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“I have indeed done the crime.”
Those were the words of 83-year old Babulal Bera, leaning on his cane, responding through an interpreter, to the judge’s question on whether he had broken the law. He is not the first Indian-American to break campaign finance laws, but he may be among the few in the community to be caught doing it during his own son’s election battles. Some who are knowledgeable about campaign finance laws say it is applied to minorities in a discriminatory fashion.
The father of Congressman Ami Bera, D-California, the only Indian-American on Capitol Hill, has caused a problem many candidates fear could be the death knell of their hard-fought campaigns for political office – a family member, committing an illegal act that directly relates to the candidate’s campaign. On May 10, Babulal Bera pleaded guilty to committing campaign finance fraud, contributing more than the legal limit using straw donors, to his son’s election campaign for Congress.
Will this be a political setback for Rep. Bera, who has won his two elections with slim margins in what have been billed as one of the most expensive Congressional campaigns in the country. Some in the Indian-American community knowledgeable about the subject, consider the application of Title 2 of the U.S. Code, discriminatory. Title 2 relates to the U.S. Congress and among other things, outlines campaign finance regulations.
Babulal Bera, who lives in La Palma, California, admitted to the two charges – making excessive campaign contributions and making campaign contributions in the name of another, mostly in the name of family members and friends. More than 130 improper campaign contributions involving approximately 90 contributors have been identified by investigators. The amount involved exceeded $225,000 in reimbursed contributions relating to the 2010 campaign, and some $43,000 in reimbursed contributions relating to the 2012 campaign. Authorities said the illegal contributions had come from all over the country. Under the terms of the father’s plea agreement, the Congressman’s mother was spared prosecution.
Going by the Federal Election Campaign Act, FECA, it might have been possible for the elder Bera to have faced just a civil penalty. The Federal Election Commission, FEC, has the jurisdiction to levy civil fines over all FECA violations, including those committed “knowingly and willfully,” according to David Pardo writing in the American Criminal Law Review’s Spring 2008 issue. But only the Justice Department through its Assistant U.S. Attorneys and the Public Integrity Section in Washington, D.C., may prosecute FECA offenses. To trigger criminal penalties, these offenses had to have been committed “knowingly and willfully” and total a certain monetary value. Any election fraud involving federal elections however, fall solely within the Justice Department’s purview.
Biased Law?
However, according to a person knowledgeable on the subject who did not wish to be identified, FECA violations are not applied in a universal fashion. “In my investigation of this violation, I found there is an element of discrimination in enforcement of this statute,” this person contended. Historically, according to them, every case has been referred to the Federal Election Commission, which then usually enters into a conciliation agreement with the entity or individual who has committed the alleged offense, a fine and a warning not to do it again, the expert said.
This virtual “slap on the wrist” however, was not followed in cases involving some high profile Indian-Americans, one of them a political operative who was prosecuted in the mid 1990s, and in two more recent cases, that of hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal, a big fundraiser for Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Dinesh D’Souza, a Republican author and filmmaker, who made a high-grossing movie against President Obama.
In 2014, Chatwal, then 70, pleaded guilty in Federal District Court in Brooklyn to funneling more than $180,000 in illegal contributions to three candidates, identified by the New York Times as Hillary Clinton, Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Connecticut, and Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Florida, through a complicated straw donor scheme. He was sentenced to 3 years probation and fined $500,000 in December 2014. The U.S. District Judge Israel Leo Glasser of Eastern District of New York, said the 272 letters from individuals, including India’s former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and organizations praising Chatwal’s philanthropic works, was “unusual” and “quite impressive.”
In January of the same year, D’Souza, a conservative Republican, was indicted by U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara, and received a much stiffer sentence. “Dinesh D’Souza attempted to illegally contribute over $10,000 to a Senate campaign, willfully undermining the integrity of the campaign finance process. Like many others before him, of all political stripes, he has had to answer for this crime – here with a felony conviction,” Bharara declared after the sentencing. D’Souza was sentenced to five years of probation, with eight months during the first year to be served in a community confinement center.
In the Babulal Bera case, according to court documents, he and his wife had already met the maximum allowable individual donation to his son’s campaign, i.e. $2,400 for the 2010 race and $2,500 for 2012. But he went further to solicit friends, family members and acquaintances to make contributions, which he then reimbursed with his own funds, contravening federal law, a press release from the Justice Department said. He was released on his own recognizance, and is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Nunley on August 4. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison on each count, but as in Chatwal’s case, his age may play into the length of the sentence.
Vultures Circling
The political vultures are already hovering around Rep. Bera’s head. Among the audience in the Sacramento District Court where the older Bera was arraigned May 10, was Doug Ose, the Republican who was defeated by a slim margin in November 2013, by Rep. Bera. Ose took to the airwaves, claiming the Bera campaign “purposefully, willfully, and knowingly” violated the law, The Sacramento Bee reported. “I’ve always been a firm believer of following the money and who benefits. The net result is someone got elected to office who probably wouldn’t have gotten elected had they not had the money and that’s corruption,” Ose declared.
But acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert said there was no evidence to support Ose’s contention. In their several months of investigation, there was no evidence that either Rep. Bera or anyone in his staff had any knowledge of Babulal Bera’s actions, he repeatedly said at his press conference, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Rep. Bera publicly denied knowledge and promptly repaid the illegal donations to the U.S. Treasury. But does that do the trick at this critical time when Bera has a tough race against Republican candidate Scott Jones, the sheriff of Sacramento County. He has also faces criticism from within the Democratic fold, including from labor unions, for some of his votes in Congress, especially those in favor of new Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal President Obama has pushed, and for voting in increased security screenings for Syrian refugees.
“I am incredibly saddened and disappointed in learning what my dad did. While I deeply love my father, it’s clear he has made a grave mistake that will have real consequences for him,” Rep. Bera said in a statement released the day his father pleaded guilty. His frustration was evident in what he told The Sacramento Bee. “I wish we knew what he was doing. I wish somebody had told me, because we would have put a stop to it,” Rep. Bera said.
The Fallout
“Rep. Bera’s claims that he had no knowledge of these activities defies belief, as close family and friends were involved for multiple election cycles,” asserted the spokesperson for the National Republican Campaign Committee. “After he returns the cash, Rep. Bera still has many questions to answer, both to his constituents and the court.”
Political analyst Kevin Raggs, speaking to Local TV channel KCRA 3, said stakes are higher this time round for the Democrats because getting a House majority could be in play. “So what happens with Bera’s seat really does have potential national implications,” Raggs contended.
The Sacramento Bee’s editorial board gave its take on the matter, May 10 and 11. “… as Babulal Bera pleaded guilty Tuesday to the federal crime of laundering campaign money to help his son to victory, it must have been intensely painful to know that he could now cost Bera his seat in 2016,” it said in a May 10 editorial.
Next day, an editorial ran with the headline, “Ami Bera’s Election Gets More Complicated.” The Bee noted Republicans were quick to attack the Congressman, seeing an opening to win a seat in (House Minority Leader) Nancy Pelosi’s home state. “Look for much more between now and November,” it said and predicted the scandal with Babulal Bera could result in more money flowing into Jones’ election coffers. Jones has a mere $210, 159 to Rep. Bera’s $1.496 billion as of March end. “Given Bera’s family issues, look for Jones to start closing the gap,” the Bee predicted. The paper had endorsed Bera during his 2014 run for Congress.
But interviews of some of Rep. Bera’s constituents featured on KCRA 3 TV, show he may get through this latest family twist with fewer political implications.
“I’m going to be on the side of Ami Bera – that he probably didn’t know anything about it,” said one woman. ” wouldn’t hold it against him. I really wouldn’t,” said one man.
The post In The Name Of The Father: Congressman Bera’s Woe appeared first on News India Times.