SACRAMENTO — California's lead political watchdog won't mention names, but he strongly feels that the way some Sacramento politicians are raising and spending special interest money is plain wrong.
He's new in the job as chairman of the state Fair Political Practices Commission, which enforces campaign finance and conflict-of-interest laws. But Ross Johnson, 68, is hardly a naive political neophyte.
The former Orange County lawmaker spent 26 years in the Legislature, serving stints as Republican leader in each house. A feisty conservative, he was in the thick of virtually every Capitol brawl. Term limits forced Johnson out in 2004, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed him commission chairman in February.
Johnson is not just a political junkie. He long has been a campaign finance junkie and has attempted several reforms without much success.
"The people of California fundamentally have a right to expect that their elected representatives will do what's best for them, not what's best for whoever can shove the most campaign cash over the transom," he said during an interview in his office, eight blocks from the Capitol.
"These large sums of money from people who obviously are interested in the outcome of matters before the Legislature -- or the city council or board of supervisors -- inherently carry with them the potential of corruption."
He added: "I was a pretty successful fundraiser over the years. There's nothing hypocritical about that. I played by the rules and I played the game as well as I could. But I argued that the rules should be changed."
One rule Johnson would like changed -- and it's very relevant currently -- is the loophole that provides lawmakers with several smelly fundraising tools.
Besides a campaign cache, they're permitted to raise money for "officeholder accounts," or personal slush funds. They can solicit tax-deductible donations for charitable gifts presented in their name, or "behest." They can travel the world -- as Schwarzenegger does -- on the special interest dime that is tax-deductible when filtered through a "nonprofit." There are also other devices in the fundraising toolshed.
"If I were king," Johnson said, there'd be only one fundraising account -- in order to reduce special interest influence and to make it easier for the public to follow the money. In his view, whether money is given to a politician's campaign or to his pet charity, the donor's purpose frequently is the same: to buy return favors.
