Burbank Rejects Accusation That Dossin Illegally Took Donation

Burbank Councilwoman Mary E. Kelsey on Wednesday accused Mayor Al F. Dossin of illegally accepting a campaign contribution during the city’s February election that he did not report. But city officials said that Kelsey had made a mistake and that Dossin apparently has violated no laws.

Kelsey, who was defeated in the election, said Dossin’s campaign accepted a $2,371 contribution from a political action committee formed by the Burbank Firefighters Assn. on Feb. 21, 10 days after the deadline for reporting campaign contributions to the Burbank city clerk’s office.

Kelsey said Dossin was required by the state Political Reform Act to report any contribution greater than $1,000 within 24 hours of receiving it, or in a post-election report listing his contributions. The election was Feb. 28.

She said the contribution was used to distribute what she called a “nasty brochure” that presented a “grossly distorted and misleading comparison of candidates” running for three seats on the Burbank City Council. The brochure endorsed Dossin and criticized her.

Dossin finished fourth out of 14 candidates and earned a place in a runoff for two seats, which will be held Tuesday.

Kelsey said Dossin was trying to avoid disclosing the connection between his campaign “and the coordinated campaign to defeat me” by the firefighters union.

She said she was considering calling for an investigation into her charges by the Los Angeles district attorney’s office, the Burbank city attorney’s office and the state Fair Political Practices Commission.

Dossin called Kelsey’s accusations “ridiculous. There’s absolutely nothing to it. I realize she feels bad about not making the runoff, but I had nothing to do with this.”

City Clerk Merle Woodburn said Kelsey was mistaken. She said the firefighters committee did not contribute directly to Dossin’s campaign, but spent the $2,371 in support of him, which is not a violation of state law.

She said Dossin apparently had no knowledge of the union’s action and was not consulted about the mailer.

Lew Stone, president of the firefighters association, said that through a clerical error, the committee neglected to mark the $2,371 as an independent expenditure on a form filed with the city clerk’s office. He said that FPPC officials told him that the committee had not violated any laws and that he only had to file an amendment to the statement to correct the mistake.

“This is an unfortunate way for Mrs. Kelsey to end her tenure on the council,” Stone said.