LETTER TO THE EDITOR:Campaigns need donation restrictions

“You deserve the best government possible, not the best government money can buy.” Those words are from the ballot argument for the 1990 ordinance that prohibited Costa Mesa officials from voting on matters affecting major campaign donors.

Before that, some council campaigns had spent more than $60,000, largely financed by those doing business with the city. For several years after the ordinance passed, campaign spending was restrained, with mostly local contributors. That’s as it should be. We shouldn’t have to question whether our City Council is truly voting for the benefit of city residents.

Unfortunately, we seem to be back to business as usual. But instead of giving directly, those seeking political favors are hiding behind political action committees, or PACs.

Consider the Westside Group PAC. As of Oct. 25, they’d received $5,000 each from Griswold/Cla-val, a metals fabricator with a factory on the Westside; $5,000 from Trico Realty, owner of industrial buildings on the Westside; and $17,000 from the Westside Revitalization Assn.

And who is Westside Revitalization Assn.? The association essentially consists of Cla-val, which contributed $7,000 to the association; Trico, which contributed $7,000 to the association; and Aaatco Transmission, which contributed $3,000. This was all passed along to the Westside Group PAC.

Is your head spinning yet? Hold on. The Westside Group PAC gave about $20,000 to one candidate, just under $7,000 to another and $1,000 to another PAC, Return to Reason, to whom Trico gave $1,200 and Cla-val gave $1,000.

That makes at least $13,000 each from Trico and Cla-val. Boy! They must really care about Costa Mesa! Yeah, so much that Cla-val shows its factory location as Newport Beach on its website. Could this have anything to do with the Westside plan it so vociferously opposed?

And don’t forget independent expenditures. Strengthening Our Lives, a statewide, union-financed PAC based in Santa Ana and Sacramento, spent more than $25,000 for one of the candidates sponsored by the Westside Group PAC and a third candidate.

And what about Return to Reason, also making independent expenditures for two candidates? At least they’re local, right? Well, records show that they received more money from people in Newport Beach than Costa Mesa residents. In fact, identified contributions from Newport Beach and other cities totaled almost double those recorded from Costa Mesa residents.

Could it be time for a new campaign-reform ordinance?

SANDRA GENIS

Costa Mesa