Assemblyman Levine accepts blame for $4,500 fine over campaign finance violations

Assemblyman Marc Levine was fined $4,500 by the state’s political watchdog agency for two campaign funding violations in 2014 that involved most of the money he raised in a successful bid for reelection.

Levine, a San Rafael Democrat, said Thursday he “100 percent” accepted the Fair Political Practices Commission’s findings and admitted the violations were his own mistake.

“I totally understand. We missed some of the regulations,” he said, adding that he is a firm supporter of the commission’s goal of upholding transparency in campaign finance.

In its decision, the five-?member nonpartisan commission said that the “evidence supports that the violations were inadvertent” and assessed a fine far lower than the $10,000 maximum penalty. “All of the campaign activity related to these violations was disclosed before the November 4, 2014 election,” the commission said.

Levine, along with his campaign committee and its treasurer, failed to file a timely report for two $50,000 contributions from John and Regina Scully, whom he identified as Marin County residents and longtime acquaintances. The $100,000 amounted to about 85% of his committee’s total receipts of about $118,000.

The second violation involved a prohibited $50,000 payment by the committee for a cable television advertisement that featured Levine and supported Proposition 2 but “did not expressly advocate his candidacy,” according commission’s decision issued last week.

Levine, who upset a Democratic incumbent to win the Marin-Sonoma district seat in 2012, said he was confident of reelection in 2014 and focused on supporting the ballot measure that created the rainy day fund in California’s state budget.

The fund, supported by then-Gov. Jerry Brown and both the Democratic and Republican parties, now holds $20 billion as a hedge against the next recession, he said.

Levine’s district includes all of Marin and the southern portion of Sonoma County, including part of Santa Rosa.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 707-521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @guykovner.