Posted on 12/07/2005 5:32:18 PM PST by calcowgirl
WASHINGTON – Rep. Darrell Issa's bankrolling of the recall drive against then-Gov. Gray Davis two years ago was allowable under a sweeping new federal campaign finance law, federal regulators announced yesterday.
Although the Federal Election Commission asked its lawyers to investigate Issa's financial involvement in the 2003 recall – indicating there was "reason to believe" the Vista Republican broke the law – the panel based its final ruling on a new clarification of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, better known by its congressional moniker, the McCain-Feingold law.
Issa, a millionaire who ignited the successful recall of Democrat Davis by contributing at least $1.7 million to the drive, said he was gratified by the ruling.
"This was 18 months of waiting to be what I believe is fully vindicated," Issa said.
The former car-alarm entrepreneur spent the money through his Rescue California committee, the driving force behind the effort to remove the Democratic governor from office.
Issa had planned to run as a replacement candidate, but bowed out early on. In October 2003, Arnold Schwarzenegger was voted into office as Davis was voted out.
Much of the money came from Issa's real estate company, Greene Properties Inc.
In June 2003, Raquelle De La Rocha, a Van Nuys attorney and Davis appointee to the California Parks and Recreation Commission, contended that Issa had broken the provision of federal law that bars federal officeholders from raising so-called "soft money" campaign contributions.
In an FEC complaint, De La Rocha raised the question of whether federal lawmakers working on state ballot campaigns – which California's recall effort was – could solicit donations over $2,000, or ask for money from corporations and labor unions.
The complaint contended that Greene Properties was a corporation that could not contribute to the recall, and that Issa violated the federal $2,000 contribution limit because most donations were much larger.
The FEC investigated, and the complaint against Issa emerged as one of the first test cases of the McCain-Feingold law.
The FEC seemed to cleared up the controversy – at least from the federal regulatory end – in August 2004 when it approved an advisory opinion in the matter of Sen. Jon Corzine, D-N.Y. In that case, the commission concluded that under the McCain-Feingold law, Corzine's status as a federal officeholder did not place limits on donations he could make from his personal funds to organizations that engaged in voter registration activities.
"Our counsel ... determined that the funds used by Rep. Issa to support Rescue California were all, in fact, his personal funds (although some were temporarily transferred in and out of his Greene Properties account)," FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub wrote fellow commissioners in a Nov. 10 letter. "Moreover, counsel did not present any evidence that Rep. Issa engaged in any ... prohibited solicitations of funds for Rescue California."
Commissioner Scott Thomas, a McCain ally who is considered the most ardent backer of campaign finance reform on the FEC, was the only one of the five-member panel to dissent.
"My sense is that the new restrictions do apply where some federal candidate is raising money in the context of a ballot measure," Thomas said in an interview yesterday. "To me, that's a context Congress had in mind when it passed those new restrictions. My view is that federal officeholders should be limited in raising (this sort of) money."
Issa said Thomas is "overreaching."
"We're still citizens and we still have the right to speak our mind (and) to lobby at the state level for things we'd like to have," Issa said. "His logic would limit federal elected officials from virtually all activities other than sticking their voting card into the machines here in Washington. If you can't speak on an issue simply because it's not a federal issue, you really are limited in your ability to do your job."
Congrats or being cleared, Congressman Issa.
If he had lost, would Gray Davis be governor again? :)
With the dog and pony show they had for him in the Capitol Rotunda today you would think he had.
In a strict sense the California recall wasn't a political campaign because it lacked an affirmative facet; it was non partisan and promoted no individual to political office.
Had Issa remained a candidate the complaint may have been judged differently.
Wasn't it awful? I forced myself to watch it on the news tonight! The thought of how poorly both have served this state not only crossed my mind... It kept blinkin at me like a neon sign in my mind!!!
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