MISSION VIEJO : Developers Lead Recall Contributions

Developers again dominated the list of contributors to unseat Councilman Robert A. Curtis as the campaign heads into its final two weeks.

Financial statements filed Thursday show that development interests, topped by the Mission Viejo Co., gave all but $500 of the $113,416 donated between Jan. 15 and Feb. 10 to the Alliance for Mission Viejo, the citizens group attempting to recall Curtis.

The Mission Viejo Co. paid $75,000 to the recall effort, bringing its total contributions during the campaign to $132,000. Overall, developers and pro-growth political groups have donated $282,102 of the $307,457 raised by the alliance since the group initiated a petition drive.

Curtis reported receiving $7,122 during the latest filing period. His largest contribution is listed as $3,600 in printing costs donated by Edwards Photography of El Toro.

“It’s the same story,” Curtis said. “But it just keeps getting larger and larger. This (financial statement) makes it obvious that the Mission Viejo Co. and their cronies are trying to buy the election.”

The councilman said the development firm wants to get rid of him for his slow-growth stance.

The Mission Viejo Co., which did not return calls Thursday, has said that Curtis threatened the city’s planned community concept by trying to annex Aegean Hills. The community of 7,000 residents is in unincorporated territory neighboring Mission Viejo.

Helen Monroe, leader of the recall group, said the money contributed by developers doesn’t reflect the anger of Mission Viejo citizens over Aegean Hills.

“I know of many, many people who are giving their time,” she said. “Many can’t afford to give money, but they are working to recall him all the same.”

Developers “are obviously angry at (Curtis) too. We have no problems with accepting their contributions,” she said. “It costs a lot of money to run a campaign.”

In addition to the Mission Viejo Co., the alliance lists contributions from development interests of $10,000 each from Beach Cities Development Corp. of Long Beach; the Alliance for Representative Government of Covina and Bramalea California Inc. of Irvine.

The recall group’s statement shows $28,670 paid to Janison Publication Inc. of Los Angeles for campaign literature. Kimco Services Inc., which organized the alliance’s campaign walkers, billed the group for $9,298 and received $18,000 for past services.

No individual contributed more than $250 to Curtis. Of the $3,522 in cash donations listed by the councilman, $2,272 were gifts of under $100.

Currently, more than 50,000 Mission Viejo residents are receiving a newspaper-style political mailer that has unleashed a wave of new allegations about the councilman’s political and business conduct.

The slick, professionally done tabloid put out by the Alliance for Mission Viejo says that it uncovered court cases filed against Curtis alleging that he had not paid personal and business debts.

Curtis, a private lawyer before joining the Riverside County district attorney’s office, has called the mailer “a smear campaign. . . . I think this tabloid would make the editor of the National Enquirer blush.”

The mailer put out by Curtis last week was criticized at a City Council meeting Monday by a city planning commissioner.

Commissioner Ben Meharg said the mailer was filled with inaccuracies and called for the council to approve a resolution that would set the record straight on 17 issues raised during the recall campaign.

The council discussed backing the resolution for two hours before directing city staff to research the document and prepare a report.