Political Contributions

His once-prominent political career is buried and the turmoil of his marriage is playing out in public. Now, John Edwards is facing a federal inquiry. The two-time Democratic presidential candidate acknowledged Sunday that investigators were assessing how he spent his campaign funds -- a subject that could carry his extramarital affair from the tabloids to the courtroom.

In a contentious case reaching back to the 2004 presidential campaign, a federal judge Monday agreed to dismiss a final charge of illegal campaign finance violations against prominent Los Angeles attorney Pierce O'Donnell. O'Donnell's representatives portrayed the action in U.S. District Judge S. James Otero's court as a vindication of their client. But officials with the U.S.

The Supreme Court signaled Monday that it might be ready to give corporations a free-speech right to spend their money to elect or defeat favored candidates. In an unusual order, the justices said they were putting off until next term a decision over whether a politically charged film -- in this instance, "Hillary: The Movie" -- could be regulated as a type of campaign ad.

The City Ethics Commission issued a $2,000 fine Tuesday to a San Fernando Valley-based campaign committee that for the last year has been under investigation by Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley. In a 3-0 vote, the commission fined Citizens for Dependable and Reliable Leadership, which spent more than $54,000 in the 2005 mayoral election, along with individuals affiliated with the committee -- three of them politicians.

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa on Saturday dismissed as a "sham" a newly released video in which a Colombian rebel commander discusses contributing money to Correa's 2006 election campaign. The video, whose existence was revealed by the Associated Press on Friday, appears to lend credibility to allegations that the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia contributed to the Correa campaign.

Responding to investigations into pension systems in New York and elsewhere, a Los Angeles pension agency voted Thursday to require any company seeking business with its board to disclose campaign contributions it has made to city political candidates.

California's powerful insurance lobby has quietly scuttled an effort to combat fraudulent medical billing that drains hundreds of millions of dollars from the state's workers' compensation insurance system. At issue was a proposal aimed at preventing billing scams backed by a task force of public and private employers, including Los Angeles County and Walt Disney Co. It would have required insurers to send notices to injured workers to check whether they actually received all medical services billed.

President Theodore Roosevelt campaigned as a trust-busting reformer, but was embarrassed by revelations that his 1904 campaign had received secret contributions from New York insurance companies. At his urging, Congress passed a law to keep corporate money out of political races. Now, that century-old ban stands in danger of being overturned by the Supreme Court's conservative majority, on the basis of an equally venerable principle: free speech in politics. The justices signaled the prospect of a profound shift in election law by scheduling an unusual special argument for Sept.

The end of the state's regular legislative year is fast approaching, and in Sacramento, that can mean only one thing: political fundraisers, from dawn until dusk, hosted by the lawmakers who in coming weeks will cast decisive votes on many matters affecting their contributors. The check-collecting soared Wednesday, when at least 18 sitting legislators had fundraisers scheduled, mostly at Capitol-area watering holes. All told, lawmakers will hold more than 40 fundraising events this week and 30 next week.

Former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez broke no state laws when he spent tens of thousands of dollars in campaign funds on luxury travel around the world, gifts at high-end boutiques and meals at exclusive restaurants, the state's ethics watchdog has ruled. The Fair Political Practices Commission also has cleared the Los Angeles Democrat of any illegal activity in funneling nearly $300,000 from companies and organizations with business in the Capitol to a charity that spent it on events that helped him politically.