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Another $400,000

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CapAlert reports that on December 5, Don Perata took ANOTHER $400,000 from his unused campaign account and moved it into his legal defense fund.

The latest transfer means the Oakland Democrat has now taken a total of $1.9 million raised in an account earmarked for ballot campaigns and used it to shore up the legal fund he created to fight an FBI corruption probe.

The transfers are legal, though California’s campaign watchdog agency is considering stricter regulations of ballot accounts like Perata’s […]

The FBI has been investigating Perata since 2004, inquiring about his business dealings and those of his family and close friends. Both Perata’s and his son’s homes were raided by FBI agents four years ago.

No charges have ever been filed, though Perata has tallied up more than $2.1 million in expenses fending off the investigation.

His defense fund was $250,000 in debt as of the end of September, as the former leader faced the unwelcome prospect of being out of office – and without leverage over potential donors.

So Perata has transferred $1.9 million (out of the $2.7 million he had amassed) from the ballot committee to ease his legal debt load.

Once the election ended, Perata had no use for that $1.9 million in his campaign account as a termed-out legislator.  However, there was plenty of use for it BEFORE the election, when Prop. 11 was being outspent 10 to 1 and losing by less than 2 percentage points.

Again, the alibi that he needs this money to fight off a “fishing expedition” from Bush partisans at the US Attorneys office doesn’t scan at all.  Those prosecutors are all resigning in a month.  If he’s done nothing wrong, what use could he possibly have for $1.9 million dollars over the next 30 days?  Or are the expected Obama US Attorneys going to continue this partisan witch hunt?

By the way, the rank and file in the CCPOA is pretty pissed off about what amounts to theft of their political donations.

On PacoVilla’s Corrections Blog, a Web site popular with state correctional officers, one user wrote: “Not only did we (CCPOA) back the wrong horse (No on 11) but now we’re paying for Perata’s corruption defense and from (CCPOA spokesman) Lance (Corcoran)’s comment … it sounds like we’re very happy to be privileged to do so.”

By the way, there’s still $600,000 or so left in that account.  So don’t be shocked when Perata drains that out too.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, California

Chuck Todd Catches Up To Calitics

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If he were still at the Hotline this would be more specific, but unlike so many of the California punditocracy, he knows what a wave election means.

California: As unpopular as Bush supposedly has been in California, he only lost the state by 11 points in both 2000 and 2004. So what happens with McCain in ’08? I think Obama’s margin in this state will tell us a lot about Democratic enthusiasm among the base. Anything above 15 points for Obama probably means he will have some coattails down the ballot. And frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if some two to four GOP incumbents go down, shocking  folks in Washington (Reps. Mary Bono-Mack? David Dreier?) No one is safe in this Blue state.

As we know, the latest Field Poll had Obama up by 22.  And that big a spread is going to cause some disruption.

I hear that Dana Rohrabacher dropped a last-minute mailer to Republicans, imploring them to turn out.  The latest registration numbers show that Dan Lungren is in serious, serious trouble.  This is not going to be a normal election year in California.  And it’s going to put the lie to the primary rationale for redistricting that Arnold Schwarzenegger is peddling to reporters.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said the Kremlin in Russia sees more turnover than the statehouse in Sacramento, as he made the case for Proposition 11 Thursday in a conference call.

“We have to make our politicians responsive to the people, not to the party,” Schwarzenegger said, joined by state AARP president Jeannine English and national AARP CEO Bill Novelli.

Well, the Kremlin is going to see some shakeups this year.  I don’t know if people are going to make the connection between all that turnover and the inherent fallacy that re-gerrymandering would allow for more competition, but maybe some of that late money flowing to No on Prop. 11 can make that case.  Because the facts are that the Yacht Party is on the verge of being wiped out, at the state and federal level.  And no redistricting had anything to do with it.