California Campaign Finance Regulator Resigns Before Election

California’s top regulator of political campaigns is resigning just days before the June primary election.

Fair Political Practices Commission Chairperson Jodi Remke announced on Tuesday that she will step down on Friday. That follows months of acrimony with fellow commissioners.

Disputes between FPPC commissioners and Remke have spilled into the open during public meetings. Those commissioners have sought to remove some of Remke’s powers by transferring them to two new committees. A vote is scheduled for Monday.

“I think just on a human level, it was no surprise that Jodi Remke wouldn’t want to be part of that anymore,” said Loyola Law School ethics professor Jessica Levinson, who also chairs the Los Angeles Ethics Commission. “I think that unfortunately it really dissolved into, in some ways, dysfunction. The agency hopefully will be able to regain sight of what it was intended to do, which is uphold the integrity of elections.”

Levinson does not expect the resignation to significantly disrupt the FPPC’s work, even coming so close to an election, as staff will continue to investigate complaints. She says they will scrutinize the bulk of campaign contribution filings in the weeks after the election.

In her resignation letter to Gov. Jerry Brown, Remke wrote that although she remains “concerned with the proposed changes to the Commission’s longstanding governance structure,” she is confident that her staff “will continue to build on the significant progress we have made in advancing governmental integrity and the public’s trust in government.”

Remke is now moving to be an administrative judge for the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board.