Builders’ Pro-Growth Effort Hits $1.6 Million
Buoyed by large contributions from development companies, the construction industry’s political committee opposing four slow-growth measures on Tuesday’s ballot collected more than $530,000 in three days last week, according to documents on file with the county registrar of voters.
When added to the $1.13 million raised by Oct. 22, the last financial disclosure date, the contributions bring San Diegans for Regional Traffic Solutions’ campaign war chest to more than $1.66 million as of Monday, when the donations were reported to county officials.
The contributions were collected Oct. 26, 27 and 28, but do not signal the end of the builders’ fund raising. David Fogarty, a political consultant for the builders’ campaign, said more contributions were received Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and reports of the most recent contributions had been filed with county officials.
However, as of 5 p.m. Wednesday, when the office closed, no new reports had arrived. After the Oct. 22 filing, contributions of more than $1,000 must be reported within 24 hours of being collected, according to Linda Bunch, an official with the registrar’s campaign disclosure section.
Canada Funds Dispute
The $530,000 in contributions included $110,000 from a Vancouver, Canada, firm that the builders were forced to return because federal law prohibits campaign contributions from foreign sources.
On Wednesday, the builders group received the $110,000 again--this time from a U.S. subsidiary of the Canadian firm, International Strategies Ltd., Fogarty said.
Fogarty said Wednesday that the campaign committee violated no laws because its accountants recognized the mistake and returned the money without spending any of it. But leaders of Citizens for Limited Growth, the organization sponsoring two of the slow growth measures, claimed that the builders violated federal campaign laws simply by accepting the contributions.
Officials at the Federal Elections Commission could not be reached for comment on the dispute Wednesday.
“We have acted in good faith, when we caught the fact that they are not an American firm and sent the money back immediately,” Fogarty said.
Propositions B, D, H and J would cap home building and impose restrictions on construction on hillsides, canyons and wetlands in the city of San Diego and the county’s unincorporated areas.
Proposition B, sponsored by the county Board of Supervisors, is competing with the generally stricter Proposition D, sponsored by the citizens’ group for the unincorporated areas. Proposition H, written by the San Diego City Council, is competing with the citizen group’s more stringent Proposition J in the city.
The builders will spend their newly raised money primarily on television and radio advertising and two more direct mail pieces that will be sent out in the waning days of the bitter, costly campaign, said Jean Andrews, another political consultant for San Diegans for Regional Traffic Solutions.
The builders have bought time throughout the late afternoon and evening on all three network affiliates in San Diego to air two ads opposing the slow-growth measures, Andrews and Fogarty said.
“I think it’s effective,” Andrews said. “Based on the (polling) numbers we’re seeing, they’re very effective.”
But Richard Carson, a UC San Diego economist and adviser to Citizens for Limited Growth, said that the huge campaign contributions and final-week media blitz suggest that developers are worried about their inability to crush the slow-growth initiatives.
Carson suggested that the heavy advertising is a “dangerous strategy” that could exacerbate voter mistrust of developers by appearing heavy-handed in their efforts to defeat the slow-growth measures.
“It’s hard to spend as much money as it appears they’re going to spend without going overboard,” Carson said. “So it could backfire.”
The builders hold a huge fund-raising advantage over the campaigns supporting the four slow-growth measures. The citizens’ group has raised just over $201,000 since last year, but spent most of that simply to qualify their two initiatives for the ballot.
The Coalition for a Balanced Environment, which backs government-sponsored Propositions B and H, has raised $118,495. Citizens for Sensitive Lands and Growth Control, which is backing Proposition B, has raised $25,025.
The builders dwarfed those efforts in three days of fund raising, primarily with the help of large contributions from developers. Pardee Construction Co., for example, gave $60,000, which brings its total contributions to the builders committee to about $140,000 when non-monetary contributions such as billboard space are included. Pardee has also independently spent $44,903 on its own campaign against Propositions B and H.
Other large contributions from developers last week included $55,000 from The Newland Group, which raised its total to $101,000; $55,000 from the Fieldstone Co., which increased its total contributions to $105,000 including non-monetary donations; and the William Lyon Co. of Newport Beach, which gave $50,000, to bring its total to $100,000.
