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Vice Mayor Lowenthal Latest Officeholder Account Report (July-Dec. 2015) Shows Relatively Small Total, Largest Single Expenditure Was For College of the Ozarks Fruicake Kitchen


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(Jan. 31, 2016) -- A disclosure form (required of all officeholders) timely filed Jan. 30 by Vice Mayor / Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal shows that between July 1-Dec. 31, 2015, her officeholder (non-campaign) account received less than $5,000; its largest contributions ($750 each) were from Adam Hijazi (member of LB Collective Association whom Lowenthal appointed to a City of Long Beach Medical Cannabis Task Force); Long Beach Yellow Cab Cooperative; Thomas Safran & Associates (redeveloped former church at 3rd/Obispo into a senior housing project) and Mike Walter (title for identification: Exec. Ass't to CSULB President.)

Among smaller contributors: Sunny Zia ($100: title for identification: member of LBCC Community College Board of Trustees.)

Lobbyist Matt Knabe gave Lowenthal's officeholder account $250, making a total of $750 for the year.

To view the full report, click here.


Vice Mayor Lowenthal used her officeholder account in the second half of 2015 to disburse $600 to the Long Beach Lambda Democratic Club, $100 to the LB Democratic Women's Study Club and $250 to the ArtExchange...but its biggest single expenditure was $1,150 paid to the Missouri for College of the Ozarks Fruitcake Kitchen in Port Lookout, Missouri (identified on the filed document with a three letter code standing for "office expenses.")

The College of the Ozarks describes its Fruitcake Kitchen as follows:

The Fruitcake and Jelly Kitchen is one of over 90 campus workstations where students work to pay their cost of education at College of the Ozarks...Over 100 fruitcakes are baked daily. Jellies, preserves and apple butter are made from January through October. Products are sold all year long and are shipped around the world. During the months of November and December, operation of the kitchen is closed and the staff moves downstairs to the shipping area. This is when the bulk of the products are packaged and shipped. [Prices and such are on this page.
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Among contributors to Vice Mayor Lowenthal's officeholder account in the 1st half of 2015 were the Long Beach Collective Ass'n, BNSF Railway, lobbyist Alex Cherin (same firm as Matt Knabe), developer George Medak, lobbyist Mike Murchison, Oxbow Carbon, LLC, Adam Shandrow (Dir. of Facilities/Solid Landings), Laborers Int' Union PAC, Art Levine [title for identification: LB Water Comm'r], Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters PAC, John Thomas, UFCW PAC, Unite Here Local 11.

Recipients in the 1st half of 2015 included Friends of Bixby Park ($350), GetOutLB ($150), Goodwill of OC ($340), LAANE [Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy] ($325), PC Prompting Systems ($650), Progressive Systems Consulting ($2,100 [$409 of which indicated for office expenses]) and The Loft on Pine ($1,955 for office expenses.)

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Under LB's ordinance, LB incumbent electeds can solicit and accept sums for "officeholder expenses associated with holding office" under CA Government Code sections 89512-89519 but the ordinance excludes uses under sections 89513(e) and (g) relating to loans to candidates, political parties or committees.) It specifies that officeholder expense funds can't be used or expended in connection with a future election for an elective city office but 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.

Officeholder accounts can be filled from contributions from various persons and entities, which the incumbent may then disburse to neighborhood groups or for community events or use for officeholder expenses. (These sums are in addition to LB taxpayers spend to operate the Councilmembers' offices: $451,633 for each of nine Council office; $919,593 for the Mayor's office.]

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LB Councilmember officeholder accounts weren't part of LB's voter-approved Prop M (1994) -- whose major proponent was then-Councilman Alan Lowenthal. It was enacted by the public to do the following:

[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.

Councilmember officeholder accounts were added in a controversial 1995 action by the Council 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 Auditor Laura Doud-- 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.

In late January-early February 2015, all Council incumbents (4th dist. vacant) voted to increase the allowable size of their officeholder accounts but with disagreement over how much. The Council voted 5-3 (Mungo, Austin, Price dissenting) to triple the size of officeholder accounts after defeating a substitute motion that would have doubled current officeholder accounts to $20,000 per year for Councilmembers and $50,000 per year for citywide electeds; failed on a reverse 3-5 vote.)

Watch for LBREPORT.com's reports on other incumbent officeholder (and Council candidate campaign documents) as they come in.



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