THE BUZZ: WHAT TIMING — Just days before state Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office announced he wouldn’t pursue criminal charges against Southern California Edison over its role in sparking the 2018 Woolsey Fire, he received a windfall of campaign funding from lawyers working for the electric utility company. Bonta raked in $72,500 over a three-day period in August 2021 from lawyers employed by the firm Hueston Hennigan LLP, including partners at the firm who directly represented SoCal Edison on the case, campaign finance reports reviewed by Playbook show. The funding went toward Bonta’s campaign committee to be reelected as AG. That burst of campaign cash raises questions about Bonta’s vetting process for contributions, as well as any potential influence his political benefactors had in the investigation — all while Bonta mulls whether to run for California governor in 2026: If he does decide to run for governor, he could transfer a big chunk of cash from his AG pot to that campaign. Bonta’s campaign said he now plans to return at least some of the funds, a decision he made after receiving questions from Playbook. His campaign didn’t specify how much he would refund. But it’s the third instance this year that Bonta has returned campaign donations after Playbook raised questions about the sources of the money. He previously returned more than $155,100 in campaign contributions that he had received from the Duong family, the politically-connected owners of a Bay Area-based recycling company who are embroiled in an FBI investigation (Bonta donated the money to charities). He also returned $4,000 he received from two attorneys who represented Lyft and Uber’s challenges to California's gig worker law. Spokesperson Nathan Click said Bonta will similarly return the money he received from lawyers repping SoCal Edison “to remove even any appearance of a question around the donations.” Click said the misstep was due to a “miscommunication” between Bonta’s campaign vetting team and the state Department of Justice. Click said the investigation into SoCal Edison had been wrapped up well before Bonta was appointed attorney general in the spring of 2021, but his campaign team didn’t know a press release from the Justice Department on the Edison decision was coming “before greenlighting the donation.” Bonta was sworn in on April 23, about four months before the Aug. 13 press release. “This particular investigation had been wound down for months, and DOJ had recommended not pursuing charges well before the AG assumed office,” Click said in a statement. Like prior attorneys general, including Jerry Brown and Kamala Harris, Bonta’s team said he doesn’t accept donations from lawyers representing clients who are under active criminal investigation by his office. Click said the AG doesn’t typically issue press releases to announce the results of criminal investigations, especially when there are no charges. In this instance, however, Click said the decision was publicized “because the case had received a great deal of media attention,” so the office “recommended notifying the public.” At the time, Bonta’s office said it wouldn’t pursue charges against SoCal Edison after investigating the role its electrical equipment played in sparking the 2018 Woolsey Fire in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, which killed three people and torched 1,643 homes and other structures. The AG’s office said in a statement that it concluded there was “insufficient evidence to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Southern California Edison” violated state law. Playbook asked spokespeople for Hueston Hennigan and SoCal Edison about Bonta’s decision to return the contributions. David Eisenhauer, a spokesperson for the utility, said it had no involvement in the contributions. “We have no insight into or influence over political contributions made by any of our contractors,” he told Playbook. A representative for Hueston Hennigan said employees of the firm donate to state and local politicians as many lawyers do. The spokesperson noted its lawyers have contributed to “many California attorney general candidates over many years,” including Harris and HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. But a partner at the law firm praised the decision by the Attorney General’s Office in an August 2021 press release. Andrew Walsh, who had given $2,500 to Bonta two weeks before, said the firm was “pleased that the investigation resulted in the just decision not to pursue criminal charges.” GOOD MORNING. Happy Friday. Thanks for waking up with Playbook. You can text us at 916-562-0685 — save it as “CA Playbook” in your contacts. Or drop us a line at lkorte@politico.com and dgardiner@politico.com, or on X — @DustinGardiner and @Lara_Korte. WHERE’S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.
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