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See Who Else Gave Money To Pro-Sales-Tax Hike Campaign AFTER Election Was Over (There's More)


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(July 30, 2016) -- LBREPORT.com's review of documents filed with the City Clerk's office shows that thousands of dollars in campaign contributions have continued to flow -- AFTER the June 7 city election -- to the political committee (in which Mayor Robert Garcia is the named controlling elected official) that ran the $600,000+ campaign for the Measure A sales tax increase that the Council (9-0) can now spend for any general fund items it wishes.

Among other after-election contributors: an aviation industry firm now completing a "Feasibility Study" on pros/cons of allowing a federal customs facility at LB Airport that would enable int'l cargo/passenger operations and a firm that provides hangar space at LB Airport and would benefit from allowing international operations.

[Scroll down for further.]


Among other contributors: the corporate consortium to which LB taxpayers will begin paying annual increasing sums starting in mid-2009 (with annual CPI escalators for 40+ years) to build, operate and maintain a new LB Civic Center (Council vote: 9-0); the firm that received Council approval (8-0, Lowenthal absent) for a multi-million dollar contract to handle LB recyclable waste collection; and the LB's police officers association PAC ($25,000, adding to $200,000 previously contributed) and LB firefighters association PAC ($5,000, adding to $70,000 previously contributed) that are among several LB city employee unions in the process of negotiating new contracts whose terms will ultimately be decided by the City Council.

We publish the information below in reverse chronological order; our annotations are in brackets. There may have had other contributors of less than $1,000 since June 7 but they won't be known until the Committee files subsequent cumulative disclosure paperwork.

Jacobs Engineering Group [currently completing "feasibility study" on fed'l inspection (customs) facility re int'l flights at LB Airport]$2,500 (July 26)
Maverick Investments [principal is Kurt Schneiter; firm received 2015 Council approval to convert former "Yankee Doodles" (4101 E. Ocean Blvd.) into a fitness facility]$1,000 (July 26)
Aeroplex / Aerolease Group$3,000 (July 25)
Long Beach Firefighters Ass'n Local 372 PAC$5,000 (July 21)
Advanced Environmental Group, Long Beach$25,000 (July 20)
Sares Regis Group Operating [firm provides business space for leasing at ELB's Douglas Park]$5,000 (July 14)
Long Beach Police Officers Association Political Action Committee$25,000 (July 6)
Doug Otto for LB Community College Trustee 2016
[re-elected April 2016]
$5,000 (July 6)
Waste Management and Affiliated Entities
[Firm received June 14 Council approval (8-0, Lowenthal absent) for ten year contract (not to exceed $3.5 mil/year) for recyclable collection services
$5,000 (June 23)
Iron Workers Local 433, City of Industry$7,500 (June 16)
Arman Gabay [Owner of The Charles Company, Excel Property Mgm't Services]$5,000 (June 15)
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A June 7 (election-day) cumulative filing by the "Mayor Garcia, Foster & O'Neill Committee to Support Measures A & B to Protect Police & Fire and Repair Infrastructure in Long Beach. Major Funding by Long Beach Police Officers Association PAC and Long Beach Firefighters PAC, Local 372" (an "officeholder controlled committee" whose officeholder is Mayor Robert Garcia) indicates that as of June 7, the Committee had $112,006.76 cash on hand with outstanding debts (unpaid bills) of $268,271.70.

The sale tax-increase political Committee's June 7 filing indicates it hired multiple employees/ to perform salaried work of unspecified types. Measure A passed on a roughly 60%-40% vote citywide (against non-unified, poorly funded opposition) with very high numbers of "yes" ballots (over 70% "yes") in parts of Council districts 1, 6 and 9. (In one 1st district precinct, Measure A received over 80% of ballots with "yes" votes.) Ballots in these districts overrode the measure's failure to gain majority support in high propensity voter areas including ELB Council district 5 (failed districtwide roughly 45%-54%), eastern (Los Altos) precincts of Council district 4 and parts of Bixby Knolls; the measure passed with barely 52% of the vote districtwide in Council district 3.

Measure A is a general tax that the current and future Council can spend on any general fund items. In putting the measure on the ballot, the Council approved a non-binding resolution stating the Council's "intent" to prioritize spending of the tax revenue on police, fire and infrastructure; it also recently created a "citizen advisory committee" (recently named by the Mayor, members here) that can review but can't change Mayor recommended and Council approved spending.

