In July of this year, Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) stated his vehement dislike of fundraising at the House Administration Committee hearing for the Fair Elections Now Act (H.R. 1826). Methinks he doth protest too much.

Did California state Senator Don Perata (D) push officials in Oakland to hire a lobbyist who would push for the pet project of a major contributor to Perata? The FBI is investigating what may have been quite an elaborate instance of quid pro quo which the San Francisco Chronicle sums up here.

Christopher Moylan, a city councilman from Sunnyvale California writes this op-ed in the San Jose Mercury News encouraging a public financing option for municipal campaigns to encourage a more diverse field of candidates and surmount the cost barrier to running for office.

How do you circumvent donation limits and exploit a matching donation program to boot? Ask the real estate developers who "launder" contributions to the Los Angeles mayor and city council as explored this report by the local NBC affiliate (transcript and video available).

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has released its list of the 22 most corrupt members of Congress. The third annual iteration of this report, called "Beyond DeLay" includes scandal summaries for each of the 22 members cited (and two more to watch out for). California leads the tally with five members listed but Alaska enjoys the distinction of having its entire congressional delegation on the list. Perhaps they'll get jackets made.

Susan Lerner of the California Clean Money Campaign rightly criticizes the biased ballot language that Sunnyvale, CA city councilors have used to frame the issue of bringing full public financing of elections to the city, in this article by Julie Patel at the San Jose Mercury News.