Reply #10: Governor wants to exclude consumer group from campaign cash suit [View All]

[dzika]

Thursday, March 3, 2005

Governor wants to exclude consumer group from campaign cash suit

By TOM CHORNEAU

Attorneys representing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and some of his closest political allies are putting up an aggressive challenge to stop a consumer group from helping to defend a state limit on campaign contributions.

The California Public Interest Research Group, CalPIRG, has filed a request in Sacramento Superior Court to intervene in support of a state rule that limits how much money donors can give to a candidate-controlled committee.

With a hearing on the issue set for Friday, attorneys representing the governor and the Citizens to Save California, a political action committee organized by Schwarzenegger supporters, have filed briefs opposing CalPIRG's support of the California Fair Political Practices Commission.

"You've got to ask yourself why are they devoting so much energy to keeping this reform group out of the lawsuit," said attorney Lance Olson, who is representing CalPIRG. "And the answer is that they know they have an advantage. They've got the FPPC outgunned and they don't want them to have any help defending their regulation."

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