Questions arise over donations

City Council campaigns are over, but in Costa Mesa, the politics just keep going.

City officials said this week they’re looking into complaints from residents and one City Council member about possible violations of campaign law in the lead-up to the Nov. 7 election.

People expressed concerns about city employees appearing on campaign literature in their uniforms and a fire truck being driven around town with campaign banners on it, Costa Mesa City Manager Allan Roeder said. Roeder said the firetruck is owned by the firefighters’ union, not the city, and it was driven by off-duty employees.

Councilman Eric Bever said he questioned city workers appearing on fliers in uniform, and he heard about it from voters too.

“There were a number of constituents who were concerned about it, what they saw as a blatant violation of the campaign laws,” Bever said.

Former Councilwoman Sandra Genis was another of those who raised questions. She said she was concerned about the legality of contributions to a political action committee that gave to candidates.

In October, Genis sent a letter the state Fair Political Practices Commission questioning donors to the Westside Revitalization Assn., which gave money to the Westside Group Political Action Committee. The committee gave to candidates Mike Scheafer and Bruce Garlich. Both lost.

“When you have a PAC [political action committee] that has very limited contributions and those contributions are only spent on one or two candidates and it’s a local PAC, it really seems like it’s just sort of a money laundering scheme,” Genis said. “I want to know if that’s legal or if it’s just a way of getting around the rules we have.” She plans to send a complaint to the Fair Political Practices Commission about that, she said.

It’s not known whether any complaints about the Costa Mesa election already have been filed because the commission does not confirm or deny receiving them, a spokeswoman said.

City Attorney Kimberly Hall Barlow is sorting out the complaints to see if they should be addressed by the city or are under the jurisdiction of state agencies, and whether the city needs to take further action, Roeder said.

Scheafer, who received money from the political action committee Genis complained about, said the committee’s donors checked to make sure their donations were legal. “I’m sure all the candidates went to great lengths to make sure they were following” Fair Political Practices Commission guidelines, he added.

Genis said she’s not trying to go after anyone in particular, but questions about possible campaign violations come up every election cycle, and she’d rather address them now when no election is pending.

“I’m not necessarily saying that I want somebody to get in trouble right now, but I want to make sure two years from now we don’t have these kind of problems,” she said.