Posted on 02/09/2005 8:57:04 AM PST by NormsRevenge
A committee trying to bar undocumented immigrants from obtaining driver's licenses has failed to report how much money its campaign has raised, according to the California Secretary of State.
The Secretary of State's Political Reform Division is investigating the Save Our License committee, an organization that has collected money and signatures since October 2003 to place various anti-illegal immigration measures on the ballot.
The group, which claims it has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars since it organized in October 2003, has not filed a single campaign finance report with the state - a violation of state campaign finance rules, according to the Secretary of State's office.
"It is uncertain how much money has been contributed to the group, since no finance reports exist," said Harvey Tsuboi, a senior analyst with the Political Reform Division. "They're definitely a nonfiler, and they are going to have to file statements back to 2003."
Save Our License was founded by California Republican Assembly President Mike Spence to repeal a state law granting driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants. That law was repealed by the Legislature at the urging of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who vetoed a second bill to grant undocumented immigrants driver's licenses in September 2004.
Now the group is collecting signatures to place a measure on the November ballot that would bar the state from ever allowing licenses for undocumented immigrants and also denies them other tax-funded benefits. It has until Feb. 22 to collect nearly 600,000 signatures.
Spence led the campaign to recall Secretary of State Kevin Shelley for misuse of federal tax dollars, illegal campaign contributions and for seeking to sabotage his Save Our License campaign. Spence might now have to pay nearly $10,000 in fines and possibly face an investigation by the Fair Political Practices Commission for his own improprieties, state officials said.
Shelley announced Friday that he will resign from his position March 1.
"We called for his head," Spence said Tuesday.
Spence, who also is president of the West Covina Unified School District board, said the Save Our License committee filed all the necessary documentation with the state and county.
"I know we filed," he said. "We had to have filed, because we have a professional firm that files for us."
But John Fugatt, the group's treasurer, said there is no outside company handling campaign contributions or expenditures for Save Our License.
"All contributions are handled directly through the group," Fugatt said. "We provide the information on a regular basis to the state, so we have no idea what happened. At this point we don't know and I don't want to speculate."
A second committee founded by Spence, the Independent Expenditure Committee, which is under the California Republican Assembly, has filed all campaign finance reports to date.
The Save Our License campaign committee refused to share financial records following a request from the Daily Bulletin on Tuesday.
"My office is a mess," Fugatt said. "I can't tell you where anything is and I won't be able to get those records for you for at least a week."
Spence could not explain why the records had not been filed.
"I really don't know why it's not showing," Spence said. "Maybe we filed in Orange County." The committee is registered in Monrovia. State officials said Save Our License must file with the Registrar-Recorder of Los Angeles County, the group's county of origin, said Tsuboi, the analyst.
Officials at the Los Angeles County recorder's office said that no campaign finance reports from the group have ever been filed with the county.
The Department of Elections in San Francisco also has not received copies of the group's finance records.
"If they receive or spend even $1,000, they have to file with the state," Tsuboi said. "They automatically have to file originals and copies with us."
Last week, the group collected thousands of dollars at the Ayres Hotel in Ontario, Spence said.
He also said his group spent nearly $400,000 collecting signatures to meet the Feb. 22 deadline.
The majority of the signatures are being collected by Bader and Associates Inc., a consulting firm in Newport Beach, regularly used for petitions by the California Republican Assembly.
A little more than 400,000 signatures have been collected so far, Spence said.
In October 2004, Assemblyman Mark Wyland, R-San Diego, a co-chairman of the group, donated $5,000 to the Save Our License initiative, according to his campaign finance records.
In late October 2003, after the group filed with the state, Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy, R-Monrovia, donated nearly $3,000 in in-kind contributions to the campaign.
According to the state, the group has missed at least three filing deadlines: Oct. 3 to Dec. 31, 2003; Jan. 1 to June 30, 2004; and July 1 to Dec. 31, 2004.
If the committee contributed or spent $50,000 or more at any time, it would have to file electronically and manually by the required deadlines, Tsuboi said.
SAVE OUR LICENSE
The initiative the California Republican Assembly's Save Our License committee is trying to place on the November ballot would deny state benefits to undocumented immigrants and prevent them from obtaining a driver's license. The measure would still allow access to benefits required under federal law. What the initiative says:
1. The government shall not authorize or provide driver's licenses or government identification cards, in-state college tuition discounts, welfare and other tax-funded benefits to illegal aliens.2. The state must defend this amendment against any and all challenges in state or federal court.3. Private citizens have the right to sue the state or local government to insure compliance with this amendment.4. Government officials and elected officials who willfully violate this amendment may be held personally liable for the costs of litigation.
Source: Save Our License at www.saveourlicense.com
What a mess. I don't see any indication that the reporter checked with Orange County though.
But that treasurer better clean his office, and fast. In a lot of political finance issues, the treasurer is the one who faces going to prison if impropriety is found.
Hopefully, this is just a witch hunt or misunderstanding.
We'll see what shakes out after the dust clears.
Remember, this is the same sec'y of state, who even tho he tries to take credit for a well run Recall election, fought it every step of the way ...
Yes, I know. More corruption by state Dems would certainly fit with their standard MO.
But that treasurer's response horrified me. Did he not realize he was talking to the press?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.