ELECTIONS ’88 : Late Money Is Pouring In for No on A : Developers, Construction Firms Add $300,000 to Campaign

In the closing weeks before Tuesday’s primary, developers and construction firms have added more than $300,000 to the $1.5 million already banked for the campaign to defeat Measure A, the countywide slow-growth initiative, according to campaign finance disclosure reports.

And in the bitterly fought GOP race for the 40th Congressional District, Irvine City Councilman C. David Baker and Newport Beach businessman Nathan Rosenberg led the field in late contributions, with each reporting more than $30,000 raised.

In the 42nd Congressional District, Republican hopeful Dana Rohrabacher, a former speech writer for President Reagan, raised $24,000, almost three times the amount of late contributions reported by any other candidate in the race.

The figures were reported in mandatory financial disclosure telegrams filed since May 18 with the county registrar of voters or the Political Reform Division of the California secretary of state’s office.

Donations of $1,000 or greater received up until Tuesday’s vote must be reported to election officials within 24 hours. Congressional candidates must file reports to the state and the Federal Election Commission.

Big Money

But the big money has poured into the battle to defeat Measure A, sponsored by Citizens for Sensible Growth and Traffic Control.

The initiative seeks to prevent traffic from becoming any worse in the county’s unincorporated areas by tying growth there to the ability of local roads and public services, such as police and fire, to handle more traffic and increased workloads.

The bulk of the anti-initiative donations to date--a quarter of a million dollars--has come from the Santa Margarita Co., the county’s third-largest developer with a major financial stake in the unincorporated south county area.

Santa Margarita filed an independent expenditure report Thursday showing expenditures of $146,567 on newspaper ads, $14,330 on printing and direct mail, and $1,056 on production costs in its own efforts to defeat Measure A.

Those amounts are in addition to $100,000 reported by the company before May 18 as a contribution to Citizens for Traffic Solutions, the leading group opposed to the initiative.

Message on Ads

The company has been placing controversial “corridors of commerce” ads for future highways in area newspapers. The ads also extol Rancho Santa Margarita’s business park in the planned community of the same name in south Orange County. But recently, the company has added a “Vote No on A” message at the bottom of the ads.

The Times had reported earlier that Santa Margarita was running the newspaper advertisements with the “Vote No on A” message, but had not reported the expenditure to election officials.

“We did not realize that we had to file a report within 24 hours of running the ad,” Diane Gaynor, manager of public relations for Santa Margarita, said in a three-paragraph statement released Friday. “This is a technicality with which we have now complied.”

The statement continued: “Let there be no doubt, we oppose Measure A because we believe it could make traffic worse, harm our economy and raise housing prices.”

With the late contributions reported to the county registrar of voters, the Santa Margarita Co. and Citizens for Traffic Solutions, a group backed by the development and construction industry, has out-raised the initiative’s sponsors now by 36 to 1.

Major Campaign

The anti-Measure A group has launched a major campaign with mailers and newspaper and radio advertisements to get out the message that the measure will actually make traffic worse, not better, as proponents have asserted.

Initiative sponsors, Citizens for Sensible Growth, filed no reports of late contributions, and is almost $20,000 in debt, with only $48,000 in total receipts disclosed since the campaign began this winter.

“Just a handful of developers have put these megabucks in to defeat us,” slow-growth leader Tom Rogers said. “If they can buy an election, they can buy this one. I hope voters fully understand the source of the (anti-Measure A) funds.”

In the 42nd and 40th Congressional District races for the GOP primary, the biggest money draw has yet to appear in election reports. Indicted former White House aide Oliver L. North toured the districts this week to stump for Rohrabacher and Cox, both alumni of the Reagan White House.

Cox campaign staffers said they hoped to have raised $200,000 from North’s appearances. The Rohrabacher campaign was looking to the retired lieutenant colonel for help in drawing another $135,000 to its election coffers.

Through Friday, Cox was the leading money raiser in the 40th District, with $515,000 already banked and reported. Rosenberg followed with almost $470,000. Baker tallied just under $360,000.

No late campaign contributions were reported to federal or state election officials on behalf of Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairman Harriett M. Wieder, a candidate in the 42nd Congressional District.

According to Wieder’s campaign manager, Jeff Wallack, she has raised about $50,000 since May 18. He insisted Friday that the campaign had fully complied with election laws requiring disclosure of the contributions.

“We’ve sent several reports by certified mail directly to the secretary of state and the FEC,” he said. Officials for both agencies said Friday that they had no record of receiving such reports.

Wieder’s contributions through May 18, which have been reported to federal and state election authorities, totaled $267,000, the most raised by one candidate in the 42nd District. Horn followed with $202,000 reported through Friday, including late contributions since May 18.

Andrew Littlefair, a former White House advance man, has raised a total of about $170,000, with $3,000 of that coming in the past two weeks.

Rohrabacher has reported raising a total of $147,000 through Friday, a figure that did not include funds raised through North’s appearances this week.

Times staff writer Jeffrey A. Perlman contributed to this article.