How well is CA political watchdog doing its job?

After the Watergate scandal, California voters approved a ballot measure that created the Fair Political Practices Commission — an independent, nonpartisan agency to police election campaigns and investigate political ethics violations. 

Fifty years later, there are serious questions about how well it’s doing its job. CalMatters politics reporter Yue Stella Yu and data reporter Jeremia Kimelman found that it can take the commission years to resolve cases. And by the time the public learns about either an official’s wrongdoing or their exoneration, they could have won an election or already left office.

Carmen Balber, executive director of the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog: “The FPPC is so notoriously slow that it’s not worth bugging them. If campaign violations are not identified and prosecuted in a timely manner, then after-the-fact penalties have no impact on the elected officials who are being investigated.”

Consider Isaac Galvan: During his nine years on the Compton City Council, he spent campaign donations for personal purposes (including $1,316 at a Los Angeles restaurant), kept shoddy financial records and failed to disclose his spending accurately and promptly, according to the commission.

The agency opened its case against Galvan in 2016 and fined him $240,000 in 2022. But during those six years, Galvan was reelected twice. He left office before his case was made public. And as of Oct. 9, the commission has not received a single payment from Galvan.

A commission spokesperson said the case took so long because of Galvan’s extensive violations and lack of cooperation. But the agency has been plagued with what its own staff has called an “enormous” backlog. CalMatters’ analysis found a steadily growing number of complaints and referrals over the past decade, which surged in election years. The peak was in 2022 with 3,103 cases, compared to the low in 2015 at 1,205.

The commission’s duties have also expanded over the years, and some lawmakers and ethics advocates argue the agency is chronically understaffed and underfunded.

Adding staff, educating political candidates and streamlining minor cases have eased the backlog some, according to the commission. But some are concerned that in its quest to close cases quicker, the agency may have become more lenient — issuing fewer penalties and more warning letters. 

Learn more about the commission — including top officials under investigation and a tool to look up whether any state or federal legislative candidates on your November ballot have cases — in Stella and Jeremia’s story.

Today during a special session, the Assembly will decide whether to give final legislative approval to a bill that seeks to curb gas price spikes. The measure has been championed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, but alongside Republicans and oil companies that oppose the measure, a trades group representing refinery workers and some Senate Democrats are also not on board.

Assembly Bill X2-1 would require oil refineries to stock a minimum supply of fuel, which they can draw from when they shut down for routine maintenance, potentially limiting price surges at the pump while also sustaining a steady supply for motorists. But a major sticking point for the State Building and Construction Trades Council is that the proposal also authorizes the California Energy Commission to approve scheduled maintenance for refineries, writes CalMatters business reporter Malena Carollo.

If the state denies a refinery’s planned maintenance, this could endanger workers and lead to “catastrophic breakdowns,” such as an explosion, say leaders of the council. The labor group also flagged concerns that if refineries cannot comply with the storage requirements, they could close down and cut jobs.

Learn more about the labor group’s push against the bill in Malena’s story.

Nevertheless, the measure cleared the state Senate on Friday in a 23-9 vote, with seven Senate Democrats not voting for the bill and one voting against. As CalMatters Capitol reporter Alexei Koseff explains, that outcome demonstrates some Democrats’ apprehension with the proposal, particularly among those who are running in competitive elections this fall.

One of their key concerns is that the bill may actually drive up prices by artificially limiting supply — a possibility critics have been hammering on throughout their opposition. But Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire, a Healdsburg Democrat, dismissed the argument to reporters: “Lowering gas prices is never bad policy,” he said. “That’s what this bill will do.”

Read more about some Senate Democrats’ dissent in Alexei’s story.

Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff continues to hold a sizable lead over Republican Steve Garvey in California’s U.S. Senate race — 53% to 36% among likely voters, with 11% undecided, according to a new poll by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies.

But how do voters want the person they elect in November to work with the next president? As you might imagine, there are some stark differences, depending whether it’s Vice President Kamala Harris sitting in the Oval Office in January — or former President Donald Trump making his return.

If it’s Harris, 56% of voters said the priority should be to work with her to pass legislation to provide the maximum benefits to California. After all, it’s her home state, where she knows many fellow Democratic leaders well.

But if it’s Trump, 59% want the next senator to focus on protecting California’s interests and opposing legislation that might undercut state laws and policies. That’s pretty much what happened in Trump’s first term: The state’s Democratic leaders sued the Trump administration more than 100 times.

At his rally Saturday in Coachella, Trump hinted at more fights: He threatened to withhold federal wildfire aid (as he reportedly did in 2018) if California doesn’t bend to his will on water policy.

Trump: “We’ll force it down his throat, and we’ll say Gavin if you don’t do it we’re not giving you any of that fire money that we send you all the time.”

Newsom replied on social media that Trump “shows us exactly who he is — threatening life saving disaster aid to achieve his political goals. … This man is sick.”

Some California community colleges are plagued with failing sewers, broken heating systems and seismically unfit buildings. Voters will decide in November whether to pass Proposition 2, which would enable the state to borrow $10 billion to fix school facilities — $1.5 billion of which would go towards community colleges. Find out which projects could get priority funding and why the bond still might not be enough from CalMatters’ Adam Echelman.