California IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : Eu Says Donation Law Circumvented

Election spending by independent contributors soared from $300,000 in 1985 to nearly $4 million in 1990, mainly as a way to get around campaign spending limits, Secretary of State March Fong Eu said Monday. She issued a report listing more than $8.5 million in “independent expenditures” made by political committees, corporations and individuals for and against state ballot measures and candidate campaigns between 1985 and early 1991. “These stealth expenditures demonstrate that limitations on direct campaign contributions can be easily circumvented,” Eu said in a statement. “While the reform initiatives limited the amounts contributed directly to candidates, there are no legal limits on what can be spent independently.” The largest independent expenditure for a candidate in the report was $748,221 spent by the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn. in favor of Republican Pete Wilson in his successful campaign for governor last year.