Yesterday, after a bruising month and a potentially devastating weekend in which she failed to win the nomination of the California Democratic Party, incumbent State Senator Carole Migden finally saw something go her way – at least for now. Judge Edmund Brennan of the Eastern District Court for California in Sacramento ruled that she should be allowed access to over $600,000 in funds the state’s campaign finance watchdog had barred her from spending.
Last month, Midgen sued the Fair Political Practices Commission to gain access to the cash. The FPPC had declared it, and a reported $400,000 more that the Senator had already spent (in possible violation of state law) “surplus.” California’s surplus funds law places strict conditions on how and when politicians can transfer funds between various accounts. Migden responded by hauling the regulators to federal court and attempting to overturn the law on First Amendment grounds – citing a landmark Supreme Court ruling which equates political money with free speech.
Judge Brennan’s ruling yesterday was not an outright victory for Migden. The judge did not officially weigh in on the law’s constitutionality. He simply stated that, until the lawsuit can proceed in earnest, she should be allowed to tap into the accounts. But Roman Porter, spokesperson for the FPPC, told us it might not be as easy to get to the money as one would think. The cash, he told us, has been shifted around so much by Migden’s campaigns, no one is quite sure how to get it into her current accounts.
“Right now we’re still trying to figure out how that can legally happen … we’ve never been in a circumstance like this before.”
But in the end, provided that regulators and Migden’s campaign can figure out a way to move the money into her coffers, the lawsuit itself might just be an afterthought. No matter how things eventually turn out, Judge Brennan’s ruling yesterday does one critical thing for the embattled incumbent – it literally buys her more time in the race.
Calls placed to the judge’s courtroom deputy, who handles his calendar, were not immediately returned, but many observers expect the legal process to drag on for weeks, even months. The primary election is on June 3rd. By the time anything gets settled for real, the race is likely to be over and Migden no doubt will have spent most, if not all, of the money in question.