See Details Of Sizable Sums Spent By Political Action Committees -- Independent of Candidate Campaigns -- In Efforts To Affect Election Outcomes In Council Dists. 4 and 8

In 2009, a lawsuit by the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce led federal judges (on 1st Amendment grounds) to strike down LB's voter-enacted limits on campaign contributions to the political action committees (independent of the candidates themselves). The net effect: sums collected from entities and individuals seeking to elect or prevent the election of Council candidates now exceeds sums collected by the candidates themselves.

Independent expenditures by political action committees (PACs) in support of or opposition to a candidate must be conducted independently of the candidates and their campaigns.

Long Beach Jobs PAC (LB Chamber of Commerce PAC) during the period Jan. 1-March 24, 2012 reported collecting $71,560 (context: $20,000 from BNSF listed as not used for campaign support or opposition) and spent $42,900. The Chamber says that to date (April 9), no Chamber membership dollars have been used to fund the Long Beach Jobs PAC which is a separate entity from The Chamber. Among the Jobs PAC's larger contributors were:

• Farmers & Merchants bank: $25,000
• Apartment Ass'n CA Southern Cities; $10,000
• T Management Services: $5,000 (company owned by Gary DeLong)
• Ensemble Hotel Partners: $2,500
• Watson Land Co.: $2,500
  The Jobs PAC's expenditures during this period included:
• $4,723 in support of 8th dist. Council candidate Lillian Kawasaki
• $5,915 in support of 4th dist. candidate John Watkins
• $7,481 in opposition to 4th dist. Council incumbent Patrick O'Donnell. The Jobs PAC also gave the maximum $350 the Kawasaki campaign, $350 to the Watkins campaigns, $1,500 to School Board candidate Dr. Felton Williams (and $500 to the officeholder (not campaign account) of Councilman James Johnson). The PAC also paid the Davis Group ($5,000) for campaign consulting services.
• In addition (after the above period ended), the Jobs PAC reported March 29 mass mailings in support of Mr. Watkins and Ms. Kawasaki (roughly $1,200 each

• LA County Federation of Labor AFL-CIO PAC during the period Jan. 1 through April 6 spent $22,006 to support 4th dist. Councilman O'Donnell, $7,744 to support 8th dist. candidate Al Austin

• Long Beach Police Officers Ass'n Political Action Committee

• For period Jan. 1-March 24, spent $22,633 in support of 4th dist. Councilman O'Donnell and $17,798 in support of 8th dist. candidate Al Austin

What effect(s), if any, will these independent expenditures have on the outcome of these races tonight? LBReport.com will have LIVE coverage of tonight's election on our front page: www.LBReport.com.