The city's newly reconstituted Board of Ethics has taken its first bite out of a candidate and it turns out to be U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah.
The board decided, in effect, that there wasn't anything explorary about Fattah's "exploratory" political action committee he created last year and ordered him to return $36,767 it raised to individual donors. Another $20,000 must go back to a post-announcement donor because it exceeds the cap.
It warms my heart to see the Ethics Board act. Non-enforcement of the campaign finance laws has been the order of the day locally (not to mention statewide) and it looks as if this Ethics Board is trying to change that. The action Tuesday puts other candidates on notice that we now have a dog that will bite.
Fattah got into trouble with the board by raising money for the exploratory committee over and above the limits set by the city's new campaign law. Those limits are $2,500 annual per person and $10,000 a year per political action committee. (Doubled under the city's millionaire rules this time.)
Fattah's committee took contributions up to $100,000 and argued that it didn't have to follow the law because he was not a declared candidate for mayor.
By the way, the committee did not issue a formal ruling. It was more like a consent decree: the Fattah campaign agreed to refund the money, but admitted no wrongdoing.
Giving the money back must hurt at this point. Fattah, once the frontrunner in the race, is hurting for campaign cash. And, since the courts have so far upheld the city's campaign law and its contribution limits, he'll have to live within the confines of the law. No last minute big contributions allowed.
-- Tom Ferrick
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