The cost of campaigning

Warning: Seeking a City Council seat may be a hazard to your bank account balance.

That caveat should be placed at the top of the nomination papers candidates pick up at City Hall as part of the process of running for a term on Yorba Linda’s governing body.

And the warning should be in all capital letters for this year’s contest, which could be one of the costliest campaign battles in the city’s 40-year history.

At stake are three seats on the five-member body, which has had differences of opinion on a number of issues, including Old Town redevelopment, opening council committee meetings to public scrutiny and setting a proper salary for the City Manager.

Fundraising is always a major task for council candidates, and the 2008 election will be especially expensive because of a large voter turnout during a Presidential year and a big increase in mail-in voters, who mark ballots at varying times weeks before Election Day.

The cost for a credible candidate to win one of the three seats up for grabs this year easily will top the $30,000-to-$40,000-range winning and some losing candidates spent in 2000.
The 2002, 2004 and 2006 races were less expensive for the winners—but not by much.

All but one of the current council members have debt from past campaigns. Of course, they only owe the money to themselves, since the cash they placed into their campaign treasuries were loans, which they expect to repay with contributions from others.

According to the most recent campaign finance filings, Allen Castellano is debt-free, with a cash balance of $3,453. Jim Winder’s self-debt is $2,000, with $762 cash-on-hand; and Hank Wedaa owes himself $10,000, with $4,298 available cash.

The two council members whose terms expire in 2010 also owe themselves money. John Anderson has a cash balance of $6,633 with $7,000 in self-made loans, while Jan Horton has $4,830 cash and $5,950 in loans she’s made to her campaign account.

Interestingly, former Councilwoman Keri Wilson has the most cash available, $13,266; and she’s repaid herself $5,000 of a $14,200 loan, leaving $9,200 debt. Ken Ryan has $4,000 cash in his account, while Mike Duvall lists only a $10,000 loan to himself.

Wedaa already has planned his first fundraiser, with Jim Wohlt, recently elevated to the Planning Commission from the traffic panel, organizing a “casino night” at Yorba Linda County Club, April 5, 6 to 11 p.m., for a $50 donation.

“I want to raise funds early, so that I can concentrate on the election issues later on,” Wedaa said. (Other candidates wanting to plug their fundraisers can e-mail info to the address at the end of this column.)

A FINAL NOTE

Main Street businessman Louie Scull, well-known for his activism in the Old Town business community and appearances during the council’s public comment periods, was the most generous council campaign contributor during the recent reporting period.

Scull, owner of the building that has housed his Yorba Linda Plumbing business for more than 35 years and an antique radio store for several years, parceled out $3,500—$1,500 to Wedaa and $1,000 each to Anderson and Horton—during the last half of 2007.

Parting ways on issues

Yorba Linda’s worst-kept political secret is the estrangement involving the grassroots political action committee Yorba Linda Residents for Responsible Representation and Councilwoman Jan Horton, who the YLRRR endorsed and worked to elect in 2006.

The latest dispute between some YLRRR board members and Horton concerns the latter’s conflict of interest on certain Town Center redevelopment issues because her home abuts a possible project area labeled Site 13.

Generally, council members can’t cast a vote or participate in discussion on a project, if they have an economic interest within 500 feet. That’s why Horton left the dais when the Town Center Blue Ribbon Committee presented a long-awaited report Feb. 5.

Of course, Horton’s potential conflict was known before her council race, in which she finished first in a field of 10 candidates. She and her husband Jim often spoke of their proximity to the Town Center plan in comments at council meetings in 2005 and 2006.

This column mentioned their residence near the proposed project several times, and the Yorba Linda Star prominently featured the fact in a news story 20 days before balloting.

Jim Horton was a founding YLRRR board member in 2005—when the group’s last “r” stood for “redevelopment”—but resigned soon after his wife assumed her council seat.

The Hortons hope to separate Site 13 from the larger redevelopment area, so Jan Horton can cast votes on the latter and recuse herself on matters within 500 feet of her home.

The vacant parcel, also called the Strawberry Patch, is on the east side of Lakeview Avenue, north of Yorba Linda Boulevard. The Redevelopment Agency could build up to 46 affordable housing units on the nearly five-acre site.

This columnist received 31 e-mails in eight days this month, with much back-and-forth volley from the Hortons and four YLRRR board members, including Bill Davis, who claimed separating Site 13 was “unprincipled and expedient,” adding, “Rules are rules and exist for the governance of even honest officials to assure public trust.”

Jan Horton countered she’s following advice from the Fair Political Practices Commission, noting, “I am following the rules and the appropriate course of action,” and Jim Horton wrote, “Seeking FPPC rulings and segmenting Site 13 are legitimate paths to allow Jan to fully represent those who voted for her and to participate in the process.”

But founding YLRRR board member Ed Rakochy suggested, “Had all Yorba Linda voters been aware of Jan’s conflict of interest, the [2006 council election] results might have been different.”

A FINAL NOTE

YLRRR and Horton have parted ways on other issues, including Horton’s opposition to appointing Hank Wedaa to a vacant council seat and her support of a two-year $32,000 Chamber of Commerce contract and a $21,864 salary increase for the City Manager.

