Californians Against Corruption - Defense Fund
1500 Voorhees Avenue, Manhattan Beach, California 90266
www.CACDefenseFund.org, [email protected] 

From:
Russ Howard

Update:  
Dark side of campaign "reform"; FPPC v CAC, Russ Howard & Steve Cicero

To:  
Constitutional Rights Supporters

As you may know, California's political establishment is still seeking retribution on Steve Cicero and myself for ousting their chief anti-self-defense architects: Former Senate President David Roberti & former Assembly Speaker ProTem Mike Roos. Our relentless campaigns were so effective that neither has since been elected to office, and our "pain" message dried up the state gun control torrent for several years. 

After losing his Senate Presidency and a bid for State Treasurer, Roberti cashed in IOUs to get appointed to the Disability Appeals Board and later the Solid Waste Board. "David of Hollywood" fell from his pinnacle of power into a cushy job helping leeches cash in on the corrupt welfare state he worked to build. Then he oozed on to "Sultan of Sludge". Fitting for a limo-leftist who helped turn California into a sociological toxic waste dump.

Still, after all these years, Roberti thought his sleaze was a distant enough memory to get away with lowering his sights to a run for L.A. City Council. So, of course, we sent our opposition research to the other candidates, though it was already public from our campaigns and Roberti's Treasury race (we gave it to his opponent for statewide ads). Sure enough, he lost the primary. So former Senate President Roberti can't even make it to a runoff for City Council. All he needs now is to lose a race for Dog Catcher. Pathetic.

You see why the establishment wants its own retribution. If grassroots activists can doom California's 2nd most powerful politician, then less-powerful pols are highly vulnerable. Exacting revenge on us discourages such campaigns.

At Roberti's urging, the FPPC � California's speech police � gave us the largest campaign disclosure fine ever issued, on exaggerated charges we never got to refute. Our offense was refusing to identify our donors for harassment by Roberti and his corrupt buddies, at a time when we ourselves were subjected to death threats and break-ins. Over $1.1 million with interest, the fine violates due process; the ban on excessive fines; the right to jury trial; the presumption of innocence; and freedom of expression, assembly & petition. If it's not overturned, it'll hound us forever and deter other campaigns.

It should be easy to overturn. We were denied justice at the trial court level due to corruption and a complex administrative law system that, intentionally or not, works only for the privileged. For example, our cross complaint was dismissed by Judge Connelly after he failed to disclose massive conflicts of interest.

Connelly turned out to be former Assemblyman Lloyd Connelly, one of California's top three gun grabbers until his 1992 retirement. Not only was he on our list of corrupt politicos to oust, he took money from Roberti & Roos, donated to them, and co-authored bills with them, and his firm was Roberti's campaign counsel. When we appealed Connolly's unethical acts, a fellow judge covered for him, ruling there was no conflict. Then another trial judge granted a motion for summary judgment that denied us a trial, so our defenses were never heard or considered even by a judge, let alone a jury. 

To add insult to this injury, the editor of the Sacramento News & Review hijacked what would've been a fair article about our case and warped it into an FPPC puff piece that the investigative journalist who wrote the original article barely recognized. The editor let Sacramento political attorney Lance Olson respond to my comments without reciprocity, so Olson was able to trash us without disclosing his former law practice with Connelly. A year after the editor declined my response, I discovered on a chance internet search that he'd published Roberti's response and never told me.

Prior to campaign finance "reform", one could anonymously donate to opponents of powerful incumbents without fear of retribution. Campaign finance "reform" enabled incumbents to use forced disclosure as a tool to identify & suppress opposition and shake down donations. Not surprisingly, the political elite benefits from double standards: Multi-millionaires like Diane Feinstein get wrist slaps for laundering millions while grassroots volunteers get draconian fines for shielding privacy & 1st Amendment rights (see article by Brian Doherty � http://reason.com/hod/bd043001.shtml. Note: The "conservative" media have ignored the case even during periods when campaign finance reform was hot).

We're appealing, and we have reason to hope for fairer treatment, partly due the enormity of the injustice. If we get a fair hearing, we should prevail. That would be good news for grassroots activism, CAC, and me, but especially for Steve Cicero and his family, who were purely innocent bystanders � intentional collateral damage inflicted by the FPPC.

Luckily, we were able to retain Bruce Adelstein of AppelateLaw.com, a highly competent constitutionalist who likes the case and took it for a very reasonable fee (his initial brief can be seen on www.CACDefenseFund.org in the public documents link). Thanks to donors like Gun Owners of America, KeepAndBearArms.com, Rick Carone, Arnold Gaunt, "Doc Halliday", Weldon Clark, and many others, we funded most of the appeal.

But we're still short $5,000; more if we have to appeal to a higher court. 

We hate asking for donations, but there's no choice. A donation through Gun Owners Foundation is 100% tax-deductible. If you don't need deductions, regular donations can be made out to the CAC Defense Fund. If you donate to GOF, please write "CAC Defense Fund" in the check memo. 

Donations can also be made on-line at: www.gunowners.com/ldfhoward.htm and www.cacdefensefund.org. Feel free to email [email protected] or [email protected] with questions or feedback. Thanks for your generosity and patriotism in this case, and in general.

For Liberty and Justice,

Russ Howard