The California Fair Political Practices Commission is investigating whether Republican Assemblymen Bill and Tom Berryhill, sidestepped strict fundraising limits by filtering money through two GOP central committees in the 2008 general election, California Watch has learned.
The FPPC is also investigating the Democratic Party of Sacramento County, which failed to disclose more than $250,000 in contributions until after Election Day in 2008, and the Stanislaus County and San Joaquin County Republican parties, which were involved in the Berryhill transactions, FPPC Executive Director Roman Porter acknowledged.
Tom and Bill Berryhill
"We have ongoing investigations on Assembly members Bill and Tom Berryhill, the Stanislaus and San Joaquin County Republican Central Committees, and the Sacramento County Democratic Central Committee. At this point that is all I can say, since they are open investigations," Porter wrote in an e-mail.
Both the Berryhills, who are brothers, and the Sacramento Dems were featured in our story on Sunday, which outlined how politicians and wealthy donors use political party central committees to sidestep limits on individual campaign contributions – in some cases donating hundreds of thousands more than the law typically allows.
Under California law, individual campaign donors face limits as low as $3,900 in legislative races and as much as $25,900 for gubernatorial campaigns. But state law allows donors to give up to $32,400 to party central committees in each of California’s 58 counties, if that money is used to directly support a campaign.
Derek Cressman, regional director of Common Cause, described the practice of filtering money through party committees as “money laundering.”
It seems at least part of the current FPPC investigations began before our story ran. We outlined a curious series of transactions involving Modesto Republican Tom Berryhill, who won re-election easily in 2008, and his brother, Bill, who went on to win a close race in the neighboring 26th Assembly District.
On Oct. 30, 2008, Tom Berryhill, R-Modesto, donated $20,000 to the Republican Party committee in San Joaquin County. The next day, the committee donated $21,000 to Bill Berryhill.
Tom Berryhill – who last month announced his intent to run for state Senate – also donated $25,000 to the Stanislaus County Republican Party through two donations on Oct. 27 and 29. The party sent $40,000 to Bill Berryhill's campaign through two donations on Oct. 30 and 31.
The brothers also shared an association with a political consultant: Carl Fogliani, who ran Bill Berryhill’s campaign in 2008 and later worked as his chief of staff. Fogliani said he worked for Tom Berryhill in 2006, and he is now overseeing the campaign for the brothers’ cousin, Mike Berryhill, who is running for a seat in Congress.
It also turns out that the San Joaquin GOP may not have had enough cash to make such a large contribution to Bill Berryhill had his brother not stepped in with a donation. Of course, that’s assuming the party’s financial statements are accurate, which, as we’ve learned, is by no means a given.
We’ll keep you posted as the investigation continues. In the mean time, if you suspect that your local candidates might have also received improper central committee contributions, here’s how you can contact the FPPC.
And drop me a line, too, if you don’t mind.
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