Election Laws

California officials are planning to investigate whether the Mormon church gave an accurate accounting of its role in the campaign that succeeded in getting a same-sex marriage ban approved in the state. The action by the California Fair Political Practices Commission came in response to a complaint filed two weeks ago by a gay rights activist. Fred Karger, co-founder of Californians Against Hate, accuses the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of failing to report the value of the work it did to support Proposition 8. Roman Porter, the agency's executive director, said Monday that the decision to open an investigation does not mean staff members have determined there was any wrongdoing, only that Karger's complaint merits further inquiry.

A fiery political watchdog in Orange County testified Wednesday that she schooled former Sheriff Michael S. Carona on campaign finance laws during his first run for office and warned him to look out for laundered contributions aimed at circumventing the local donor limit of $1,000. Shirley Grindle, a former aeronautics engineer who has devoted her retirement to enforcing county campaign rules, said she sat down with Carona in her living room in Orange on Jan.

Turns out Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin wasn't the only candidate with donor-financed duds. At least five candidates used campaign money for clothing, according to a complaint that a watchdog group filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said the campaigns of Democratic Reps. Loretta Sanchez of Garden Grove and Robert E.

The Supreme Court set the stage Friday for striking down a part of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law that bars the broadcast of corporate and union-funded ads just prior to an election. Three years ago, the justices narrowly upheld the McCain-Feingold Act of 2002 and its rule against corporate-funded broadcast ads, which was adopted to prevent powerful interests from using their money to sway elections in the final weeks of a campaign.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to raise the limit on political contributions for all county candidates to $1,600, an increase of $100. Orange County's campaign finance law allows supervisors to raise the limit on donations in odd-numbered years in line with the increase in the consumer price index. The new limit is scheduled to take effect in March and will not apply to the special election next week to fill the vacant seat on the board.

Prompted in part by misleading campaign tactics that marred elections in several states, Sens. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) introduced legislation Wednesday that would criminalize lying to or otherwise intentionally misleading voters to keep them away from the polls. Among the controversial 2006 elections was a U.S. House race in Orange County, in which thousands of Latino citizens received letters wrongly suggesting they could go to jail for voting.

A Pakistani immigrant who hosted fundraisers in Southern California for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is being sought by the FBI on charges that he funneled illegal contributions to Clinton's political action committee and Sen. Barbara Boxer's 2004 reelection campaign. Authorities say Northridge businessman Abdul Rehman Jinnah, 56, fled the country after an indictment accused him of engineering more than $50,000 in illegal donations to the Democratic committees.

On a sun-dappled October afternoon, Ray Jinnah stood beside his Bel-Air swimming pool to address 60 guests gathered for his latest fundraiser, a 2004 affair for New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn was there, along with then-City Council President Alex Padilla. Both had received backing from Jinnah, a Pakistani businessman positioning himself as a player in Democratic fundraising and an organizer of support for Pakistan on Capitol Hill.

The crowded field of Republican presidential contenders is not the only group waiting nervously to see if Fred Thompson jumps into the race. For television networks that air programs starring the former Tennessee senator, his 2008 candidacy could cause a host of complications relating to the equal-time rule, which regulates how broadcasters treat political candidates. The fact that Thompson's gig on "Law & Order" places him on one of TV's most ubiquitous series makes the situation even thornier.

Newly elected Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen solicited secret donations above the campaign contribution limit in an effort to quickly pay down her legal debts, an apparent violation of campaign finance law, according to interviews and an e-mail obtained by The Times. The solicitations came as Nguyen was seeking money to cover her legal costs defending a hair-thin victory in the Feb. 6 special supervisorial election.