A group seeking to add redrawing congressional lines to the duties of the Citizens Redistricting Commission is alleging that a counter effort seeking to scrap the commission in its entirety is concealing its real backers.
The Voters First Act for Congress campaign and its benefactor Charles T. Munger, Jr. have filed a complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission claiming that the Yes on FAIR committee has not properly disclosed the role of Democratic Rep. Howard Berman and his brother Michael, a redistricting consultant, in their campaign.
The complaint alleges that the committee violated the Political Reform Act by listing UCLA law professor Daniel Lowenstein as the chief proponent of the campaign in its filings. They point to media reports, such as this column by Bee colleague Dan Walters, in which Lowenstein acknowledges the Berman brothers' are directly involved in the campaign.
The group filing the complaint also allege that failing to disclose Howard Berman's participation in the campaign amounts to a violation of federal law that sets a $5,000 contribution cap for individual and PAC giving to a committee controlled be a member of Congress. More than a dozen members of Congress have already transfered sums exceeding that amount to the campaign.
The Citizens Redistricting Commission was created by the 2008 voter-approved Proposition 11, a measure that was fiercely opposed by Berman and other members of Congress.
Click here to read the complaint.
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