Navarro Wants Probe of Group Backing Councilman

A San Diego growth-management advocate demanded Wednesday that City Atty. John Witt’s office investigate whether a Construction Industry Federation political-action committee is violating city campaign contribution limits.

At a news conference, Peter Navarro, chairman of Prevent Los Angelization Now! and a possible candidate for mayor of San Diego, asked Witt to determine whether the CIF is accepting contributions of more than $250 and whether the group is receiving donations from organizations rather than individuals. The city campaign code prohibits both practices.

The CIF committee will spend about $16,000 to help incumbent Councilman Bruce Henderson in his tight council race with challenger Valerie Stallings, said Frank Panarisi, CIF president. The election is Tuesday.

Panarisi called the charges “a classic case of hit-and-run politics by Peter Navarro.”

Noting that Navarro has produced no evidence of any violations, Panarisi said in a statement that “not only does Peter have his facts wrong about (the committee’s) contributions, he was issued a warning by the district attorney for one of the largest and most blatant illegal independent expenditures in a 1989 City Council race.”

Navarro and some allies ran afoul of the local ordinance when they formed the Dump Ed ’89 organization two years ago to help defeat former Councilman Ed Struiksma and accepted a $3,600 contribution from an individual. Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller’s office forced the committee to halt the practice.

Though Panarisi’s group is not legally required to turn over its contribution list until three weeks after the election, it will furnish the information to Witt’s office today to prove it is abiding by city elections code, Panarisi said. The CIF will not make the list public, he said.

City codes require campaign committees established locally to aid or oppose a San Diego political candidate to abide by the $250 limit and reveal the names of its contributors periodically before an election, said Mikel Haas, an elections officer with the city clerk’s office.

General purpose committees, such as the CIF group, fall under state and county rules requiring that contributor information be furnished every six months, Haas said. Both types of organizations must periodically reveal their expenditures, however.

This is the first year that the city’s $250 limit has been extended to general-purpose committees, Haas said.