Jones, Maloney Lead Irvine Pack in Fund Raising

Pro-business candidates Tom Jones and Hal Maloney lead the pack of 10 Irvine City Council hopefuls in recent campaign fund raising as they race toward the June 3 municipal election, according to public documents filed Thursday.

Two seats will be filled in the election, which has been dominated by debates over how much the city should grow in the coming years.

Jones, an attorney and president of the Irvine Chamber of Commerce, raised $45,189 in contributions and spent $33,217 between March 18 and last Saturday. Most of his contributions came from Orange County developers and businessmen, including $275 from Hugh Fitzpatrick, the director of transportation at the Irvine Co., $250 from Ray Wirta of the Koll Co. and $150 from Costa Mesa’s giant builder, C. J. Segerstrom & Sons.

City law limits individual contributions to $283.47.

Maloney, an Irvine finance commissioner and analyst for the county health care agency, reported $26,960 in contributions and slightly more in campaign expenditures, $27,792. He also received the bulk of his money from business executives, contractors and construction firms.

Dewey’s Rubbish: $275

Among the contributions Maloney reported was $275 from Harry Bozigia of Dewey’s Rubbish, the firm that has the exclusive contract to collect Irvine’s garbage, and several contributions from Church Engineering, a large firm that does business in Irvine and throughout Orange County.

The only incumbent running for reelection is attorney Larry Agran, who placed third with $21,000 in contributions during the two-month reporting period. Agran, however, reported raising an additional $22,450 for the previous period, which covered Jan. 1 through March 15.

Agran, the council’s most vocal critic of the Irvine Co., has stressed throughout the campaign that council members “need to have the courage to say no to imprudent development.”

He received $1,480 from attorneys, $1,250 from professors and lecturers, as well as $280 from the Orange County District Council of Carpenters Political Action Committee in Orange and $100 from the Cement Masons Local Union No. 52 in Santa Ana.

Agran’s Printout

Anxious to show that $43,813 of his contributions for this race came from small donors rather than big business, Agran filed a thick printout indicating an average contribution of $42 from 995 contributors since January.

Agran’s so-called “running mate,” City Planning Commissioner Ed Dornan, reported raising $12,667 and spending $18,965, about half of which was listed as unpaid bills.

Dornan and Agran have sent out several joint campaign brochures and bumper stickers to push their candidacies. Dornan received only nine contributions for the maximum amount, including $280 from Irvine Councilman Ray Catalano. Dornan also reported receiving $200 from Agran’s father, who lives in Studio City.

Meanwhile, “no-growth” candidate Jean Hobart reported $11,159 in contributions, of which $8,292 was a loan to herself; real estate attorney Mary Eileen Matheis raised $2,615, of which $980 is a loan; Clarence Becwar raised $1,461, and publisher Anthony Korba reported only three contributions totaling $530 in addition to a $3,309 loan. There was no information available for candidates Scott Wellman and Steven Bennett. The city clerk said they failed to meet Thursday’s 5 p.m. deadline for filing their campaign statements.