Council incumbents already raising funds

Last year's campaign for three City Council seats logged the most expenditures of any council campaign in Yorba Linda history--even surpassing the heady days of developer donations that dominated several election cycles in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

So it's not surprising some of this city's incumbent politicians are already approaching the starting gates for the 2014 and 2016 campaigns by opening committees to raise funds for contests that could alter voting blocs on the governing body.

Late last month Mayor Tom Lindsey opened a new committee to gather and spend cash for the 2014 election, when seats now held by Lindsey and John Anderson will be on the ballot.

Lindsey, who had closed his 2010 committee in January, is a more experienced politician since he ran in the 2000 election, placing eighth out of 10 contenders for three seats.  For 2010, he teamed with Anderson and ran second out of six candidates for two seats.

But the pair are unlikely to re-team in the 2014 contest due to differences on past issues, including a successful Anderson push to replace a 42-year Brea policing pact with a less expensive Sheriff's Department contract.

Lindsey is one of the few winning candidates to end a campaign with money in the bank and no loans to be forgiven or repaid from future collections.  When he closed out his 2010 effort, he donated a leftover $125 to a foundation supporting Placentia-Yorba Linda schools.

Anderson closed his committee in January but filed a required “short form” in July, declaring he anticipated collecting or spending less than $1,000 in 2013.  In the January closing, he used donations to repay $11,249 he loaned his campaign and forgave a remaining $2,251.

Two incumbents who won seats in 2012 have open committees for potential 2016 runs.  Gene Hernandez renamed his committee “Hernandez for City Council 2016” and reported a $200 Southern California Edison donation, $787 cash and a $3,000 balance on a self-made loan.

Hernandez and Craig Young paid $50 state fees to operate committees in 2013.  Young lists a $1,346 cash balance and an outstanding $21,500 loan by his Corona del Mar-based firm, The Lincoln Partners.

Fifth-term Councilman Mark Schwing, another 2012 winner, closed his committee in July.  He used donations to repay $1,894 he loaned his campaign and wrote-off the remaining $15,117.  His last contribution was $150 from Southern California Edison, nine weeks after voting.

Trying to match cash infusions from “independent expenditure” committees, such as $78,839 by Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs to support 2012 candidates and $21,047 by Orange County Jobs Coalition supporting Hernandez, is one factor favoring early fund-raising.

Just one deputy union-endorsed candidate won, as Schwing topped the field and Nancy Rikel and Ken Peterson lost.  But an approach involving fewer expensive-looking slick mailers might bring different results in future elections.

The most recent state filings show three deputy union committee balances totaling $773,694 available to spend on a wide variety of state, county and local election and lobbying activities.