LAGUNA BEACH : Event Will Aim to Pay Campaign Bills

“Save the Canyon” campaign signs that once dotted Laguna Canyon Road, dinners at restaurants and leftover Christmas presents are among the items that will be auctioned off tonight at a fund-raiser to help retire the “Save the Canyon” campaign debt from the November election.

Proceeds from the $25-per-person party sponsored by Village Laguna, an environmental group, will be used to help pay about $16,000 in bills owed by the campaign, which spent more than $100,000 to win passage of a bond issue for Laguna Canyon.

The $20-million bond issue, approved by almost 80% of the voters, will go toward the $78-million purchase of 2,500 acres of canyon land owned by the Irvine Co. The election drew 72% of the city’s registered voters.

The campaign was one of the costliest in recent history, campaign manager Paul Freeman said. But he attributed the high cost to rushed production costs of brochures and other materials for the campaign that could not be printed until land negotiation talks between the city, the developer and environmentalists were completed.