Davis and Harman Face Fines Over 1998 Campaign Finance Infractions

Nearly three years after the 1998 campaign concluded, the state’s main political watchdog agency is proposing to fine Gov. Gray Davis $50,000 for reporting mistakes he made while raising and spending more than $35 million to win the election.

Davis agreed to the penalty as part of a settlement with the Fair Political Practices Commission. Under state law, candidates can use campaign funds to pay the fines. The commission is expected to approve the settlement when it meets Thursday.

According to the commission’s complaint, Davis’ campaign committee failed to properly report more than $160,000 in late contributions he received in the 1998 primary and general elections. It also said the governor failed to adequately itemize more than $9 million that his campaign paid to consultants to buy TV campaign ads.

“We make every effort to follow the law,” Davis’ campaign spokesman Gabriel Sanchez said. “But in any campaign this large, there are glitches. It is regrettable. . . . There was no deliberate intent to conceal or deceive.”

Altogether, the commission’s staff identified 25 violations. The maximum fine per violation at the time was $2,000. The penalty since has been raised to $5,000 per violation.

The commission also assessed U.S. Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice) $60,000 for violations during her 1998 Democratic primary run for governor. Among her errors, Harman failed to properly disclose that she had lent her campaign $1.6 million two weeks before the primary election, the commission said.

It sued Harman, rather than handling the case as an administrative matter before the commission itself. The agency said in a statement that it filed the suit because it “concluded that the failure to timely report a $1.6-million loan justified a larger fine than permitted under administrative remedies.”

Former acting Secretary of State Tony Miller, an attorney who has practiced before the commission, called the three-year lag between the violations and penalties “ridiculous.” He attributed the delay to a lack of staff at the commission, not a “lack of desire.”

“The funding comes from appropriations from the Legislature, and there is not a whole lot of interest in beefing up enforcement,” he said.