Bonds can help big public projects get built, and they can also generate big revenues for the finance companies that handle bond sales for local governments. Now the California Treasurer’s Office says some of those companies are going too far.
Often voter approval is required to issue bonds -- and Deputy Treasurer of Public Finance Tim Schaefer says a troubling pattern has emerged in bond elections.
That pattern consists of "financial service vendors contributing to bond campaigns to approve bonds from which they may benefit economically," Schaefer says.
California's attorney general has issued an opinion that allowing such political contributions could be a violation of state law.