Santa Ana : SAMSON Head Seeks Investigation of Foes

The sponsors of a June ballot measure that would restructure Santa Ana’s city government charged Thursday that several key opponents have conflicts of interest because they receive city funds. The group also accused a Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce director with falsely claiming a Santa Ana address for voter registration purposes although he actually lives in Tustin.

At a news conference in his Bristol Street home, James E. Lowman, chairman of the Santa Ana Merged Society of Neighbors (SAMSON), said he has asked the Orange County district attorney’s office to investigate actions of the City Council, the city’s charter review commission and the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce.

Lowman said the charter review commission had improperly used city funds to solicit public comment by mail on Measure C, which SAMSON sponsors and which city officials generally oppose. The June 3 ballot measure would replace the current method of electing council members at large with a district-only election and would establish a separate, citywide election for mayor. The mayor now is chosen annually from the ranks of the seven-member City Council.

Although the charter review commission’s questionnaire appears to be worded neutrally, Lowman charged that it still involves an illegal expenditure of public funds.

Lowman said that commission chairman Greg Saunders, a lawyer, has a conflict of interest because his law firm has a contract to lobby for the city. Saunders quickly denied that Thursday. “We are not the city’s contract lobbyist, nor have we ever been,” Saunders said. “I wish we were getting money from Santa Ana.”

Lowman also charged that the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce, which formed a political action committee to oppose Measure C, has a conflict of interest because the chamber is beholden to incumbent city officials who approved a $50,000 grant of public funds for a chamber-managed campaign to promote and market Santa Ana as a desirable place to live and do business.

Lowman said many chamber directors don’t live in Santa Ana, specifically citing printer-publisher Bernard M. Jansen. Jansen’s voter registration affidavit lists his residence as an address in an industrial complex in Santa Ana where his business, Global Sales Corp., is located. Lowman said Jansen actually lives in a Tustin apartment.

In an interview, Jansen said he deliberately registered to vote at his business even though he goes to his apartment in Tustin to sleep at night.

Jansen said he did not know state law prohibits the practice. But later he argued that chamber officials who don’t reside locally should still influence city elections.

“Business owners band together to form chambers precisely because that’s the only way we have to protect ourselves. Otherwise the City Council could do anything it wanted. . . . The business owners employ the people who live there,” Jansen said. “I should be allowed to register at my business because I spent all my time there except when I sleep. All my interests, my property, my activities have been in Santa Ana for years, and my only interest in Tustin is that I sleep there at night.”

Registrar of Voters Al Olson said it appears that Jansen should change his registration “right away.” Deputy Dist. Atty. Maurice Evans, who handles alleged election law violations, was unavailable for comment.

Meanwhile, Lowman unveiled a series of homemade signs planted in the lawns of his neighbors along Bristol Street near Santa Clara Avenue. Resembling the old Burma Shave signs that dotted the dirt shoulders of many U.S. highways years ago, Lowman’s message states: “Listen Birds--Don’t Get Funny--These Old Signs--Cost Us Money--Vote Yes on Measure C.”