California Assemblyman Ron Calderon has obliterated his campaign war chest months before he faces an opponent in November, spending the money on Las Vegas hotels, restaurants and cigars, according to campaign spending reports.
Calderon, whose 58th Assembly District encompasses southeast Los Angeles County communities, including Whittier, Downey and East L.A., raised $342,600 last year in contributions and spent $427,300, according to financial records filed with the California secretary of state.
Although the freshman Democrat, who is uncontested in the March 2 primaries, has had fundraisers commanding ticket prices of more than $1,000 apiece at pop concerts and title boxing matches, he is facing $97,500 in debts and has many expenditures on credit, according to campaign account records dated as recently as Feb. 14.
Calderon said he would resolve his debts before the November election, when he will face Republican attorney and businesswoman Rita Topalian.
Topalian, a 58-year-old Whittier resident, faces at least two hurdles: Democratic registered voters in the district outnumber Republicans nearly 2 to 1, and a Calderon family member has held the seat for 16 of the last 22 years.
Calderon said he would raise funds aggressively, as he has in the past. A ticket to one of his Las Vegas fundraisers at an Oscar de la Hoya fight cost donors $3,200. Another fundraiser cost $1,500 per person to attend a Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake concert in Sacramento, Calderon said.
The assemblyman from Montebello has spent $28,500 during at least four separate trips listed as fundraisers and staff retreats to Las Vegas, where the politician stayed at the Mandalay Bay and Venetian hotels and casinos, records show. Calderon, who won his Assembly seat in 2002, said his expenditures were work-related and part of building a support base.
He said he has not received complaints from financial contributors or residents of his district, a largely working-class area of more than 420,000 people that is 70% Latino and has a median annual income of $39,000.
"I'm doing my job," said Calderon, 46. "That's the message I'm sending to my constituents."
While there are extensive laws that govern spending of public money, there is little scrutiny over a politician's spending of campaign funds.
"It raises ethical questions, not legal questions," said Robert Stern, president of the nonprofit Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles.
