The OC Weekly’s Matt Coker does a nice job summarizing the folks supporting the No on Measure R & S campaigns in Irvine. In the fine tradition of Stephen Smith of the Irvine Tattler, I’d like to suggest that these funds are all laundered to a Shea slush fund designed to finance anything Larry Agran is for. These bribes were used to buy signs and robocalls… (Of course, I’m being sarcastic).
My favorite parts of the article….
Campaign-finance documents filed with the Irvine City Clerk show that more than half of the $83,000 and change raised by Irvine Citizens for Ethics in Government has come from contributions and loans from the various campaigns of and independent committees linked to mayoral candidate Christina Shea and Councilman Steven Choi. The council campaign for their Team Irvine slate buddy, Patrick Rodgers, kicked in another $4,000.
Frequent funder Motorsports Industries had given $9,000 total at last report. Former Irvine city councilman and school board member Greg Smith owns the Orange-based auto parts distributor. Smith may want to ask for an audit: Irvine Citizens for Ethics in Government has spent about $15,000 more than it has raised, according to the latest filings….
Agran’s slate has historically enjoyed campaign cash flowing to and from state voter initiatives and this year is no different with the pro-R campaign’s coziness with Prop. 7, the “clean energy†measure opposed by the Sierra Club, Southern California Edison and the Natural Resources Defense Council among many, many others. A similar relationship exists on a much smaller scale between Irvine Citizens for Ethics in Government and Prop. 10, the “clean emissions standard†initiative on Tuesday’s ballot.
Most funds have been spent for signs, postage, printing, voter data, automated calls, media production and media buys for ads against R and/or for Prop. 10. In-town funders for those items include motor-home lot Traveland USA ($1,500), outgoing state Senate GOP leader Dick Ackerman ($1,000), and Brian H. Kraft, partner in the GOP public affairs and fundraising company Coplen & Kraft ($500). Out-of-towners include Jason B. Walker Inc. of Newport Beach ($1,000), Facility Builders & Erectors of Anaheim ($4,000), scrap yard owner Aaron Siroonian of Santa Fe Springs ($1,500) and recycling equipment maker Enterprise Co. of Santa Ana ($4,000). Look for an interesting Navel Gazing post on that last one coming up.
And while deriding Agran, Shea and her ilk resort to the same tactics. It’s called Hypocrisy folks.