California Senator Don Perata is taking advantage of a loophole in campaign finance law that allows him to raise unlimited sums of money for issue committees he controls, as opposed to his candidate committee that is regulated.  In this case, he's raising money to help him get his way on health care issues.  Here's what others are saying about it in Capitol Weekly :

But Common Cause's Ned Wigglesworth says while technically legal, and not uncommon, these types of issue advocacy committees controlled by candidates are meant to skirt fundraising restrictions.

"It's a way around the contribution limits," he says. "It's certainly against the spirit of Proposition 34 … They are essentially slush funds with no limit on how they raise money and very little limit on how they spend it."

Rick Hasen, an election-law professor at Loyola Law School, says committees like Perata's are "a popular tool that's become more popular in the last few years."

"Governor Schwarzenegger took it to the next level, in terms of the amounts of money being raised" with his California Recovery Team Committee, says Hasen. That opened the door for other committees like Perata's and one led by Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles.