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California's campaign watchdog organization handed down one of its larger fines in recent memory earlier this week when it officially approved a $60,000 penalty for potato magnate Larry Minor. Minor pleaded guilty in February to money laundering charges in connection with a scheme to filter campaign contributions through friends and associates.
Minor, who was indicted earlier this year by Attorney General Kamala Harris' office, had agreed to pay the penalty as part of a settlement agreement. He is also barred from giving campaign contributions for three years.
The total amount of his fine is $6,400 less than the amount of money he pleaded guilty to laundering. Documentation [PDF] from the California Fair Political Practices Commission, the watchdog organization that approved the fine, shows that Minor gave contributions in the names of at least 10 other people, including family members and associates, during campaigns in 2009 and 2006.
The campaigns that received Minor's contributions, Republican Jeff Stone's 2009 state Senate campaign and Republican Brenda Salas' Assembly campaign in 2006, both lost. The FPPC's investigation found that neither campaign was aware of Minor's laundering scheme. Both candidates lost their respective races.
As we've noted many times in the past, the act of routing money through intermediaries is nothing new. Whether it be local political parties, family members or other organizations, circumventing campaign contribution limits are part of the routine machinations of politics. In its order against Minor, the FPPC describes it as one of the "most serious" violations of California's Political Reform Act, which was crafted with the hope of making influence-peddling in government as transparent as possible.
But just how common is the problem? Reporter Jim Miller at the Riverside Press-Enterprise did some great legwork to dig up at least 96 such FPPC fines since 1995, ranging from a few thousand dollars to more than $375,000.
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