Same Group ("Friends of Long Beach" Supporting Garcia For Mayor) -- About Which Mayor Foster Said "You Don't See My Name On It" Before Its Signs Began Appearing High On Light Poles And Other Areas Possibly Without Property Owner's Consent -- Just Spent Large Sums On Mailers That May Land Shortly; Garcia Has Disavowed Responsibility For Group's Signs

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Countdown Clocks

(Mar 25, 2014, 8:30 a.m.) -- The same independent expenditure political committee (about which Mayor Bob Foster said "you don't see my name on it") that printed signs now visible high up on light poles (where they're difficult to remove) and other private property (unclear who placed them or if placed with property owners' permission) -- has filed paperwork indicating that between Mar. 17 and Mar. 20 it spent at least $40,000 (round numbers) on "mailers supporting Robert Garcia for Mayor." The sums are itemized below in rounded figures:

$5,200 (Mar. 20)

$13,200 (Mar. 19)

$9,600 (Mar. 18)

$12,600 (Mar. 17)

The mailers, expected to arrive in the coming days, can be identified (usual campaign format is small print) as from "Friends of Long Beach, a Committee Supporting Vice Mayor Robert Garcia For Mayor 2014." As an independent expenditure committee, the committee's actions can't legally be coordinated in any way with its supported candidate or the candidate's campaign. In email exchanges, Garcia has cited this to disavow responsibility on his part or his campaign's part for the signs or their placement.

As previously reported by LBREPORT.com, on Feb. 25 Mayor Bob Foster, who moments earlier had endorsed Garcia for Mayor, initially declined to take reporters' questions, gave a less than responsive response when pursued by LBRegister reporter Joshua Stewart and LBREPORT.com publisher Bill Pearl.

As seen in the video at right, Stewart reaches Foster first and asks if Foster will be involved with the independent expenditure committee...as Garcia distances himself. Foster tells Stewart "I may, I don't know, we'll see, I haven't, I haven't, you don't see my name on it. Not right now."

LBREPORT.com's Pearl tries a second time in a slightly different way (asking in the present, not future): "Do you have anything to do with the independent expenditure committee?" Foster replies "not right now," gets in his car and leaves.

As previously reported by LBREPORT.com, since filing its initial paperwork in late January, the "Friends of Long Beach" independent expenditure committee has collected at least $91,000 to date from eleven contributors, including a northern CA businessman who told LBREPORT.com that he admires what Mayor Foster has done in office and wants to see it continue under Garcia.

Independent expenditure committees can legally collect campaign contributions that exceed LB's voter-enacted limits on contributions to the candidate's campaigns.

Other "independent expenditure committees" have surfaced in the current election cycle, including one supporting Doug Otto for Mayor, another (from the LB Area Chamber of Commerce) supporting Damon Dunn for Mayor and another supporting Jack Rosenberg for City Council.