Fine Levied in 2012 Irvine Election Dark Money Case

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that a $14,000 fine has been levied against a Pennsylvania donor and a Virginia non-profit for disguising contributions in the dark money donation that helped topple the Democratic majority in the 2012 City of Irvine Elections.  It’s a wholly-inadequate fine and proves elections can be purchased for the right buyer.

From the story:

A Pennsylvania activist and Virginia nonprofit have agreed to pay $14,000 in fines to California’s ethics watchdog agency for hiding his identity as the donor of $200,000 to a political action committee that worked to unseat the Democratic majority on the Irvine City Council in 2012.

Libertarian activist Howard Rich admitted that he failed to report himself as the true source of his donation, which was funneled through a Virginia nonprofit group called Citizens in Charge. Rich agreed to pay $9,000 in fines for not disclosing his contributions and Citizens in Charge agreed to pay $5,000 in fines for reporting that it, not Rich, was the source of the money.

That group gave $200,000 to a campaign committee controlled by Orange County-based Jon Fleischman, who runs the influential conservative blog FlashReport and is the former executive director of the California Republican Party.

Fleischman is not charged with wrongdoing in the Rich settlement, but the state Fair Political Practices Commission is still investigating whether his PAC acted improperly, an officials said. It is one of a few of the FPPC’s cases involving “dark money,” campaign funds whose original source is disguised by funneling them through nonprofit groups.

So Fleischman isn’t out of the woods yet but he’s as slippery as they come.  We hope the FPPC will investigate his role in the 2014 Irvine elections where it’s believed Fleischman was the author of the mailers with the biggest lies of the campaign.

According to the FPPC staff report, “Citizens in Charge” took $200,000 in Rich’s money and sent it to the California Term Limits PAC, run by Fleischman. who disclosed the money as a contribution from Citizens in Charge, not Rich.  Records show that Fleischman approached Paul Jacob, the president of CIC, in August 2012, for a contribution to California Term Limits PAC.  Fleischman said his PAC would spend the money for “improving the initiative and referendum process in California” according to the FPPC report.  Jacob then contacted Rich and asked for a contribution to California Term Limits PAC.  Rich then provided the money by a wire transfer to CIC and the group mailed a $200,000 check California Term Limits PAC, which was reported on Sept. 5, 2012 as being from Citizens in Charge.  According to the report, nearly all of this money was spent on independent expenditures supporting certain candidates for Irvine City Council and mayor in Irvine while opposing other candidates for those offices.

A $14,000 is chump change for people who can easily write a check for $200K.  But it’s proof enough that Hon Fleischman is not only good at lying to voters, he’s good at lying to or on behalf of his contributors.