Thumbs down: When campaign watchdogs choose sides

In a ball game, the referee is supposed to be a neutral party. No cheering, no playing favorites and no hint of bias while ensuring that players follow the rules. When it comes to California elections, the referees are the five members of the state Fair Political Practices Commission. It's their job to ensure that candidates and officeholders meet their legal obligations to identify campaign contributors, itemize expenditures and disclose certain personal finance information to guard against conflicts-of-interest.

FPPC commissioners come from the world of politics, but for the duration of their service, they're expected to steer clear of political conflicts of their own. Until now anyway. The commission reently suspended its longstanding rule against members making campaign contributions after one of its members, Brian Hatch, donated $30 to Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign.

No, it isn't a large sum of money, and Sanders is a federal candidate. But the donation puts Hatch on record as a partisan should Sanders come under the scrutiny of the FPPC. Hatch says the ban on contributions violated his free speech rights. Well, he doesn't have a right to serve on the FPPC. So if he wants to choose sides, he should resign. Thumbs down.

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