SACRAMENTO -- — In the year since state Sen. Ron Calderon won election in a vote recount, the legal defense fund he set up to pay his costs in the dispute has gone on to raise $160,000.
Using that fund, the Democrat from Montebello has paid $11,200 for a fundraiser at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course, $5,880 to Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon, a $333 tab at Makena Golf Course in Hawaii and $10,000 to private airplane service Tower Aviation.
Last week, the state's ethics watchdog agency put an end to such spending, adopting strict rules to limit the use of such funds to "reasonable" attorneys' fees and related legal costs.
The Fair Political Practices Commission banned use of legal accounts for fundraising, mass mailers, dinners, political consultants, contesting vote recounts and paying fines for campaign finance violations.
Calderon employed an attorney to monitor the recount process. But state officials say a recount is an administrative action that is outside the courts.
Starting around the first of the year -- after the California Secretary of State publishes the new regulations -- officials will be required to disclose the legal issue that prompts the creation of a defense fund. They will have to close the account within 90 days of the issue's resolution. And money not needed for defense purposes must be returned to contributors.
"This regulation does a whole lot to reign in abuses," said Commissioner Robert Leidigh, a former deputy state attorney general. "I think it's really important that we do that, because these are dollars that are not subject to limits."
Unlike legislators' campaign committees, which may not accept individual contributions of more than $3,600, legal defense funds may receive unlimited donations. Calderon's golf and dining tabs were covered by big checks from special interests, including $25,000 from Hollywood Park Land Co. and $20,000 from the union representing prison guards.
Defense funds were authorized by California voters in 2000 when they approved Proposition 34, allowing officials to raise money for costs involving civil, criminal or administrative actions against them. At least 10 other elected state officials besides Calderon have created legal funds since the law was changed, including Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) and former Secretary of State Kevin Shelley.
