CalWatchdog Morning Read – July 12

• State’s largest pension fund down since last year
• San Diego congressman swapping donations
• State controller dinged for late contribution reporting
• Oakland firm fined  over $100,000 for laundering campaign contributions
• Big spending by pharmaceutical

Good morning!

Lots of ethics and campaign finance stuff to get to today, but first:

“The California Public Employees Retirement System – the nation’s largest – lost about 2 percent of its market value in the fiscal year that just ended, according to unofficial numbers published last week on the CalPERS website. This came despite doubled-down efforts to beef up its bottom line,” writes The Orange County Register.

In other news:

• “San Diego Rep. Scott Peters and his family have been involved in a series of donation exchanges with the families of other congressional candidates, apparently legal trade-offs that allowed more money to flow to each campaign than might be allowed under contribution limits,” writes The San Diego Union-Tribune.
• “State Controller Betty T. Yee, the chief fiscal officer of California, has agreed to $2,082 in fines to be paid to the state political watchdog agency to settle seven charges that her campaign committee was late in reporting contributions before the 2014 election,” writes the Los Angeles Times.
• “An Oakland company is facing $114,400 in state and city fines for laundering campaign contributions to several former mayoral and City Council candidates, including Councilwomen Rebecca Kaplan and Desley Brooks, officials said Monday,” writes SF Gate.
• “The money is piling up on behalf of campaigns for 17 statewide ballot measures — the most since March 2000. And when it comes to big backers, Big Pharma is far and away the towering force,” writes The San Jose Mercury News. 

Legislature:

• Gone ’til August.

Gov. Brown:

• On vacation.

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