By JB Powell
On Thursday, the full board of the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) voted to approve a record settlement agreement with State Sen. Carole Migden. As part of the deal, Migden had to pony up $100,000 of her own money as a down payment on the $350,000 in total penalties – the largest amount the FPPC has ever fined a public official in its 34 year history. The incumbent senator has one year to come up with the rest of the cash. Migden and two of her campaign aides admitted to 89 different campaign finance violations – including spending over $16 grand of campaign funds for “personal use.”
In a separate matter – covered this week in the Guardian (“Migden sues the FPPC”) – Migden is hauling the FPPC into federal court to save about a million dollars they say she can’t have. In a statement released after the vote yesterday, commission chair Ross Johnson didn’t mince words in voicing his displeasure with the San Francisco Democrat: “Senator Migden’s track record has shown her complete disdain for [campaign finance laws] … We will now focus our attention on [her] lawsuit and Senator Migden’s numerous other serious and deceitful violations of California law. We will fight her all the way.”