In Hermosa Beach, the three newcomers to...

In Hermosa Beach, the three newcomers to the City Council were competing with each other during the campaign, but that didn’t prevent the occasional friendly favor.

According to Robert Essertier’s campaign statements, Kathleen Midstokke, a competing candidate, was also his campaign treasurer. And at one point in the race, Essertier and opponent Albert Wiemans shared the cost of printing signs because, said Essertier, “I got a good break from the printer on fluorescent paper.”

Essertier explains that Midstokke ended up as his treasurer one day when she reminded him the deadline was near for filing his financial disclosure statements. When Essertier began to worry that he wouldn’t have time to file the documents himself, she suggested that he list her as his treasurer so that she could file his papers with her own. Midstokke confirms the story.

Though the practice is unusual, it is not illegal, according to the Fair Political Practices Commission.