$400,000 Goes Into War Chests of 3 Supervisors

Three Orange County supervisors shook the money tree for nearly $400,000 in campaign contributions in the first half of 1987, much of it from developers, firms doing business with the county and county employee groups, campaign finance records disclosed Wednesday.

Supervisor Roger R. Stanton reported raising $187,805 in the first six months of the year. With funds carried over from last year, Stanton has $285,623 in cash on hand, the reports showed.

Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez, who took office April 10 after Gov. George Deukmejian appointed him to fill the seat vacated by Bruce Nestande, received $55,151 in contributions and had $49,906 in cash as of June 30, according to finance reports filed with the county registrar of voters. Vasquez held a fund-raiser on July 1, but he is not required to report any additional money received through December until next January.

Roth Cuts Debt to $130,000

Meanwhile, Supervisor Don R. Roth reported taking in $153,295 and reducing his debt to about $130,000 from last year’s campaign, which broke county spending records.

The financial statements for the period from Jan. 1 through June 30 are required by law. The remaining two supervisors, Thomas F. Riley and Harriett M. Wieder, both won easy elections last year. They reported receiving no contributions this year through June 30.

Both Stanton and Vasquez are up for election in June, 1988. Neither has any declared opposition as yet. Stanton, who in 1980 won an upset victory over incumbent Supervisor Philip Anthony despite being heavily outspent, had no opposition in his 1984 race.

The list of contributors to the three supervisors provides a Who’s Who of county developers, of companies doing business with the county, and of unions representing county employees.

Some examples:

- LSA, a company based in Port Richmond, Calif., with an Irvine branch that did the environmental reports for the county’s proposed new jail in northeastern Orange County, contributed $500 to Stanton, $700 to Roth and $300 to Vasquez.

- Medix, a Tustin ambulance service that has a county contract to service a portion of unincorporated county territory, contributed $500 each to Stanton and Vasquez.

- The political action committee of the Orange County Employees Assn. gave $1,000 to Stanton, $1,650 to Vasquez and $3,500 to Roth.

- The political action committee of the union representing Orange County firefighters gave $2,500 to Stanton, $5,000 to Roth and $2,500 to Vasquez.

- The Orange County deputy sheriffs’ political action committee gave $2,500 to Stanton and $700 to Roth.

The county’s contracts with all its employees’ unions have expired this year and the county has said it does not have money for raises. Several unions have talked of a strike, but there has been no labor action yet.

Among builders or developers contributing to supervisors were:

- Baldwin Builders Inc. of Irvine, which gave $1,500 to Stanton, $650 to Roth and $500 to Vasquez.

- Sandling Companies Inc. of Irvine, which gave $1,250 to Stanton and $1,700 to Roth.

- C.J. Segerstrom & Sons of Costa Mesa, which gave $1,000 to Stanton, $850 to Vasquez and $850 to Roth.

- Lusk Cos. of Irvine, which gave $1,000 to Stanton and $1,704 to Roth.

- J.M. Peters Co. of Newport Beach, which gave $1,000 to Stanton and $1,500 to Roth.

- William Lyon Co. of Newport Beach, which gave $500 to Stanton, $1,500 to Roth and $600 to Vasquez.

- Arnel Development Co. of Costa Mesa, which gave $1,200 to Stanton and $250 to Vasquez.

Nestande joined Arnel as a vice president when he resigned as supervisor part way through his second four-year term. Nestande himself gave $250 to Vasquez, who was one of his aides for four years while Nestande was supervisor.

The county’s campaign-contribution ordinance bars supervisors from voting on matters affecting an individual or company from which they have received $1,704 in contributions in the previous four years.

But Vasquez said the county counsel’s office informed him that it has interpreted contributions from political action committees as being exempt from the $1,704 limit.

Stanton, Roth and Vasquez all said that contributions did not influence their decisions or votes.

The trio also expressed satisfaction with their fund-raising efforts thus far.

“I feel very comfortable,” Stanton said, adding that “money is still coming in” from the fund-raiser he held in June. He said the June event at the Santa Ana Country Club was his first fund-raiser since 1983, and he has one more planned for later this year.

Roth said he had pared his debt down to $136,375, and expected to use much of the $55,426 of his cash on hand to pay off more of his loans. In addition, he has scheduled an Aug. 26 fund-raiser.

Roth won the 4th District seat last year after the closest, most expensive race in supervisorial history, beating Orange Mayor Jim Beam by one percentage point after both men spent a combined $1.3 million. Roth’s campaign wound up more than $200,000 in debt. Beam finished just under $200,000 in the red but said his backers who guaranteed bank loans agreed to forgive the debt since they recognized that a losing candidate could not raise funds.

“I’m going to be awfully happy when this debt is paid off,” said Roth, who does not face reelection until June, 1990. “It’s a little bit of a rain cloud over my head . . . (but) I’m in a position right now where I see a little bit of daylight at the end of the tunnel.”