In California Senate, ethics take a back seat again
It seems like only a couple of years ago that the state Senate was gung-ho to reform its campaign-finance rules after scandals bounced Democrats Ron Calderon, Rod Wright and Leland Yee out of office. In fact, it was only a couple of years ago. In 2014, the Senate passed a package of reforms to clean up slimy political practices and shore up public trust in the California Capitol. Among those widely applauded reforms was a rule prohibiting senators from accepting campaign contributions from lobbyists during certain periods.
Well, it hasn’t taken long for something to come up that most senators find more important than ethics. Namely an election that threatens some of their jobs.
Last week, senators voted 24-8 to scrap the fundraising blackouts.
If the original round of reforms made Californians think better of our senators — think lawmakers at least knew how bad things looked — what are we to make of politicians scrapping this key reform?
That’s a rhetorical question.
Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, who introduced the motion last Thursday, tried to dress up the ethics-rule rollback in terms of fairness. The fundraising blackout period in question would have begun last Friday with the start of final budget negotiations, triggered by the release that day of Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget revision. The period would have extended beyond the June 7 California primary, in which 11 of the 40 senators are running.
How inconvenient. Just when politicians need campaign cash the most, they’d be barred from receiving it from their most reliable sources — people, groups and companies that want to influence lawmakers to support favorable legislation.
The state Assembly has no such fundraising blackout. So when a senator faces an election challenge from an Assembly member, the senator would be at a financial disadvantage. An example: Sen. Jim Beall, D-Campbell, is trying to hold onto his seat against Assemblywoman Nora Campos, D-San Jose, who has received big contributions from oil interests.
“This is David vs. Goliath, and we cannot take away the slingshot from David,” says de León. We’ll save you trying to figure that one out: De León’s “David” is the senator, never mind the advantages enjoyed by incumbents in all public offices.
Less than one election cycle ago, the same Senate leader made more sense in speaking up for the fundraising blackout. The reform, he said, “ensures that members of the Senate are solely focused on legislative business during the most critical times of the year.”
Now, they’re allowed to go back to focusing on the potentially corrupting activity of mixing fundraising with legislative decision-making. Those who voted for easing ethics rules included Southern California Democrats Ed Hernandez, Bob Hertzberg, Ricardo Lara, Connie Leyva, Tony Mendoza, Holly Mitchell and Fran Pavley, and Republicans Pat Bates and Jean Fuller. It’s not their finest hour.