Posted on 09/01/2004 9:43:18 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO -- State Sen. Michael Machado has paid a $61,000 fine and returned more than $56,000 in illegal campaign contributions to resolve a complaint from the Fair Political Practices Commission, the commission announced Tuesday.
The penalty and fines stem from a complaint originally filed with the commission by one of Machado's constituents, who argued that the senator used an old campaign account to illegally accumulate and spend campaign funds.
Commission attorneys filed notice Monday that the two sides had agreed on a settlement. Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Loren McMaster must approve the settlement for it to become final.
In a statement released Tuesday, Machado said he had made an "honest mistake" by accumulating large campaign contributions in a campaign account left over from his 2000 campaign.
The Linden Democrat said he had relied on professional advice when filing reports and listing campaign contributions.
"While I accept responsibility for these mistakes, I am gratified that the FPPC acknowledged that I have never been found in violation of any provisions of the law before," Machado's statement read.
The FPPC complaint accused the senator's campaign of raising money for his 2004 re-election and depositing the money in the 2000 campaign account. That 2000 account was created before voters passed Proposition 34, which limited the size of political contributions. Some of the contributions that accumulated in the old account were up to twice what would otherwise be allowed under state law, according to the FPPC's complaint.
The Machado campaign deposited 189 contributions -- totaling $235,657 -- into the old account. Twenty contributions -- totaling $56,200 -- exceeded the current state donation limit. Those 20 contributions have been returned, Machado said.
Also, the campaign spent about $246,000 from the old account to benefit Machado's current re-election campaign, a move the FPPC says also violates state law.
Machado's re-election campaign is one of the few competitive statewide races this election season. Republican Gary Podesto, the mayor of Stockton, is hoping to unseat Machado. Political experts say they expect the race for the 5th Senate District seat to be the most expensive race of its kind in U.S. history.
Podesto's campaign on Tuesday immediately jumped on the FPPC complaint as proof of wrongdoing.
"No one, no matter how out of touch, could have committed these acts out of ignorance," Podesto spokesman Brian Seitchik said.
"The reason the FPPC levied such a huge fine is because the conduct was so egregious and went on for so long in apparent disregard for the law," Seitchik said.
Machado campaign spokesman Andrew Acosta countered that his boss acted quickly to work with the FPPC, adding that Machado was "hoping to talk in this campaign about the issues facing people in the district."
In addition to the requirement that Machado pay the fine and return some contributions, the settlement requires Machado to file corrected campaign disclosure reports.
FPPC enforcement division chief Steven Russo said the settlement was a "fair resolution of the case. The Machado campaign also "been cooperative with us in seeing that the violations are corrected," Russo said.
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