Comments from former Congressman and California State Senator Tom Campbell

When I was in Congress there was an issue regarding capital gains tax that was pending in the House. During the legislative process on this bill, I received a call from a very good, longstanding friend who had contributed to my campaigns in the past.

We spoke about the content of the bill and he advised me as to what he thought was the best thing for our country and the congressional district I represented. It was a very positive, useful conversation.

At the end of the conversation, my friend said, “I look forward to seeing you next week, I know you’re doing a fundraiser.” I said, “I immediately have to hang up the phone now. I’ll call you back.” And that’s just what I did. I hung up the phone and then left the building because this phone conversation had taken place in the congressional office building.

I went across the street to the Republican political office and I called him back. I said, “You can never bring up a fundraiser when we’ve been talking about the substance of a bill that’s up for a vote or a public policy matter more generally.

And by combining those two you put yourself and me at great risk. Even though I, of course, don’t have the slightest hesitation about your goodwill and the ethics of the situation, I just wanted you to know how sensitive we should be.” I lost this person as a friend for a couple of years because he was so angry with me.

Two years later, a state senator was indicted and convicted in Sacramento on political corruption charges. He had accepted a campaign contribution at the Hyatt hotel across from the capitol from an undercover FBI agent.

As the agent handed the senator the check he said, “And we really appreciate your work on [a particular piece of legislation].” Tying the receipt of the check with the praise for the senator’s legislative activity provided part of the basis for the senator’s corruption charge. After my friend read about this incident, he called me and said, “I appreciate your sensitivity. I’m sorry for what happened.” So that story ended well, but it might not have.

Candidates for office can benefit from establishing best practices that their campaigns can follow. First of all, a candidate for office who is already in an office must be absolute in separating any conversations regarding the substantive matters before that elected official and campaign contributions or campaign events.

And so the first rule is, separate all conversations. If you are in a situation like I was, hang up the phone immediately, and then have a political phone that you can use outside of your office. Oftentimes, in Campbell where my district office was in the Bay Area, I would go across the street to a coffee shop and make a call from there.

The second recommendation I have is, never have your government staff work on any aspect of your political campaign. Many times you hear candidates for office who are in office say, “Well, my governmental employees volunteered to help out the campaign.” No, don’t do that! Don’t even come close. It will appear to the outside world as though you are combining government with politics and fundraising. The time will come when somebody who has contributed will see that same person with whom they had interacted politically in your government office, and naturally the possibilities of inappropriate overlap then are great.

Third and last, schedule your political fundraising events well in advance. That way you can say, “This fundraiser was already on the calendar. It was not set because there was a vote happening.” If possible, schedule any fundraising events outside the time when the legislature is sitting. These are good practices that will allow you to avoid the implication as well as the reality of an ethical conflict.