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Among contributions to the pro-sales-tax-hike Committee prior to the election:

June 6: Long Beach Firefighters Ass'n PAC$20,000
June 6: DDM Operating Partners, Long Beach
[LBREPORT.com note: bizapedia.com indicates DDM's principal is Ensemble Investments, LLC. CorporationWiki.com indicates Ensemble Developments LLC is an officer in DDM (and other companies.) June 14, 2016: Council votes 9-0 to approve $6 million purchase/sale agreement and development opportunity at Pacific Ave./3rd St. for Ensemble Investments, LLC.
$3,000
June 1: LB Police Officers Association PAC$100,000
June 1: John Molina (CFO Molina Health Care)$10,000
June 1: SMG (operates city-owned LB Convention Ctr)$10,000
June 2: Grand Prix Ass'n of LB$2,500
June 2: LB Hotel Properties$2,000
June 2: P2S Engineering$2,500
June 4: IBEW Local 11 PAC$10,000
June 2: Live Nation, Houston TX$2,500

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May 26: Acebo and Associates, LB 90807 [2005-2008: Kevin Acebo was Deputy Mayor to then-LA Mayor Villaraigosa; 2001-2003, was Political Dir for CA Democratic Party]$4,200
May 26: Noapara Enterprises, Arcadia, CA$5,000
May 26: Reinforcing Iron Workers Local 426, Norwalk CA$7,500
May 31: Plenary Group, USA Ltd., Los Angeles
[LBREPORT.com note: Dec. 15, 2015 Council votes 9-0 to approve entering 40+ year Civic Center rebuild/operate "public private partnership" transaction]
$5,000

May 25: Firefighters for Better Government, Camarillo, CA$2,500
May 24: Operating Engineers Local Union 12 Political Fund, Pasadena, CA$5,000
May 23: JetBlue Airways Corporation, Rockville MD
[LBREPORT.com note: Major LB Airport tenant worked quietly with Airport management through much of 2015, then in early 2015 publicly asked City to allow customs facility that would enable international operations and couldn't be limited to JetBlue. Council voted July 2015 (6-3, Austin, Uranga, Supernaw dissenting) to prepare "feasibility report" on action, LGB spokesperson tells LBREPORT.com (mid-July 2016) that study is tentatively set to return to Council in August-September]
$2,500
May 23: Orange County Professional Firefighters Ass'n, Santa Ana, CA$2,000

May 17: Integral Partners Funding, Newport Beach, CA [Integral Communities is Riverwalk developer (former Will Reid Scout Camp site)]$5,000
May 17: HDR, Inc, Omaha, NE [Firm providing engineering services for Port's Pier B railyard]$5,000
May 17: All American Asphalt, Corona, CA [City contractor for Pine Ave. improvement project]$5,000

May 5: Laborers Int'l Union of North America, Local 1309$40,000
May 5: Southern CA District Council of Laborers PAC$40,000
May 5: So. CA Pipe Trades District Council 16$50,000
May 10: West Coast Arborists [on May 10, 2016, Council approved $1.8 million contract to handle LB tree trimming]$ 500
May 20: District Council of Iron Workers PAC$5,000
May 21: BYD America Corporation [LB Transit choice for electric bus contract]$2,500
May 21: CRC Services, LLC [website text: "oil and gas operations...include THUMS Long Beach Company [operates offshore portion of Wilmington Field] and Tidelands Oil Production Company [operates onshore portion of Wilmington Field..."]$5,000
April 6: Lyon Communities and Affiliated Entities [owns "Pumpkin Patch" parcel on PCH in SE LB and has various LB residential/apartment holdings]$16,000 [May 25, 11:50 p.m. update: Committee campaign treasurer Mark Taylor indicates this amount is an in-kind contribution of office space]

May 17Darren McElroy, President, Environmental Construction Group
Signal Hill, CA
[LBREPORT.com note: Contractor for demolition of old LB courthouse. Source: company website here.]
$5,000
May 17The Long Beach Project Owners, LLC
Newport Beach, CA 92660
[LBREPORT.com note: The Long Beach Project was among the listed litigation parties that prevailed at the trial court level against CARP [Citizens About Responsible Planning] which challenged the City's EIR for the 8th dist. Riverwalk project.]
$5,000
May 15Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters Political Action Fund
Los Angeles
$20,000
May 15United Firefighters of Los Angeles City Local Union 112$3,000
May 12CCE Consulting Group, LLC
Hawthorne, CA
[LBREPORT.com note: LinkedIn.com lists Erick Verduzco-Vega as a partner in CCE Consulting Group. Mr. Verduzco-Vega was one of Mayor Garcia's Oct. 2014 appointees to the LB Planning Commission.]
$1,000
May 12The Gallos, Inc.
Long Beach 90802
$1,000
May 11Shooshani Fahrshad
President Etc. Real Estate Services, Inc
West Hollywood, CA
[LBREPORT.com note: We found no LB connections to Shooshani Fahrshad (or Fahrshad Shooshani), but a prominent LB figure, Tony Shooshani is listed on Downtown LB Associates website as the owner representative for LB's downtown City Place and serves on DLBA's Board of Directors.]
$5,000
May 6Mike Walter [title for ID], Exec. Ass't to CSULB President [and former LB Harbor Comm'r.]$1,000
May 2Int'l Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 11 PAC$10,000
May 2James Callahan, chairman, Metropolitan Stevedore$2,500
May 2Frank Colonna, Real Estate Broker$500



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