SACRAMENTO, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- California is being urged to follow the lead of other states, including Ohio and Texas, in banning lawmakers from putting relatives on campaign payrolls.
"When it's the spouse who gets campaign money, it goes directly into the officeholder's pocket and that's a grievous conflict of interest," said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., from Burbank.
Schiff wants the California Legislature to consider a version of his federal bill approved by the House last month, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.
More than a dozen California lawmakers have paid $1.12 million in campaign cash, raised from special interests, to relatives and firms that employed them during the last seven years, the Times reported. The income is on top of the legislators' more than $113,000 annual salary.
