Political watchdog agency, the Fair Political Practices Commission, threw down the gauntlet via a $9 million lawsuit against poor, besieged, one-time front-runner for reelection, Senator Carole Migden. The state agency accuses Migden of "consistent and deliberate violations of the state's campaign finance laws," and think that a settlement of $9 million will somehow ease their pain. According to the AP:
It is a response to a lawsuit filed earlier this month by Migden. In that action, Migden challenged the agency's refusal to let her use $647,000 that she raised while she was in the state Assembly.
This comes a week after Carole was handed at record $350,000 fine for campaign finance violations. Yikes. The poor thing. What's next? Well, how about Mark Leno as a shoo-in for the June 3 primary election to steal Migden's Third District seat? Or former San Rafael Assemblyman Joe Nation? Perhaps. John Wildermuth at the Chron reports:
Leno and Nation are calling delegates in an effort to keep Migden from getting the majority she needs for the endorsement. If she receives the district's nod, Leno's supporters have vowed to collect enough signatures from delegates to force an endorsement vote of all convention delegates on Sunday.
This is going to get uglier before it gets better. Yay!