Builders Say They Backed MacDonald : Supervisor-Elect Claims He Rebuffed Endorsement by Industry Association

The Building Industry Assn. endorsed John MacDonald in the race for the 5th District seat on the county Board of Supervisors and worked on his behalf, but the industry’s support was kept secret because MacDonald had told the builders he did not want their endorsement, industry officials said Thursday.

During the campaign’s final two weeks, the industry’s political action committee funded a phone bank that made 3,000 to 4,000 calls for MacDonald, Jean Andrews, the BIA’s political consultant, confirmed. MacDonald defeated Clyde Romney by more than 21,000 votes, 59.8% to 40.2%.

But the industry’s endorsement was so tightly held that neither candidate knew of it until being informed by a reporter Thursday.

MacDonald acknowledged that Andrews had arranged an October fund raiser for him that was sponsored by Barratt San Diego, a major builder, and he said his political consultant had heard rumors that phone calls were being made on MacDonald’s behalf. But he said he was never told that the Building Industry Assn. had endorsed his candidacy.

“This is the first I’ve heard of it,” MacDonald said in an interview. “I told them I didn’t want their endorsement because it would have been bad for my campaign because they have a bad image.”

Romney, who with incumbent Paul Eckert was endorsed by the BIA in the June primary race, said he also told the group he did not want its support in the general election campaign. He said he would have tried to capitalize on the industry’s backing of MacDonald had he known of it.

That prospect was apparently a major factor in the BIA’s decision to keep its endorsement secret. The BIA endorsed MacDonald in late August, but his name was left off a list of dozens of candidates distributed to industry executives and workers last week. The phone calls made on his behalf were part of a broader political effort by the builders countywide. Andrews said costs associated with the phone bank will be reported by the BIA’s political action committee as an independent expenditure.

In North County, where voters have shown anger over rapid development in recent years, candidates are often castigated for any connections to the building industry. In fact, Eckert’s third-place finish to MacDonald and Romney in the primary was widely attributed to his reputation as a politician close to the industry.

Terry Sheldon, chairman of the BIA’s political policy committee, said the group decided after Eckert’s defeat that it would no longer make its endorsements public.

“We’re not interested in publicizing for any particular reason who we back,” Sheldon said. “Our stands are actually for the benefit of our members, telling them how to vote. It’s up to the candidates who get our endorsement to divulge or not to divulge it.”

Andrews said the group’s decision to keep its endorsement quiet “kept the BIA from being the big bad guy” in the 5th District race, in which each candidate tried to portray the other as more friendly to developers.

“They were forced to deal with growth as an issue,” Andrews said. “It wasn’t the BIA they were talking about, it was what was going to happen in Fallbrook, in Escondido, in San Marcos.”

After Eckert was knocked out in the primary, the BIA decided to review its endorsement of Romney. Several industry sources said builders were offended when Romney complained privately that he was taking criticism for having been endorsed by the group but wasn’t getting campaign contributions from builders who were supposed to be supporting him.

In addition, the BIA’s political wing was bothered by Romney’s strident attacks on developers even after he had promised them that he would treat them fairly.

Pat Miller, president of the BIA’s North County division and a friend of Romney, said he accepted Romney’s posturing against development as inevitable for any candidate who hoped to survive in the 5th District. Miller said other builders were not as sanguine.

“There was a change in attitude (toward Romney) that was very noticeable,” Miller, stressing that he was speaking as an individual and not for the BIA, said. “It wasn’t hard to pick up and perceive at all. It’s like when a marriage goes sour or you’re going to break up with a girl you’ve been seeing for a long time. You can feel the difference. You just know it.”

Bill Snow, president of the William F. Snow Co., said Romney “kind of turned” when he sensed that having the builders’ backing might do him more harm than good.

“He got into the campaign and decided for political reasons he had to out-slow the slows,” Snow said. “MacDonald is a guy I’ve always known and liked. If you’ve got something reasonable to present, MacDonald is probably going to be for it. Yet I don’t think any of us ever felt he was a friend of our business.”

“MacDonald’s not pro-development,” Sheldon said. “He’s pro-sanity.”

MacDonald said he was “very frank” in his interview with the BIA’s political committee.

“They know where I stand,” he said. “They selected me, but I’m not their candidate in terms of being any more receptive to them than any other segment of the community. I don’t operate that way.”