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Updated article..

http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/ci_2570059

Perata steps into more controversy
By Steve Geissinger, SACRAMENTO BUREAU

SACRAMENTO — Senate leader Don Perata, already linked to a corruption probe, and Senate minority leader Dick Ackerman refused to drop a bill Tuesday that could hinder campaign-finance probes — including one against Sen. Jim Battin, who lashed out late in the day.

In a written statement, Battin, a Palm Desert Republican, said he has adhered to campaign finance laws and attacked state regulators.

"It is disturbing the Fair Political Practices Commission has apparently chosen to violate their own rules prohibiting them from discussing an ongoing investigation and make comments to the press," Battin said.

A representative of the FPPC, which has been critical of the bill, was not immediately available.

Perata, an Oakland Democrat who serves as Senate president pro tem, through spokeswoman Alicia Dlugosh, said he was only a co-author on the bill and referred calls to a Senate elections committee consultant, who was not immediately available.

An aide to Ackerman referred to recent statements by the Irvine Republican that the bill addresses what legislators consider "a problem in interpretation of the law."

Aides said no legislator was willing to slow the fast-track measure, despite growing opposition.

Representatives of the Fair Political Practices Commission, charged with ensuring that officeholders follow the state's political reform laws, are protesting that SB-25 would "severely undermine" the commission's efforts.

A representative of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office said the governor was unaware of the measure and had no position.

The bill was triggered by both parties' frustration with what they view as contradictory declarations by the commission and continuing clashes over legitimate uses of campaign accounts created before voters placed new limits on fund-raising with Proposition 34 in 2000.

The legislation would make it more difficult for the commission to prove that a lawmaker manipulated contributions to avoid the new limits. In essence, the bill would lessen regulators' ability to use letters that political donors send with their checks.

Such a letter figures in a commission investigation of Battin and was key in previous cases where the commission levied fines against other politicians.

The authors used a parliamentary tactic known as "gut and amend" to insert the language into an existing bill, rather than introducing it as an original measure.

The authors therefore avoided having to wait a month before a hearing. Rules were waived so it could go to the full Senate after going through only one policy committee — the Senate elections committee — which passed it on a 4-1 vote. The dissenting vote came from Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Marina Del Rey.

The bill also contains an urgency clause, which requires two-thirds votes for it to pass the legislative houses, but would allow it to go into effect immediately upon the governor's signature.

Perata is scheduled to deliver a luncheon address today to the Sacramento Press Club, but analysts said he's likely to continue sidestepping questions about the federal corruption probe swirling around him and now about SB-25.

He is under investigation by federal authorities about his personal financial dealings with associates — including friends and family members.