Fabian Nunez: corporate donations to a charity funneled to his events

For an unknown reason, the Los Angeles Times is trying to get rid of Fabian Nunez. While I welcome this, I can't help but wonder why. The latest is here (via this):

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez used a small charity as a conduit to funnel almost $300,000 from companies and organizations with business in the Capitol to events that helped him politically.

By giving to the charity, the donors whom Nunez solicited earned tax deductions for which they would not have qualified had they given directly to Nunez's campaign accounts. They were also able to donate more than the $7,200 maximum allowed under California's campaign fundraising rules.

Those donors include Zenith Insurance Co., AT&T, Verizon Communications Inc., the California Hospital Assn., the state prison guards union, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Blue Cross of California -- all groups with high stakes in legislation.

The money was used for events including "Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez's Toy Drive," "Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez's Soccerfest 2006," "Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez's Inaugural Legislative Youth Conference" and airplane flights for 50 children from Nunez's district for "Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez's Sacramento Student Summit," according to state documents...

California · Fri, 11/02/2007 - 09:30 · · Importance: 1