Councilmember Kevin de León is going through a troublesome reelection marketing campaign due to his function within the racist leaked audio scandal two years in the past. To assist make his case, the veteran Sacramento politician is tapping his state marketing campaign battle chest to pay for self-promoting advertisements advocating for 3 poll measures.
De León, who got here in second within the March main after tenant rights legal professional Ysabel Jurado, is uniquely in a position to bombard Council District 14 voters along with his mug as a result of he has $3 million in a marketing campaign account he created a number of years in the past for a doable run for lieutenant governor.
De León is prohibited from transferring cash from his state committee into his metropolis reelection marketing campaign committee, Instances reporters Dakota Smith and David Zahniser defined. However he can roll that cash into different committees centered on political causes — which he did.
The council incumbent is following a well-recognized playbook. Many politicians, together with Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, have used spending on poll measure campaigns to enhance their profiles.
To date, he’s transferred $600,000 to the Kevin de León Believing in a Higher California Poll Measure Committee, which can promote Proposition 3 to affirm marriage equality, Proposition 32 to set an $18 minimal wage and Proposition 33 to develop lease management.
Already the poll measure committee has paid for a shiny “Sure on Prop 32” marketing campaign door hanger adorned along with his image that proclaims “then-Senate President Kevin de León wrote the invoice to lift California’s minimal wage. Now he’s preventing to lift it once more.”
As a result of this can be a state poll measure committee, somewhat than a metropolis committee, De León has fewer constraints on how he makes use of the cash and doesn’t should report his spending to the town’s Ethics Fee, Politico reported. So long as the poll measure advertisements don’t expressly inform folks to vote for him, that is allowed below California regulation.
However simply because it’s authorized doesn’t imply it’s proper.
This type of marketing campaign fund shell sport sours the general public on profession politicians. As we’ve mentioned, there’s nothing improper with individuals who make a profession out of public service, and on-the-job expertise is normally an asset. In fact elected officers often use their surplus marketing campaign money to assist get others elected and assist poll measures they imagine in, however utilizing it to pay for a barely disguised marketing campaign advert is unsavory and counter to the intent, if not the letter of the regulation.
Whereas in Sacramento De León was in a position to make use of his place as Senate president professional tem to lift gobs of cash from curiosity teams. When he was termed out, he rolled the leftover marketing campaign money right into a placeholder lieutenant governor marketing campaign account. And now he can use that cash as a backdoor method to enhance his metropolis reelection marketing campaign, along with the city-regulated fundraising and campaigning he’s doing.
California Frequent Trigger, which pushes for transparency in political spending, wish to see extra restrictions on how candidate-controlled poll measure committees spend their cash, akin to making certain a bigger share of the advert is selling the difficulty somewhat than the candidate. Or the state might require that candidates get donor permission earlier than transferring cash to a poll measure marketing campaign committee.
These are worthy concepts that state lawmakers and the Honest Political Practices Fee ought to discover. Candidates are going to search for any edge in a aggressive race; the state has a duty to make the enjoying area as stage as doable.
