City Attorney’s Office Investigates Group’s Campaign Contributions

The city attorney’s office is investigating whether an environmental group violated tough new campaign finance rules by accepting contributions in excess of the legal limit.

At issue are donations that former Irvine Mayor Larry Agran, UC Irvine professor Mark Petracca and three other people made in the weeks before the November City Council election.

Irvine’s campaign laws limit contributions to $190 per individual for each reporting period. But the environmental group, the Irvine Conservancy, accepted contributions ranging from $200 to $1,500 from each of the five donors.

The money was used to print and distribute a last-minute mailer supporting Mayor Christina L. Shea and two other City Council candidates who were running as a slate. Shea won the election by a large margin, and one of the two council candidates, Dave Christensen, was also elected.

George Gallagher, president of the Irvine Conservancy, acknowledged that some violations did occur, because the organization’s treasurer didn’t have a copy of the city’s rules. But he insisted that some of the other questionable donations were proper because they were made on behalf of the contributors and their wives.

City Clerk Judy Vonada said Friday that officials are still looking into the case, which arose from a review of recently submitted campaign finance reports, and will determine at a later date what penalties--if any--will be sought.

This is Irvine’s first reported breach of its finance rules, adopted in 1995 along with similar campaign reform laws in Anaheim, Orange, Huntington Beach and other cities.

“I’m very disappointed. The fact is that these people should have known better,” said Shirley Grindle, the campaign-reform activist who helped author the rules. “Remember, other people who made contributions didn’t violate the rules.”

According to campaign finance statements, Agran, Petracca and Irvine attorney Christopher B. Mears each contributed $300, while computer programmer Stephen C. Smith contributed $200 and accountant Robert H. Lavietes contributed $1,500.

Petracca and Agran on Friday denied any wrongdoing, saying their contributions were drawn on joint checking accounts and represented donations from both themselves and their spouses.

“I think the conservancy should have written the money off as a joint contribution. The [group] got sloppy and just put down my name,” Petracca said. “Our contribution was $300, but together we were entitled to give up to $380.”

Agran criticized the city attorney for probing what he considers a legitimate contribution.

“There is no violation here as far as my donation is concerned,” Agran said. “I think it’s obvious a check written on a joint check should be reported as a joint contribution.”

“The part that troubles me is there’s always people out there who want to do ‘gotcha’ on political finance,” Agran added.

Mears, Smith and Lavietes could not be reached for comment Friday.

The city’s 11-page campaign finance ordinance does not specify how joint contributions should be made. But Grindle said the California Political Reform Act requires both spouses to either endorse the check or sign an accompanying note explaining the contribution.

Organizations that intentionally violate the city ordinance could face fines of as much as $5,000. But the ordinance also states that “no person shall suffer any criminal or civil liability for any inadvertent violation.”

The Irvine Conservancy has been a force in city politics for more than a decade. Gallagher said the group decided to send the mailers backing Shea and the others because of the candidates’ strong opposition to building a commercial airport at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.