LAGUNA NIGUEL : Bates Tops Council Campaign Spending

Incumbent City Councilwoman Patricia C. Bates has gathered the most campaign contributions and spent the most of all nine candidates for two council seats, according to finance statements filed with the city.

Bates, 54, has garnered $14,150 in contributions, with most coming in small amounts and $3,750 in loans from herself. She has spent $10,329.

She is the only candidate to have received donations from corporations outside Laguna Niguel, including $250 from the Building Industry Assn., a key backer of the El Toro airport initiative to convert the base into a commercial airport. Bates has opposed the initiative.

She believes the donation was acceptable because the money went toward printing flyers that urge voters to vote “no” on the airport initiative, or Measure A.

Former councilman Paul M. Christiansen, 43, has funded almost his entire campaign himself, loaning his campaign all but $500 of its $9,700. He was the only candidate who reported spending $500 of his $6,583 in expenditures on a cable television advertisement.

Planning Commissioner Linda Lindholm, 42, has spent about the same amount as Christiansen--$6,587 on campaign literature and voter guide statements--paying for all of it with $7,300 in personal loans.

Two-time council candidate Eddie Rose, 56, also has funded much of his $4,211 campaign through personal contributions.

Sandy Miller, a 53-year-old mortgage loan consultant, reported receiving $1,300 in contributions, with $850 of that in personal loans. She said she spent $955.81 on her ballot statement and campaign materials.

Richard Taylor, 52, a youth leader, said he received $148 in campaign contributions and paid for the rest of his $1,245 campaign spending with his own money.

Reporting neither contributions nor expenditures were candidates Greg Cox, a small-business owner, 46; Harvey Holden, 71, and Mary Ann F. Malamut, 35, a paralegal.