How the Public Can Give Itself Itself a Voice on County Board

For the last four decades, Orange County supervisors have relied on the development industry for most of their campaign funds. This is because political contributions generally are made by those who have something to gain or lose by the actions of the officials to whom they contribute.

It is not surprising that the development industry (builders, architects, engineers, geologists, land planners, etc.) are big-time contributors because the board has final say on their development projects. This relationship is so pervasive that you can tell which projects are on the board’s agenda simply by looking at the list of their recent campaign donors.

Although the development industry has always been the single largest source of contributions, this was about to change when the future of the El Toro military base became the focus of the 1998 county elections.

When Supervisor Jim Silva, one of the three-person pro-airport majority, had to run for reelection in 1998, he was in for the battle of his life. South County residents saw an opportunity to replace him with an anti-airport candidate, and thereby secure the vital third vote needed to defeat the commercial airport plans.

What occurred in the primary and runoff elections in June and November of 1998 may likely turn out to be one of the few good things to emerge from the costly El Toro airport battle. A review of the data contained in the campaign disclosure statements filed by incumbent Silva and his challenger, Dave Sullivan, reveals that both candidates raised almost the same amount of money (Silva, $479,000; Sullivan, $438,000), which is nothing short of phenomenal. Historically, no challenger has come close to raising the same amount as an incumbent.

South County residents conducted a well-organized fund-raising drive for Sullivan. Contributions were raised mostly from individuals in Mission Viejo, El Toro, Laguna Hills, Lake Forest and other South County communities. More than 1,300 citizens from South County made campaign contributions; 90% never before had done so in a county election. Most contributions were in the range of $150 to $500. Altogether these contributors gave $366,000 to Sullivan, which accounted for 84% of his total campaign funds. This is a precedent in the history of Orange County supervisorial elections; no other candidate for supervisor has raised that kind of money from the general public.

By contrast, incumbent Silva raised 30% of his funds from the usual contingent of developers, in $1,000 increments--the maximum allowed under the county’s TINCUP campaign law. The development industry gave Silva $143,000 and they gave Sullivan absolutely nothing.

Although South County residents participated in large numbers on the Sullivan campaign, Silva also received funds from 300 first-time contributors from the Corona del Mar, Balboa and Newport Beach communities. These were people who were concerned about the expansion of John Wayne Airport and wanted to retain Silva because of his pro-El Toro airport stance. These individuals contributed about 15% (or $69,325) of Silva’s total campaign funds, considerably less than the 84% (or $366,000) received by Sullivan from South County individuals.

Even though Silva eventually won reelection after being forced into a runoff, the citizens of South County are to be congratulated for a victory of another sort. They accomplished the impossible by raising as much money as the incumbent and they did it without the financial help of the development industry.

They are now part of the recognized power base (translate to “source of funds”) for political campaigns. Other supervisors are tapping them for funds, as evidenced by the most recent campaign disclosure statements filed by anti-airport Supervisors Todd Spitzer and Tom Wilson. Both list contributions from many of the same individuals who gave to Sullivan in the 1998 elections.

The future use of El Toro is still undecided and that is obviously the reason many of the South County people are still making contributions to supervisorial campaigns. It will be up to them, however, to maintain a presence in county politics even after the future of El Toro is decided, or they will become a mere footnote as a one-time phenomenon in the history of Orange County.

The development industry has dominated the elections of county supervisors for far too long, resulting in a board whose members have been very dependent on developers for their campaign funds. This has cast doubt on some of the controversial decisions made by the board.

If members of the public wants to change this scenario, they must step up to the plate with their campaign contributions. The only other alternative is total public financing, which is not likely to happen in ultraconservative Orange County.