those and other contributions, waged an intensive mail and phone campaign to elect Villaraigosa.

That heavy spending sparked sharp criticism from other Democrats running in the hard-fought mayor’s race. Hahn’s campaign spokesman charged in March that major contributors were laundering their contributions through the state party. Party officials vigorously denied the charge at the time.

“After reviewing the matter,” the FPPC’s chief investigator Alan Herndon wrote in an Aug. 7 letter, “we have concluded there is no evidence to support the allegation that the party received contributions specifically earmarked by contributors to support Mr. Villaraigosa.”

The agency also gave the state party a clean bill of health on its extensive and expensive campaign to communicate with registered Democrats in support of Villaraigosa. Herndon’s letter notes that Proposition 34, a statewide ballot measure approved last fall, allows just such member communications.

Though the FPPC is considering regulations to define exactly what constitutes a member of a political party, Herndon signaled that the “staff feels that it is not unreasonable to conclude that all registered voters of a political party may be included.”

Deputy Mayor Matt Middlebrook, who managed Hahn’s campaign, had no comment on the FPPC decision.

State Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres said in a statement that he was pleased that “the highest political watchdog agency in California has summarily dismissed a complaint that I’ve always held was one without any merit.”

Lance Olson, attorney for the state party, said he felt vindicated by the FPPC’s decision to close the investigation without taking any enforcement action.

“The allegation was made that we violated the law, and it just wasn’t true,” Olson said.