Carlsbad Candidate Disputes Accusation

Carlsbad City Council candidate Dan Hammer charged Saturday that incumbent Councilwoman Ann Kulchin was attempting to “manufacture a fake issue” by misrepresenting the number of campaign contributions he has received from out-of-town sources.

In an interview with The Times last week, Kulchin said 50 of the 84 contributions Hammer had received in the campaign so far were from people outside Carlsbad.

Hammer said, however, that the figures Kulchin spotlighted represent only those contributions he received during the first three weeks of October, when his mother and sister held a fund-raising cocktail party in San Jose, his hometown.

During all of 1988, Hammer received only 26.5% of his contributions from people outside Carlsbad, a figure that is actually smaller than the number of out-of-town contributions Kulchin has reported this year, the challenger asserted.

Hammer said he did not feel it was “that big a deal if people contribute from out of town, whether they’re mine or hers,” arguing that the statements by Kulchin were “a transparent attempt to deflect attention from the real issues,” such as growth.

Kulchin, meanwhile, said Hammer’s allegation that she has received more out-of-town contributions is “really not true.” The bulk of her contributions, Kulchin said, are from Carlsbad residents who each gave less than $25, an amount that does not require a contributor to report a name or address.

Moreover, the councilwoman stuck to her guns on the issue of Hammer’s out-of-town contributions, saying that he has received too many.

“Why should people who don’t live in this city contribute to him?” Kulchin asked. “Why should they have a hand in electing the Carlsbad council? That’s the big deal. It’s scary.”