GARDEN GROVE : PACs Enter Fray in City Council Races

Bart Blakesly and W.E. (Walt) Donovan lead fund-raising in the campaign for City Council, with backing from two independent political action committees.

Donovan, the incumbent mayor who is running against Councilman J. Tilman Williams for the mayoral post, has raised $10,893 and spent $2,139. Williams has raised $3,945 and spent $1,150.

Blakesly, a challenger in the council race, has raised $10,002 and spent $10,321. Challenger Mark Leyes has raised $6,157 and spent $1,604, and challenger Bruce Allan Broadwater has raised $4,316 and spent $1,178. Incumbent Robert F. Dinsen has raised $1,402 and spent $903.

Trailing in fund raising are Vivian Kirpatrick, Janet E. Sill and Walter C. Wood Jr. Kirpatrick and Wood both reported that they anticipate spending less than $1,000 on their campaigns.

Also playing political roles in the election this year are two political action committees--the Garden Grove Firefighters Political Education Committee and the Garden Grove Get Oil Out Committee.

GOO has raised $3,313, with former Councilman Woodrow Butterfield contributing more than $1,000, and has made $580 worth of in-kind contributions of signs to Williams and Broadwater.

Butterfield said the committee has tried to help candidates who support an initiative that would restrict where oil can be drilled in Garden Grove. Although Dinsen also voiced his support for the measure, committee leaders thought he would be reelected without their help, Butterfield said.

Garden Grove firefighters, entering politics aggressively for the first time, have raised a total of $9,000 and have contributed $2,000 each to Blakesly and Leyes.

Garden Grove Fire Department Capt. Bill Dumas said the firefighters decided to take an active role in the election after contract negotiations last year. The City Council approved a 4% salary increase for the firefighters; the union had asked for 6%.