Measure A’s Backers Raise $48,000 So Far

Supporters of the slow-growth initiative Wednesday reported raising $48,000 through mid-May to finance their battle to get the June 7 ballot measure approved.

“I’m a little embarrassed by the small amount,” Tom Rogers, a leader of the slow-growth movement, said of his group’s fund-raising efforts. The group has complained about its inability to raise funds, pointing to the anti-slow-growth movement, which is well-financed by developers and other businesses.

Slow-growth supporters released their report a day ahead of today’s deadline set by state election law.

Rogers and other slow-growth leaders are expected to try to make some political capital by contrasting their war chest to that of the Citizens for Traffic Solutions, the anti-slow-growth group that will file its report today.

That group has said it hoped to raised $1 million.

In its report, the slow-growth group, Citizens for Sensible Growth and Traffic Control, said it had raised $17,000 of the total $48,000 during the latest reporting period from March 18 through May 17.

It also reported that it spent $67,000, $25,000 of that in fees owed to its law firm. The group hired the Laguna Beach firm of Blacketer & Hile to defend the measure after county supervisors elected not to defend the initiative against two lawsuits by builders.

Both Belinda Blacketer and Gregory A. Hile are active members of the slow-growth movement and they said that their firm has been paid only about $6,000.

The state Court of Appeal in April refused a request by the building industry to remove the initiative from the June 7 primary ballot. The appeals court also awarded attorneys’ fees to the slow-growth group. The court is now considering how much those attorney fees should be, according to Hile.

Citizens for Sensible Growth reported spending about $6,500 for printing, mailing costs and envelopes for campaign literature during the two months covered by the report.

The group also reported returning a $5,000 contribution to the Homeland Foundation in Laguna Beach.

Of the $17,000 in contributions, $5,000 came from one individual, John Earhardt of Laguna Beach, whose occupation was not listed.

Earhardt could not be reached for comment Wednesday. But Citizens for Sensible Growth said he was connected with the Homeland Foundation and had decided to make the $5,000 contribution as an individual rather than through the foundation.

Most of the contributions were for far lesser amounts and came mostly from individuals--including some Realtors--or environmental groups.

The Greenbelt Political Action Committee in Laguna Beach gave $724 and Newport 2000 in Newport Beach gave $1,000.

Meanwhile, Citizens for Traffic Solutions, the group campaigning against the initiative, said in a partial report that it gave $10,000 to the Orange County Homeowners and Taxpayers Committee.

Initiative supporters allege that the committee is a front for the real estate industry and Los Angeles campaign consultant Lynn R. Wessell, who is running the campaign against the initiative.

Wessell said Wednesday that the group is “made up of a variety of citizens,” including “some Realtors.”