'Clean money' too scarce to fund campaign, ethics panel says

The state's top ethics watchdog has a bone to pick with a proposal to finance a future California election with "clean money." The problem? There just isn’t enough of the stuff to go around, according to the state Fair Political Practices Commission.

The panel agreed this week to ask Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to veto a bill asking voters to approve an experiment in which candidates for secretary of state could receive public funding of their campaigns. AB 583, proposed by Assemblywoman Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley), would provide so-called clean money to campaigns, thus keeping special interests at arm's length.

However, Commission Executive Director Roman Porter said the bill would provide only a fraction of the money his agency would need to oversee the program, so a veto is in order.

--Patrick McGreevy