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Calif. Judge Orders Bustamante to Return Donations
However, Sacramento County Judge Loren McMaster said that there was no basis for finding that Bustamante's campaign had "intentionally violated the law," an opinion that his supporters said cleared his name.
Judge McMaster's decision blocked Bustamante from using $3.8 million in donations from seven Indian tribes to either fund his current campaign or to underwrite another ad campaign featuring the candidate in opposition to a ballot measure.
Bustamante had deposited the donations into accounts that existed before the state's current limits on campaign financing went into effect.
Publicity about six-figure contributions to Bustamante's campaign from Indian gaming interests and unions have dogged the candidate who is narrowly leading his main Republican rival Arnold Schwarzenegger in a bid to replace Davis.
Under California law, candidates can only raise money using a prior campaign committee if those funds are used to retire outstanding debts, the judge ruled in a 12-page opinion.
"All funds accepted by the 2002 committee after Nov. 5, 2002 that have been transferred ... shall be immediately returned to the 2002 committee for proper disposition in accordance with terms of this order," the judge ruled.
Bustamante's campaign manager Richie Ross said he was pleased that the decision had exonerated the lieutenant governor from wrongdoing.
"We feel as though a genuine dark cloud concerning questions about Cruz Bustamante's integrity have clearly been lifted by the clarity of the judge's statements in his order," Ross said.
Bustamante was sued by a Republican state senator who accused the lieutenant governor of breaking campaign finance laws by accepting multiple contributions that far exceeded the $21,200 cap approved in a voter initiative three years ago.
The decision comes the same day a federal appeals court heard arguments on whether to delay California's Oct. 7 gubernatorial recall vote.
A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals stunned California a week ago by ruling the recall vote against the governor, unpopular over his handling of state finances, should be delayed because punch card voting machines still used in some counties are too unreliable.
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