Hear It: City Mgr. Is Mulling $50,000-$100,000 Expenditure For "Educational" Mailers re Mayor/Council Sought Charter Amendments

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LB Taxpayers Ass'n member Caroline Byrnes gets the answer during Q & A at "Beer & Politics"

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(Sept. 2, 2018, 11:30 a.m.) -- As reported on LBREPORT.com's front page within minutes with on-demand audio now added below, Long Beach City Manager Pat West has indicated that his office is considering spending a sum in the neighborhood of $50,000 to $100,000 for "educational" [informational] mailers regarding four Mayor/Council sought Charter Amendments placed on a special November citywide ballot by a 9-0 Aug. 7 City Council vote.

The disclosure came during Q & A at "Beer & Politics" (Aug. 29) prompted by a question (submitted in writing on a card) by LB Taxpayers Ass'n member Caroline Byrnes. LBREPORT.com provides the on-demand audio clip below.

The on-demand audio begins with the question read by "Beer & Politics" organizer Michael Clements, followed by City Manager West's response. (Speaking extemporaneously, Mr. West cited rounded numbers on the election cost; in June, LBREPORT.com reported (first again) that City Clerk de la Garza cited an estimated $470,000 election cost for first November ballot measure plus $45,000 for each additional ballot measure.]

Verbally from the audience, Ms. Byrnes twice pressed for the cost of city mailers, to which City Manager West responded:

The mailers are educational pieces...We are looking at educational mailers. We've not produced them yet for this. We're working with the City Attorney's office...If that happens, that would be in the neighborhood between $50,000 and $100,000. We've not made that decision yet...

To hear the audio clip, click here.

Sponsor

On June 21, 2018, LBREPORT.com reported (first again) that the City of Long Beach had paid a San Fernando Valley-based political consulting firm (EDH & Associates) $99,435.96 to design, print and send three "informational" mailers (based on materials prepared by city staff and approved by the City Attorney) to roughly 63,000 known LB voters regarding Measure M (June 2016 utility revenue transfer/diversion.) The City's "informational" mailers recited that they were "provided for informational purposes" and don't advocate "a yes or no vote on the measure" and were paid for by LB taxpayers.

Sponsor

City Hall's "informational" mailers are now the subject of an FPPC investigation in response to a July 11 complaint by the four-individuals who submitted the ballot argument in opposition to Measure M (LB Taxpayers Ass'n co-founder Tom Stout; Diana Lejins; Citizens About Responsible Planning president Joe Weinstein, Ph.D and retired Long Beach Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske) who alleged that the City's "informational" materials amounted to campaign advocacy for passage of Measure M.

A July 24 letter from FPPC's Enforcement Division (reported here) indicated it would investigate the allegation(s) against the City but found insufficient evidence and on that basis cleared Mayor Garcia, then-Vice Mayor Richardson and Councilmembers Andrews, and in an August 29 letter (reported here) cleared Councilwoman Price, of complainants' allegations that they had used public money in communications advocating passage of Measure M.

Sponsor

A separate political committee, operated by Mayor Garcia (with his Chief of Staff as its Treasurer) conducted a separate advocacy campaign for Measure M. The Garcia-operated advocacy campaign's two primary contributors were the political action committees (PACs) run by the leadership of the Long Beach Police Officers Ass'n and the LB Firefighters Ass'n.

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