LBREPORT.com provides the City Auditor's statement in full below:

City Auditor Doud statement: It is important to note that I do not have any involvement with either of the candidates for the 5th District City Council seat. My Office is independent of other Long Beach City offices and departments to maintain strict impartiality and objectivity. I am making this statement to clarify misrepresentations that have been made to ensure and protect the independence of the Long Beach City Auditor's Office.

My Office conducted an Audit of Harbor International Travel Expenses in 2014. At that time, 5th District City Council candidate Rich Dines was a member of the Harbor Commission. Recently, a campaign mailer was sent to voters in the 5th Council District from an independent expenditure PAC called Long Beach Neighbors PAC.

The mailer presented inaccurate information and misquoted me and the findings of the audit. The mailer contained a quote attributed to me stating that "Violations took place." This quote was altered from what was actually said and in doing so changed the meaning. An OC Register article included a quote from me that said "I think some violations of the policies (meaning travel policies) took place." This was in no way a direct or indirect reference to Mr. Dines.

Additionally, the mailer misrepresents the findings of the audit stating that "Rich Dines took advantage of a system the Long Beach Auditor found had limited oversight." To be clear, the audit did find additional oversight by the Harbor Department staff was necessary, however it in no way attributed that directly to Mr. Dines or indicated he took advantage of it.

Finally, as this mailer was from an independent expenditure PAC, Long Beach Neighbors PAC, Councilmember Stacey Mungo was not involved in these mailer inaccuracies.

I hope this clarifies the inaccuracies that were presented to the voters of the 5th District and enables them to cast their votes based on the merits of the candidates.

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As previously reported over two months ago by LBREPORT.com, a mailer arrived in a number of 5th Council district mailboxes on March 23 [during the three way initial race between incumbent Mungo and challengers Dines and Lee) stating it was paid for by "Long Beach Neighborhoods PAC ID# 1374566." Caveat: Its official name on campaign finance report filings is "Long Beach Neighborhood [singular, not plural] PAC."] The March mailer stated: "Councilwoman Mungo and Mayor Garcia. Working Together to Restore Coastal Wetlands" and showed photos of the two above a pelican.

The PAC's March pro-Mungo mailer, and the PAC's anti-Dines mailer now, both list an address which is the same as the business address of TMSI, a company whose president is former LB 3rd dist. Councilman Gary DeLong (2006-2014). [LBREPORT.com left a voice mail message for Mr. DeLong at 12:50 p.m. inviting his comments/response to this breaking story.]

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The PAC mailers are examples of campaign pieces from an independent expenditure committee, an entity operating legally when not authorized or paid for by a candidate or a committee controlled by a candidate.

Formed in February 2015, "Long Beach Citizens For Good Government" changed its name in March 2015 to "Long Beach Citizens in Support of Daryl Supernaw for Council 2015" and in a no-runoff special election supported Mr. Supernaw and opposed Herlinda Chico. In July 2015 (after Supernaw took office), the PAC changed its name back to "Long Beach Citizens for Good Government" in July 2015.

In 2016, the PAC independently supported 8th dist. candidate Wesley Turnbow (against incumbent Al Austin and challenger Laurie Angel) and supported Joen Garnica and opposed Eric Gray in the 2nd district's April 2016 election. (Mr. Gray went on to finish second in a June 2016 runoff against now-incumbent Councilwoman Jeannine Pearce.)

In March 2018, the PAC remained itself the "Long Beach Neighborhood PAC."

The PAC's three largest contributors in the period from Jan 1, 2018 to May 19, 2018 were Compulink Management Center ($4,500), CREPAC/CA Real Estate PAC ($5,000) and Apartment Association, CA Southern Cities ($4,000). The Apartment Association, CA Southern Cities also separately (and legally) contributed to incumbent Mungo's re-election campaign ($400.)

The PAC entered the 2018 election cycle with $39,919 cash on hand as of Dec. 31, 2017, the lion's share of which was collected in connection with the 2016 election cycle (and included a contribution from JetBlue: $1,000 on 3/14/16.)

The Long Beach Neighborhood PAC has since received a total of $27,250 since Jan. 1, 2018, with $11,600 of that amount coming between April 22 and May 19 (timed for the runoff election cycle.)

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