See Contributions To Officeholder Accounts For Councilmembers and Mayor With Now Tripled Allowable Totals, And On What The Incumbents Spent It, In First Half of 2015
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(Aug. 2, 2015, 6:50 p.m.) -- LBREPORT.com provides details and data below on contributions to the officeholder accounts for Long Beach Councilmembers and the Mayor's office, and how these electeds spent those sums, during the first half of 2015. This is the first period in which the LB Councilmembers allowed themselves and other LB electeds to triple the totals they could annually collect in their officeholder accounts. (Critics of the accounts have derided them for many years as "slush funds.")
The Council votes that tripled the previous allowable totals came on Jan. 20 and Feb. 3, 2015 with 5-3 votes (Councilmembers Mungo, Price and Austin dissenting [4th dist. then vacant].) The three dissenters indicated they'd be amenable to doubling the previous amounts as a compromise (which wasn't acceptable to the Council majority.) The now-tripled amounts weren't vetoed by Mayor Garcia and took effect in early March 2015...and a number Councilmembers responded accordingly.
In the first six months of 2015, Councilmembers Richardson and Uranga collected over $20,000, double the previously allowed amount for an entire year. Councilwoman Gonzalez, the major Council proponent of tripling allowable totals, collected nearly $19,000. If all three kept up that pace in the second half of 2015, they'd exceed the newly tripled limit ($30,000) for which they voted.
Councilwoman Mungo is on a pace that, if maintained in the second half of 2015, would put her over the doubled limit ($20,000) for which she voted but within the tripled amount on which she dissented.
Councilwoman Suzie Price, who publicly voiced resservations about raising allowable officeholder sums by any amount and ultimately dissented on the tripled amount, collected the least amount of any reporting Councilmember (a little over $5,000, a pace roughly equivalent to the former allowed limit.)
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As of early Sunday evening (Aug. 2), the City Clerk's website didn't display officeholder reports in the first half of 2015 for Councilmembers Dee Andrews and Al Austin. [If they appear in the coming days, we'll add the information below.] Councilman Austin has filed paperwork indicating his intention to seek a second term in office in April 2016; Councilman Andrews has filed paperwork indicating he will seek reelection using a term-limit bypass write-in. Councilman Daryl Supernaw took office in early May 2015 doesn't have a listed officeholder account (since he wasn't in office for most of the first half of 2015); he will be up for reelection in April 2016.
Mayor Robert Garcia, who as a citywide elected can now collect a tripled total of up to $75,000 annually (up from $25,000), collected a modest sum by comparison -- $12,360 in contributions -- less than the amount collected by five of LB's nine Councilmembers.
Officeholders can solicit and collect sums from contributors (including at fundraisers) and the contributors can include persons and entities with self-interests in helping helpful incumbents or in matters coming before the City Council. The incumbents can then disburse sums to neighborhood groups or for community events or give sums to favored politically active groups potentially helpful to the incumbents.
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In Council discussion accompanying their initial Jan. 20 vote to triple the allowable total sums, some Council incumbents argued that the change would let them better support support neighborhood events and community events. Data for for the first period in which the tripled total amounts apply are now a matter of record. They speak for themselves.
The information below shows sums attributable to LB incumbents for the period between Jan 1 and June 30 2015. The contributions and disbursemens we've listed are a portion of the full data that that caught our attention and we considered salient. To jump to our listing of salient portions of the Councilmembers' and Mayor filed information, click the links below.
Matt Knabe (Partner, Englander, Knabe & Allen [lobbying firm clients incl. JetBlue (locally), Sound Landings Behavioral Health and multiple others
$750
Laborers Int'l Union of North America Local 1309
$750
LB Firefighters Ass'n PAC
$750
Oxbow Carbon, LLC
$750
Plumbers Local Union 78 PAC
$750
Signal Hill Petroleum
500
So. Cal. Pipe Trades District Council 16
$500
Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters PAC
$500
Unite Here Local 11
$750
Councilwoman Gonzalez's disbursements from her officeholder account included the following (type of disbursement as reported by three letter abbreviation in report):
Alegria Cocina Latina
$400 (CVC Civic Donation)
CA Parks & Recreation Society
$160 (CVC civic donation)
HOPE (Los Angeles)
$280 (CVC civic donation)
Khmer Girls in Action
$100 (OFC office expenses)
League of Women Voters Long Beach Area
$110 (CVC civic donations)
Progressive Solutions Consulting
$2,341 (listed as CNS = campaign consultants)
Women Shelter Long Beach
$250 (CVC civic donation)
Over $1,000 in various OFC expenses to Chief of Staff Silissa Uriarte Smith
Over $1,000 in multiple individual donations, listed as OFC office expenses
Matt Knabe (Partner, Englander, Knabe & Allen [lobbying firm clients incl. JetBlue (locally), Sound Landings Behavioral Health and multiple others
$500
Laborers Int'l Union of North America Local 1309
$750
Long Beach Collective Ass'n
$500
George Medak (Developer)
$750
Oxbow Carbon LLC
$750
Natalie Schmitz (Community Outreach Mgr, Solid Landings Behavioral Health
$750
Adam Shandrow, Dir of Facilities Solid Landings Behavioral Health
$750
Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters PAC
$750
Unite Here Local 11
$750
Vice Mayor/Councilmember Lowenthal's disbursements from her officeholder included the following (type of disbursement as reported by three letter abbreviation in report):
District Wine
$156.96 (OFC office expense)
Friends of Bixby Park
$325 (CVC donation)
GetOut LB ($150, print)
Goodwill of Orange County
$340 (CVC civic donation)
LAANE (Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy
$325 (CVC civic donation)
PC Prompting Systems [professional teleprompting service]
Councilmember Price's disbursements from her officehold account included the following (type of disbursement as reported by three letter abbreviaton in report)
Matt Knabe (Partner, Englander, Knabe & Allen [lobbying firm clients incl. JetBlue (locally), Sound Landings Behavioral Health and multiple others
$500
Laborers Int'l Union of North America
$750
Long Beach Police Officers Ass'n PAC
$750
John Morris (Owner Boathouse on the Bay
$500
Bryan Morris (Mgr., Boathouse on the Bay
$500
Plumbers Local Union 78 PAC
$500
Adam Shandrow (Dir. of Facilities, Solid Landings
$500
Mark Shandrow (Sales, Solid Landings)
$500
Signal Hill Petroleum
$500
So. Cal Pipe Trades District Council 16
$500
Councilwoman Mungo's disbursements from her officeholder account included the following (type of disbursement as reported by three letter abbreviation in report):
Long Beach Community Garden Ass'n
$130 (CVC civic donations)
Rotary Club of LB
$715 (OFC office expenses)
Apt Assn CA Southern Cities
$169 (MTG meeting)
East Long Beach Pinto Red All Stars
$100 (CVC civic donations)
Grand Prix Foundation of Long Beach
$300 (CVC civic donations)
HB Products LLC
$1,490 (CMP campaign paraphrenalia/misc [we speculate may be related to items for State of 5th Council district event]
Long Beach Police Foundation
$250 (CVC civic donations)
Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
$100 (CVC civic donations
Newcomb Academy Foundation
$100 (CVC civic donations
Rotary Club of LB
$600 (CMP campaign paraphrenalia/misc.)
