In addition to facing multiple state penalties for failing to properly disclose campaign contributions and expenses, Democratic and Republican central committees in California have been fined at least 18 times by federal regulators since 2000 for a variety of campaign finance violations, according to new data from the Federal Election Commission.
Most recently, the records show approximately $1,600 in fines against the Democratic Party of Sacramento County for allegedly failing to file reports detailing more than $40,000 in contributions in the weeks before the 2008 general election, among other things.
As we reported last week, the Sacramento Democrats are currently under investigation by the California Fair Political Practices Commission for apparently failing to report contributions of more than $250,000 at around the same time in 2008.
The fines, which you can download here, were minor, with most totaling less than $2,000. The FEC tends to hand out much lower fines than the FPPC; the FEC's largest being a $33,000 fine against Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., in 2004.
From what we could tell, most of the fines came about as a result of public disclosure problems by the county committee. In another recent example, the Monterey County Republican Central Committee agreed to pay a $4,000 penalty and appoint an experienced campaign accountant last year after improperly disclosing a $200,000 loan.
County parties are typically volunteer organizations that at times are called upon to quickly route large sums of money into high-stakes races in the hectic weeks preceding major elections. Some hire professional accountants to help them comply with state and federal disclosure laws, but some fail to disclose their activities properly, keeping voters and opposing campaigns in the dark about money going in and out.
Among other fines reported in the new FEC databank, activist Cindy Sheehan was assessed nearly $20,000 for campaign finance disclosure problems during her failed 2008 congressional campaign in San Francisco against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Philip A. Lowe of Culver City accumulated $85,500 in fines for problems from his congressional campaigning in 2001, 2002, and 2003.
The FEC said the Administrative Fines Program was initiated in 2000 to assess civil penalties for committees that failed to file regular reports in a timely manner or failed to file 48-hour disclosure notices of contributions of $1,000 or more. Nearly 2,000 cases have been resolved since the program began, the agency said.
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