McCracken to Pay Anaheim $6,500 in Campaign Reporting Fines

In a rapid settlement to a lawsuit charging her with campaign reporting errors, Councilwoman Shirley McCracken has agreed to pay the city $6,500 in fines.

The lawsuit, filed last week by city-appointed attorney Ravi Mehta, alleges that McCracken and her campaign committee failed to list occupations and employers of 35 campaign contributors in a reporting statement, as required by state law. The statement was later amended to include the information.

Mehta, the former chairman of the state Fair Political Practices Commission, was hired by the City Council to investigate and prosecute campaign-finance law violations from the 1996 election.

McCracken’s settlement came as the City Council on Tuesday voted 2-0 with three abstentions to approve a contract with Mehta, who will be paid $250 an hour for his work. Councilmen Bob Zemel and Lou Lopez voted for the contract. McCracken, Mayor Tom Daly and Councilman Tom Tait abstained.

To beat the statute of limitations that were set to run out on the potential campaign violations, Mehta started his work for the city in October, before his contract was formally approved. He has clocked 150 hours and is due $37,500 in expenses through mid-November, city officials said. The contract sets no limits on how long he will serve or how much in city funds will be spent on his investigation.

Minor reporting errors and omissions are common on reports filed by politicians across the state, campaign finance watchdogs say. They are rarely prosecuted or made the subject of legal action.

But in Anaheim, where the appointment of the special prosecutor follows months of accusations and countercharges of political wrongdoing by council members, no campaign finance violation is escaping notice.

Mehta has already filed misdemeanor charges against former Councilman Frank Feldhaus and the Anaheim Firefighters Assn.’s political action committee for allegedly violating state and local campaign contribution laws by making a similar series of reporting errors. Both cases are pending in Municipal Court.

The investigation into the election violations began in August, when City Atty. Jack L. White filed charges against a conservative political group financed largely by gaming interests for allegedly making $32,000 in illegal contributions in the council race.

After those misdemeanor charges were filed with the court, political conservatives on the council called for the appointment of Mehta to investigate potential campaign violations.

The civil complaint filed against McCracken charges that she failed to itemize information about her campaign contributors, which totaled more than $8,775 in contributions, on the Jan. 31, 1997 statement for the reporting periods of July 1, 1996 through Dec. 31, 1996.

Under the state’s campaign laws, the name, address, occupation and employer of each individual contributing $100 or more must be included on statements.

McCracken said she chose to settle the lawsuit to avoid potential court and attorney costs.

“We had the information, and we should have caught it early on,” she said.

Under the agreement with the city, McCracken must pay the fine by Feb. 15.

McCracken said she did not intentionally omit the information to deceive voters.

“I don’t consider these kinds of reporting errors campaign fraud” but rather “mistakes,” McCracken said.