Election Laws

Democrats and their allies, moving to counter millions of dollars flowing to Republican campaigns from groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have accused the international business organization of using foreign money to influence American elections. The effort to paint conservative political groups as fronts for multinational corporations and foreign billionaires gathered steam this week after an affiliate of the liberal-leaning Center for American Progress charged that the chamber was using funds from foreign corporations to finance its political operations in Washington.

FBI agents arrested a Commerce councilman early Thursday after a grand jury indicted him and two family members for allegedly trying to hide illegal campaign contributions. Robert Fierro, 39, the mayor pro tem of the industrial suburb, is also charged with telling a friend to lie to the FBI. Fierro's sister-in-law and campaign treasurer, Ana Perez, was charged with lying to the grand jury. Along with the politician's wife, Linda Fierro, 36, she was charged with witness tampering.

Proposed legislation to block foreign companies from contributing money to U.S. elections could end up affecting well-known companies such as Chrysler, Anheuser-Busch and Citgo, according to legal experts and company representatives. The legislation is a reaction from key House and Senate Democrats to a Supreme Court decision in January that struck down a portion of the nation's campaign funding laws, allowing corporations to freely contribute to political campaigns. The high court's 5-4 decision in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission seemed to open the way for U.S. subsidiaries of foreign corporations to also contribute to campaigns.

The most heated controversy over the recent Supreme Court ruling striking down parts of the nation's campaign-funding laws has focused on whether the decision frees foreign corporations to pour money into American elections. President Obama raised this specter Wednesday in his State of the Union address, saying the ruling would "open the floodgates for special interests -- including foreign corporations -- to spend without limit in our elections." A day later, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon proposed sweeping political reforms Tuesday that would allow federal lawmakers and some other officials to be reelected and provide for runoff elections for president if no candidate gained more than half the votes. Calderon said the reforms would make Mexican officials more accountable to voters, who tend to view politicians across a deep chasm of cynicism and mistrust. Some of the proposed changes, such as making room on the ballot for independent candidates, have been promoted by activists as a way to let fresh air into Mexico's musty political system and improve citizen participation as the country tries to develop a real democracy.

Iraqi lawmakers ended a governmental crisis Sunday by passing an election law just before a midnight deadline, after intense wrangling among the sides and, according to several participants, late phone calls from President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. The law paves the way for national elections to be held most likely by the end of February, according to U.N. officials and Iraqi lawmakers. The vote is considered a test of Iraq's democratic ambitions as American combat troops here are scheduled to start their withdrawal this spring.

The state's political ethics agency has launched an investigation into whether state Sen. Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood) violated campaign law when he formed a legal defense fund without reporting the legal issue for which he was raising money, an agency official said Thursday. Elected officials may use legal defense funds to raise unlimited funds for expenses including representation by attorneys, but are required to disclose the purpose for which the money is being raised, said Roman Porter, executive director of the Fair Political Practices Commission.

The state's ethics watchdog agency announced fines Monday against a former Democratic candidate for governor, a sitting assemblyman and three current or former members of the state commission that regulates boxing. Steve Westly, who lost a Democratic primary for governor in 2006, admitted to 32 counts of campaign finance law violations and agreed to pay $104,500 in a settlement with the Fair Political Practices Commission. Westly failed to report expenses and information on contractors who were paid for millions of dollars in television ads, according to settlement documents.

A federal judge on Tuesday turned down the request of a political committee with close ties to the Department of Water and Power employee unions that sought to bar the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission from enforcing a campaign contribution limit. The group, Working Californians, said the law was preventing it from making independent expenditures for Los Angeles City Council candidate Christine Essel in her Dec. 8 runoff against Assemblyman Paul Krekorian (D-Los Angeles). Independent groups have spent more than $542,000 on Essel's campaign for the San Fernando Valley seat of former Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, who is now city controller.

Tonia Reyes Uranga is hardly the first politician to ask for four more years. It's the way the councilwoman is going about it that's irking some in Long Beach. Reyes Uranga is supposed to be finished after eight years because of term limits. But a quirk in city law allows her to run for a third term as long as her name doesn't appear on the ballot. So last month she became the second termed-out council member in the port city to run as a write-in candidate in the April 13 election, to the chagrin of some other contenders.