Fabian Nuñez Royally Screwed The Party

It really pisses me off that the Speaker has put himself and the Party in this position. $4 million dollars out of that "Friends of Fabian Nuñez" jet-setting travel fund came directly from the party. And now, the allegations in the LA Times have led to a formal complaint with the state's Fair Political Practices Comission for using campaign funds for personal expenses. I'm putting the text of the complaint here.

This is playing out in the context of February's term limits initiative, and indeed the complaint was filed by the executive director of the "CA Term Limits Defense Fund." But again, that doesn't make it false. Nuñez' reticence to provide some more disclosure in this case is DIRECTLY hurting party-building efforts. This is the Democratic poster child, now? A party that consolidates political power to the degree that Democrats have in this state always runs the risk of dragging themselves into a morass of corruption. This is an outgrowth of insiderism and a centralized target for special interests. Maybe it's good that this is happening, as it gives Democrats a chance to demand accountability and new leadership. But for the moment, it sucks.

UPDATE: The LA Times nails it. This is a full-fledged scandal now.

Nuñez still has no legitimate reason to keep from Californians just why, and on whom, he spent all that money. The fact that his staggering travel bills weren't paid by taxpayers does not end the discussion. He was on public time, even if not the public dime, and is living a tycoon's lifestyle only because his position as speaker makes him valuable to contributors who want to sway him. It's troubling enough that special interests are paying his bills. It's worse when he wants the public to simply trust, without explanation, that his $3,199 stay at the Hotel Parco in Rome had some nexus to his official duties.

The speaker asserted that he wouldn't have to rely on his $5.3-million "Friends of Fabian Nuñez" campaign account if he were independently wealthy. That's a non sequitur. If his expenditures were in fact related to legislative purposes, he wouldn't pay them out of his own pocket anyway, so it would make no difference if he were as rich as, say, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger [...]

By providing details on his expenditures, the speaker can put an end to speculation that his actions were anything other than in the best interests of California. Failure to do that simply enhances the perception that the Legislature is working for shadowy special interests who can afford to gather in France around an expensive bottle of Bordeaux.