Even as they call for getting special-interest money out of politics, some Democratic lawmakers in Sacramento are soliciting unlimited donations from donors with business before the Legislature under the guise of charity, highlighting abuse and the need for reform.
Egregious examples recently surfaced due to excellent news reporting at CALmatters. In one example, Assemblyman Rob Bonta, an East Bay Area Democrat, runs a foundation that gave a $25,000 contribution to a nonprofit where his wife was the CEO, which she said helped her new nonprofit get off the ground.
The donations to Bonta’s foundation had come from groups with regular business before the Legislature. Bonta defended the contribution by saying it’s OK because he wrote a letter saying none of the money would go to his wife’s salary.
It wasn’t as though his foundation was in the habit of shelling out contributions to many groups — there was only one other contribution that year and it was for just 10 percent of what he gave his wife.
And now, all of a sudden, when asked about the contribution by a reporter, he realized the contribution was actually a loan, and he’ll be filing an amended tax return (for the year 2017). Of course, he also asked donors with business before the Legislature to give more than a half million dollars to his wife’s nonprofit in what are called behested payments.
Nothing to see here.
There’s a foundation supporting the Los Angeles County delegation. It recently used funds to pay for a catered meeting of the delegation in Los Angeles.
CALmatters asked the obvious question: “Why would public officials from the same region need a nonprofit to pay for a meeting room when they work together four days a week in the Capitol building?”
“(Gathering) 40 people with very different schedules, representing various parts of the county, which is very big, is challenging,” said the lawmaker in charge of the foundation, Assemblywoman Sydney Kamlager.
If only everyone were in the same location several days a week!
Meanwhile, Assemblyman Evan Low, a Silicon Valley Democrat, who runs a foundation for the Tech Caucus, appears to have sold access to lawmakers with a dubious symposium. According to the Tech Caucus’ attorney, nothing illegal happened.
Though required to do so, Low’s foundation has also stopped disclosing its donors, prompting an investigation by the California Fair Political Practices Commission. However, even if wrongdoing is found, the fines will be modest and it will likely not lead to any change.
These charities and behested payments are catching on. As CALmatters reports, the amount of money in behested payments for lawmakers’ charities grew from $105,000 in 2011 to $2.9 million in 2019. Though it’s not just lawmakers. Last year, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis behested $330,000 from labor unions, among other groups, for new furniture for her office.
While the recent examples show the potential for what is at least soft corruption, historical examples show the worst can and will happen. Years ago, lawmakers were caught in an FBI sting soliciting bribes to a nonprofit to provide them with an income stream after retirement from the Legislature.
If getting special-interest money out of politics is something Sacramento politicians really care about, we would urge them to start here.
