Finance Fraud May Leave CA Politicians Strapped for Cash

Kinde Durkee is a well connected Democrat. Put another way, Kinde Durkee is well connected to California Democrats. According to the LA Times she had access to over 400 bank accounts of politicians and political organizations. As reported yesterday she has been charged with defrauding state Rep. Jose Solorio out of $677,000. But the damage doesn't stop there. Rep. Loretta Sanchez is claiming her campaign has been almost entirely cleaned out and Sen. Dianne Feinstein is still assessing the damage. Why so many smart people trusted someone who was known to have ethics problems is a question best posed to the smart people but the smart people aren't talking as of yet. Over the last decade Durkee had racked up $185,860 in fines from the Fair Political Practices Committee yet the smart money trusted her. The L.A. County district attorney's office opened separate investigations into Durkee's activities in 2008 and 2009. The cases were eventually closed but if you are Dianne Feinstein or Loretta Sanchez doesn't this make you think twice about turning your bank account over to this lady?

In the end Ms Durkee's malfeasance may have deep political consequences. It may be hard under campaign finance laws for her victims to replace the lost cash. If one has contributed the maximum $2500 for federal offices or the $3900 for California offices one can't contribute again. It could be the Federal Election Commission could grant an exception for Feinstein and Sanchez but at the state level a new law would have to be written to allow donors to contribute over the maximum. It might be a very interesting year in California politics!