Ironically, Wedaa said he’d serve only the 18 months left on Mike Duvall’s council term if he was appointed, but the pledge was “off the table” if he was elected. He’s already announced his candidacy for a ninth term this November.

Political action committee goes dormant

A once-powerful political action committee that funneled thousands of dollars of developer cash into the campaign accounts of City Council and water district candidates has quietly closed up shop.

Past and Present Elected Officials Representing Yorba Linda was run by Mike Beverage, a councilman from 1982 to 1986 and Yorba Linda Water District director since 1992, who recently filed the PAC’s termination notice at the City Clerk’s office.

Beverage closed the PAC’s bank account and moved the $330 balance to his own campaign committee, indicating he’ll seek a fifth water board term later this year.

The PAC’s 1996 Statement of Organization noted that “surplus funds” not spent supporting or opposing candidates and ballot measures would be donated “to local charities.”

Beverage’s PAC took in $45,847 during three election cycles, with $40,397 coming from developers and their subcontractors, such as Upper K-Shapell Joint Venture, Shell-Toll and Toll Brothers, each well-known for the many homes they’ve built in Yorba Linda.

The PAC’s first contributions came from then-sitting water board directors—Beverage, Paul Armstrong, Sterling Fox, Art Korn and Carl Scanlin—who contributed $500 each. Then-councilman John Gullixson put up $200 and city trash contractor Taormina Industries $500.

But after the PAC’s first year, the big money came from developers and another developer-funded PAC, the Costa Mesa-based Committee for Improved Public Policy, run by Lyle Overby, a consultant to Shapell Industries.

Council members whose campaigns were aided by the PAC included Allen Castellano, Mike Duvall, John Gullixson, Barbara Kiley, Dan Welch and Gene Wisner. Developers and building-related interests made additional contributions directly to the candidates.

The PAC also opposed a ballot measure that would have halted an Imperial Highway improvement project and supported water board candidates Beverage, Korn and John Summerfield as well as Brett Barbe for the Municipal Water District of Orange County.

Even former Sheriff Mike Carona received a $500 campaign donation, and the PAC paid the $5,987 cost of a controversial endorsement letter sent to residents by the Brea Police Association.

The PAC’s most successful strategy in support of preferred candidates was to buy full-page Yorba Linda Star advertisements and send bulk mail brochures to residents listing endorsements from dozens of current and former officials representing Yorba Linda.

The ads and mailers used a “Paid for by Past and Present Elected Officials Representing Yorba Linda” tagline, although very few of the officials listed actually contributed cash, with most of the funding coming from developers whose names weren’t mentioned.

Few attend Town Halls

So far, very few residents have participated in Yorba Linda’s innovative Town Hall gatherings, which feature a refreshing mixture of dialogue and question-and-answer sessions involving the public, the City Council and top-level city management staff.

In fact, this year’s first Town Hall at Lakeview Elementary School last week drew fewer participants—29 citizens, 4 council members and 8 staffers—than the two 2007 sessions.

Attendance totaled 48 for the January 2007 Town Hall at the City Hall and jumped to 82 for the July 2007 Town Hall at the Eastlake Village Clubhouse.

The informal and informative gatherings are scheduled for months with fifth Tuesdays at different city locations. Future dates are April 29, July 29, Sept. 30 and Dec. 30 with places to be announced.

Back-and-forth discussions at last week’s meeting mirrored similar issues raised at the previous sessions: traffic concerns, affordable and senior housing, city finances, Town Center and, of course, the encounters residents experience with the coyote population.

But what’s most remarkable is the current council’s willingness to engage the public in a friendly, discussion-oriented format. That’s quite a contrast to the past council’s custom of hiding some discussions behind closed-door ad hoc committee meetings.

For example, instead of using an existing Town Center Standing Committee to consider Old Town development, the past council also created a Town Center Ad Hoc Committee.

The difference? Standing committee meetings must be open to the public, while an ad hoc group can hold secret sessions, which the Town Center Ad Hoc Committee did when council members, city staff and a chosen developer discussed key Old Town issues.

Fortunately, the three most recently elected council members—John Anderson, Jan Horton and Hank Wedaa—are reforming some less-than-transparent past practices, especially those that led to the 2005-2006 Town Center redevelopment fiasco.

Even Kurt Christiansen, the city’s Community Development Director who worked with a 24-member citizens’ committee to develop guiding principles for Old Town, critiqued the past council for certain actions regarding Town Center.

They at times put the “cart before the horse” and didn’t involve residents in all stages of the planning process, Christensen noted at last week’s Town Hall forum, as he promised “transparency, transparency, transparency” in all future Town Center matters.

A FINAL NOTE

Ballots cast by property owners in the question of whether or not to increase the annual assessment for the citywide arterial portion of Yorba Linda’s street lighting and landscape zones will become public records after they’re counted.

Once tabulated, the ballots can be viewed by anyone making a request at the City Clerk’s office. The mail ballots are due March 4, with results announced at a March 18 City Council meeting.