By James Faulk The Times-Standard
Sunday, April 24, 2005
EUREKA -- A bill winding its way through the State Senate seeks to close the loophole that let the Eureka Coalition for Jobs run attack ads against Eureka City Councilman Chris Kerrigan in November's election without revealing its backers.
The original version of the bill would only have affected tax-exempt funders, but it was recently amended to snap even that window shut.
Assemblywoman Patty Berg, D-Eureka, signed onto the bill after the Eureka Coalition for Jobs launched its negative ad campaign against Kerrigan. A loophole in the Political Reform Act allowed the group to keep its financiers secret.
Berg said Friday that the bill will close the loophole that allowed the "so-called Eureka Coalition for Jobs to wage a cloak-and-dagger last minute attack campaign" against Kerrigan.
"Despite the efforts of the Times-Standard and others, this group managed to stay in the shadows," she said.
The Times-Standard filed a Fair Political Practices Commission complaint over the group's secret backing. At the time, newspaper Managing Editor Charles Winkler said that the ads and lack of disclosure were "skirting the spirit of campaign law." However, the commission decided not to require the group to reveal its supporters.
Also at the time, Berg said "this kind of secrecy is bad for voters, and it's bad for democracy."
The ads -- and a mailer -- came out late in the campaign and blamed Kerrigan for the flight of jobs from Humboldt County and other economic woes. He was running against challenger Rex Bohn, who also did not support the ads. Bohn at one point asked that the ads be pulled from the air. He could not be reached for comment by presstime.
Kerrigan, who supports the new bill, went on to win re-election.
"The issue is not that it happened," Kerrigan said. "The issue is that the financiers of it did not have to disclose themselves. I think if there are going to be groups like this formed, voters ought to know who's financing it."
Senate Bill 36, introduced by state Sens. Dean Florez and Martha Escutia, says that anyone who gives $50,000 or more "for a communication that clearly identifies a candidate for elective state office, but does not expressly advocate the election or defeat of the candidate, and that is disseminated, broadcast, or otherwise published to more than 10,000 voters in the jurisdiction in which the candidate is seeking office," must report.
It also states that anyone who receives at least $2,500 for making that sort of communication must also report.
Calls made to Wayne Ordos, a Sacramento lobbyist and attorney who fronted the Eureka Coalition for Jobs, were not returned by deadline. Ordos is a former executive director of the Fair Political Practices Commission.
Berg said her objection to secrecy in campaign financing goes farther than just defending another Democrat in Kerrigan.
"As I said many times, secrecy and democracy don't mix," she said. "People who participate in politics have a responsibility to be open and voters have a right to know."
Because the bill would take effect immediately, it has to be approved by two-thirds of the Legislature. It will be heard by the Senate Elections Committee on Wednesday.
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