Republican candidate for the 66th district state assembly seat David Hadley returned $40,900 in donations last week as ordered by the state’s political watchdog.
Hadley’s campaign was sent a letter by the Fair Political Practices Commission on Oct. 21 ordering the return the money by the end of the following day.
The donation came from the Republican Party of Los Angeles County—66th AD state committee, an organization which Hadley and six others started in 2012 before he decided to run for office.
Hadley stepped down as chairman of the organization when he decided to run in August 2013, he said.
In a response to the Fair Political Practices Commission, Hadley and Paul Nowatka, the new chairman of the organization, said they had thought that the group counted as a political action committee, which is allowed to give unlimited donations. The Fair Political Practices Commission said in its letter that it was not, and that the campaign had to return all but the $4,100 allowed by law.
“I think the record shows that absolutely everybody has been acting in good faith,” said Hadley by telephone. “We took the conservative approach and gave the money back.”
A complaint was filed with the Fair Political Practices Commission against Hadley by the campaign of Democratic Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, whom Hadley is running against in the Nov. 4 election.
Mike Shimpock, a consultant for the Muratsuchi campaign, called it “one of the single most brazen attempts to circumvent campaign financial law, short of putting unmarked bills in a paper bag.”
In the same letter, the Fair Political Practices Commission said that the Republican Party of Los Angeles County—66th AD state committee had to return money to the federal version of the organization, which Hadley and the six others also founded.
The federal version of the committee had given $34,000 to the state committee the same day that the state committee donated $45,000 to Hadley. According to the Fair Political Practices Commission, the state committee was not allowed to accept more than $6,800 “for the purpose of making contributions to a candidate for elective State office.”
