Cannabis initiative co-author picked as head of FPPC

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom has named Sacramento-based political attorney Richard C. Miadich as the new chairman of the Fair Political Practices Commission.

Miadich is probably best-known as the co-author of Proposition 64, the 2016 voter initiative that legalized recreational cannabis in California.

He’ll take over an agency with growing power, but one that has also seen its share of controversy in recent years.

Miadich, 43, has spent most of his career with Olson Hagel & Fishburn LLP, a well-known Sacramento political law firm known for the work with Democratic politicians and causes. He joined the firm in 2005, rising to partner in 2010 and managing partner in 2016.

He’s litigated cases in front of the California Supreme Court and federal appeals courts, including Lee v. Keith (7th. Cir. 2006) 463 F.3d 763, a case which struck down restrictive ballot access laws in Illinois.

The job comes with a four-year term and does not require Senate confirmation. Miadich will become the 15th chair in the agency’s history, and the first the born after its creation through the Political Reform Act of 1974.

He’ll also be the first attorney at the helm since Ann M. Ravel stepped down as chair in 2014. Every chair of the agency up until 2010 was an attorney.

Reached on Tuesday, Olson Hagel confirmed he is no longer with the firm. A spokeswoman for the Newsom administration said Miadich was not doing press interviews.

Attempts to reach Miadich were unsuccessful Wednesday.

“We are really pleased with the governor’s appointment,” said James C. Harrison, a partner with the Oakland-based political law firm Remcho Johansen & Purcell LLP. “Rich has a deep understanding of the law, both from the perspective of a practitioner and someone who has advised numerous clients over the year on how to comply with it. He should help unify what has been a fractious commission.”

When asked what he hoped Miadich would focus on, Harrison didn’t hesitate.

“I think the commission should look at trying to ensure that campaign committees that can’t afford expensive lawyers can comply with the law on their own,” he said. “It’s become overly complex.”

If Miadich does make simplifying the law a priority, this could involve negotiations with a California Legislature that has been eager to expand the scope of the state’s political laws in recent years, even getting into minutiae like the font sizes used on some campaign materials.

Almost three dozen current bills would modify portions of the Political Reform Act. One of the most notable is AB 1306, a bipartisan effort that would bar the “use [of] public resources for a campaign activity,” backed up by the threat of a $1,000 per day fine from the FPPC. The law would target state agencies that used public time and resources in an attempt to sway voters on bond measures.

The chair is the only non-staff member of the commission with a full-time job at the agency, paying $158,572 annually. Miadich replaces Alice Germond, a Democratic activist whose term as chair ended on Jan. 31.

Germond was appointed in June to fill out the final months of Jodi Remke, who became chair in 2015. Remke resigned last May after frequent clashes with other commissioners, culminating in a vote to restrict some of the chair’s powers.

Miadich is seen as very close to Newsom, who was the highest-profile politician backing Prop. 64. He gave $1,000 to Newsom’s 2018 campaign for governor.