Posted on 01/12/2008 12:24:13 PM PST by radar101
The state's political watchdog agency has imposed a $55,000 fine against the Latino Builders Association for 11 counts of laundering contributions to candidates running for office in Chula Vista, National City and San Diego.
The association's director, Jose Mireles, engineered a scheme to evade campaign laws by directing employees and business associates to make contributions to candidates that were later reimbursed by the Latino Builders Association, according to the Fair Political Practices Commission.
The commission, which enforces state contribution and disclosure laws, imposed the maximum fine of $5,000 for each of the counts Thursday.
“Concealing the true source of campaign contributions is one of the most egregious violations of the Political Reform Act,” said Roman Porter, spokesman for the Fair Political Practices Commission. “Citizens have a fundamental right to know who's engaged in political activity.”
The 11 contributions totaled $2,600 and were donated to eight candidates.
The San Diego-based association assists minority businesses in securing government contracts and makes sure that government agencies comply with minority hiring practices.
Mireles did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Investigators from the Fair Political Practices Commission found that at the time he was directing employees and business associates to donate to political candidates, Mireles made similar contributions of his own to the same candidates.
This was evidence that “he was aware of the prohibition of making contributions through other persons without disclosing the true source of the contribution,” the commission said in papers detailing the fine.
Further, the commission said Mireles must have been aware that Chula Vista and San Diego ban contributions from corporations such as the Latino Builders Association.
Investigators for the commission spoke with several employees of the association, who confirmed that they were reimbursed for their contributions by the Latino Builders Association.
Ricardo Gomez, who worked for the magazine published by the association, told investigators he usually made contributions using money orders because he didn't have a checking account at the time.
Mireles, he said, reimbursed him by giving him a company check, which he would cash and use to purchase a money order.
Other employees of the association said they were reimbursed by Mireles, according to commission documents.
The commission also approved a $6,000 fine Thursday against the T-Bird Restaurant Group of San Diego for failing to file timely pre-election statements during its efforts in 2004 to raise money to defeat Proposition 72. The measure, which did not pass, would have imposed employer fees on medium-sized and large firms that don't provide health insurance to their workers.
In June, the Fair Political Practices Commission levied a $99,000 fine against Chula Vista dentist Robert Matkovich for 22 violations of the Political Reform Act, including 21 counts of laundering donations to former Chula Vista Mayor Steve Padilla.
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$55,000 of fines for $2,600 of contributions. So the fine was about 20 times the amount of the illegal contributions.
We could stop a lot more of this nonsense if the fines could ALWAYS be of this magnitude, relative to the illegal activity.
Or, we could kick all of these contribution limit laws to the curb, and let everyone donate as much as they want, any time they want, to any candidate they want. As long as it's all public knowledge almost instantly.
Would it be asking too much to abrogate the election of anyone who benefited from this kind of thing in his election???
Then you'd have the situation of a candidates's opponents making sure he got some illegal contributions so they could negate his election if he won.
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