IEs Targeting Tustin’s Lee Fink with Unprecedented Amounts of Money

 

Tustin City Council candidate Lee Fink has been targeted by Independent Expenditures to prevent his election because of successful lawsuits he’s filed against Republican interests over the past few years throughout Orange County.  The level of spending in a Tustin race is out of sight.

The California Realtors Association has spent $81,198.64 in Independent Expenditures against Fink.  https://www.tustinca.org/DocumentCenter/View/15754/California-Real-Estate-Independent-Expenditure-Committee—California-Association-of-Realtors-.

This well exceeds what candidates typically raise themselves.  Council member Letitia Clark raised around $75,000 in 2020.  Beckie Gomez raised even less to run for Mayor in 2022.  IE spending of this much money in Tustin is unheard of

So why are the Realtors spending so much?

Tim Shaw is the Government Affairs Director for the Pacific West Association of Realtors, is the same Tim Shaw who currently serves on the Orange County Board of Education.  It is the same Tim Shaw who Fink sued, on behalf of a client, and had removed from the County Board of Education after Shaw was illegally re-appointed by the Board.  Fink’s lawsuit against Shaw was to have him removed for conflict of interest for serving on OCBE and the La Habra City Council—the claim that Republicans later used to remove Gomez from OCBE while she served on the Tustin City Council.

Fink’s firm scored attorneys’ fees for that action.  Shaw settled and paid more than $17,000.

Also notably, Fink sued Mari Barke on the OCBE, on behalf of retired Federal Bankruptcy Judge Lynne Riddle, for ethics violation and failing to disclose her economic interests for years.  Fink uncovered $14M in undisclosed financial interests.  The FPPC recently fined her $3200 for the issues.  And there’s a separate civil enforcement action under the Political Reform Act that goes to trial in January.

And guess who the OCBE Consultant is?  OCBE has hired former Tustin council member John Nielsen as a consultant for “Strategic Counsel” and “Earned and Owned Media Placement” for between $3000 and $9000 per month.  This agreement is funneled through the OCBE’s outside legal counsel.  It is of dubious legality for OCBE to have outside legal counsel when the County Superintendent has legal counsel.

Nielsen is running for City Council in District 2, having been a disaster of a councilman in his prior service, 2008-2016.  He is also the consultant for Fink’s council opponent and is running the three Charter School candidates for TUSD Board of Education.

Why so much spent against Fink?  Because he’s defended public education and fought the illegal actions against the OC Board of Education.  OC Independent’s Matt Cunningham keeps saying the quiet part out loud, saying that Fink led “lawfare efforts” against the OCBE and the city council in Huntington Beach.

OC Independent has focused on a video of Fink’s argument from last May over a misunderstanding regarding his toddler daughter.  While Fink should have apologized to the docent right after this happened, it’s a simple misunderstanding and he’s a loving father and husband defending his family.  He made a mistake and apologized for it.  Perhaps folks have forgotten what an absolute nightmare of a misogynist former Tustin Mayor Jerry Amante was and how he would regularly verbally abuse former council member Deborah Gavello and was far worse than anything Fink ever did.   And for Don Wagner to call on Fink’s removal from a county commision while the Supervisor ignored disgraced Supervisor Andrew Do’s actions for months is just another example of party over country/county.

And developers have a lock on the majority of the Tustin City Council/Planning Commission.  The majority of Planning Commission has endorsed efforts to rezone Enderle Center, while not making any accommodation for affordable housing throughout Tustin.

The reality is that IEs in Tustin are pretty uncommon.  There was like $5000 in IEs spent against Beckie in 2022 (one negative mailer, mostly funded by Rick Nelson).  But $80,000 is insane.  There are slightly more than 11,000 registered voters in Fink’s district.  On a per-voter basis, they are spending more money than Young Kim.

Why are these outside interests so afraid of Fink?