The state Republican Party has accused Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-LA) and five other Democrats of breaking campaign finance rules, by shifting large sums of money from candidate controlled committees to a ballot measure committee.

The complaint was filed yesterday with the Fair Political Practices Commission. In essence, it rests on the GOP's assertion that committees controlled by a legislative candidate can't accept or donate amounts in excess of the $3300 contribution limit. And the complaint says that Nunez's new committee formed to fight Governor Schwarzenegger's initiatives has done just that.

Nunez recently created a political committee known as the Committee To Protect California's Future, opposing Propositions 74, 75, 76, and 77. State campaign finance records show that contributions to the committee have been made by Assemblymember John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), Assemblymember Dave Jones (D-Sacramento), Assemblymember Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys), and former Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson (D-LA). Those contributions have ranged from $15,000 to $25,000 each.

Assemblymember Karen Bass (D-LA) has also contributed $25,000 from her campaign account; she, however, is not named in the complaint.

In the letter to the FPPC, GOP attorney Charles Bell claims that the rules established by both Proposition 34 and the state's Political Reform Act bar such large contributions-- both being made by a legislative candidate's committee and being accepted by a ballot measure committee controlled by a candidate.

That last assertion... about a candidate controlled committee's ability to accept large contributions... is especially interesting, given that Governor Schwarzenegger won a court victory earlier this year to remove contribution limits for his ballot measure committee, the California Recovery Team.