Sign A Rama
$150 (CMP campaign paraphrenalia/misc.)
Survey Monkey
$300 (POL polling and survey research)
Tervis
$1,629.09 (OFC we speculate may be related to items for State of 5th Council district event)
Three contributors associated with CalCann Holdings
Ccllective total $1,750
IBEW Local 11
$750
Matt Knabe (Partner, Englander, Knabe & Allen [lobbying firm clients incl. JetBlue (locally), Sound Landings Behavioral Health and multiple others
Laborers Int'l Union of North America Local 1309
$500
LB Firefighters Ass'n PAC
$750
LB Police Officers Ass'n PAC
$750
Oxbow Carbon
$750
Plumbers Local Union 78 PAC
$750
Signal Hill Petroleum
$500
Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters PAC
$750
Unite Here Local 11
$750
[At least two contributions (plus one other with slightly different position we didn't include) related to Integral Communities, developer of former Will Reid Scout Camp in 8th Council district] Aug. 4 UPDATE: Four contributions related to Integral were indicated on p. 25 of the form as returned by the Councilman.
Two collectively: $1,500
Councilman Uranga's disbursements from his officeholder account included the following (type of disbursement as reported by three letter abbreviation in report):
Bougess-White Scholarship Foundation
$100
Coalition for Clean Air
$290
Developing Future Leaders
$100
L.A. County Democratic Party (John F. Kennedy Awards Ceremony)
$300
League of Conservation Voters
$300
New City Church
$100
New Image Emergency Shelter for the Homeless
$150
Success in Challenges
$250
Boys and Girls Clubs of LB
$168.15
Councilman Uranga's officeholder report listed travel items, incl. round trip to Sac'to 3/18-19 ($233.33); lodging and meals to attend Nat'l Association of Latino Elected Officials Conference (1,045.45) and meals for L.A. County elected officials attending NALEO ccnference ($248.90)
Councilman Richardson's disbursements from his officeholder account included the following (type of disbursement as reported by three letter abbreviation in report):
Councilman Ricchardson's officeholder report listed travel items, incl. Delta Airlines 9/24-9/28 to attend conference ($580.20 + $580.20 for staffer); LA/DC 6/9-6/12 $242.20; Hotel Rouge DC $861.48 9/24-9/28; Hotel Regency DC for fed leg committee, $830.11, Hyatt Regency 4/22-/4/26 DC conference $1,101.38, United Airlines $992.20 LA-DC Fed Leg Committee
Mayor Garcia's disbursements from his officeholder account included the following (type of disbursement as reported by three letter abbreviation in report):
Daily Consulting, LLC
$4,000 (CNS campaign consultants
The Council's 2015 action lets all LB incumbents solicit and accept sums for "officeholder expenses associated with holding office" under CA Government Code sections 89512-89519 but under the LB ordinance excludes uses under sections 89513(e) and (g) relating to loans to candidates, political parties or committees.) Although the ordinance specifies that officeholder expense funds can't be used or expended in connection with a future election for an elective city office, it doesn't preclude incumbents from giving funds to various groups and entities (including advocacy and political groups) whose support might prove useful to an incumbent in a future election.
During early 2015 Council discussion of tripling allowable amounts for officeholder accounts, no Council incumbents cited LB Proposition M, enacted by LB voters in June 1994 to do the following [Text of Prop M Findings and Declarations]
[LB Muni Code section 2.01.120 (E)] Officeholders are responding to high campaign costs by raising large amounts of money in off-election years. This fund-raising distracts them from important public matters, encourages contributions which may have a corrupting influence and gives incumbents an overwhelming and patently unfair fund-raising advantage over potential challengers.
...The integrity of the governmental process, the competitiveness of campaigns and public confidence in local officials are all diminishing.
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Officeholder accounts weren't part of voter-approved Prop M; they were added by the Council in a controversial 1995 action without a vote of the people over the objections of a number of Prop M supporters who called them "slush funds."
In 2007, the Council voted to raise the allowable officeholder amounts over the objections (again) of some local residents but with the support of LB's elected Auditor, who argued at the time that the then-proposed increase would let Councilmembers use donated sums to support district events instead of tapping taxpayer resources. [Auditor Doud remained mum during Council discussions on the increases in 2015.]
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