Pearson big campaign spender

Barbara Diamond

Mayor Toni Iseman reported spending $3,709 more than the $30,000

limit she pledged in her 2002 bid for re-election, second only to top

spender Elizabeth Pearson.

Council candidates, political actions committees and independent

expenditure committees are required to report campaign expenditures

and contributions periodically throughout the year and submit a final

tally for the year in January.

“I consider myself staying under the $30,000 spending limit,”

Iseman said. “I canceled two fund-raisers because I was getting too

much money and I called people to return checks, but they told me to

use the money for charitable causes or to throw a big party. The

parties came after the election.”

Iseman spent more than $2,000 on victory celebrations and food for

campaign volunteers and supporters. She also made donations to the

American Assn. of University Women’s after-school program at El Morro

Elementary School and to the Cross Cultural Council and paid stipends

to some volunteers.

There is no penalty for exceeding the voluntary pledge, City Clerk

Verna Rollinger said.

Iseman reported spending $33,709 in her bid for re-election.

Pearson reported raising and spending $35,071.99, almost $9,000

raised during the Oct. 20 to Dec. 31 reporting period. Iseman raised

$3,361 in the same period.

The election was held Nov. 5.

Campaign spending by committees on behalf of candidates, but not

affiliated with them, are not included in the candidates’ statements.

The Laguna Beach Taxpayers Assn., which files its statements with

the county, not with the city clerk’s office, reported spending

$1,005 each on behalf of Pearson, Councilman Steven Dicterow and

re-elected school board member Kathryn A. Turner, and $1,006 on

behalf of board incumbent Robert Whalen. The group also paid $1,210

for postage and $2,811 to Super Printers in Irvine.

Village Laguna raised $32,170 in 2002, $1,505 between July 1 and

Dec. 31, and spent $33,130.68. Expenditures totaled $23,045.10,

including $9,000 to Gene Bregman and Associates in San Francisco for

a poll.

Other expenditures listed were: $250 each to Iseman, Turner and

City Council candidate Melissa O’Neal, all of whom were endorsed by

the general purpose committee; $150 each to the Laguna Beach Chamber

of Commerce and the Laguna Art Museum; $100 to Top of the World PTA;

$3,181.22 to Weaver Graphics in Dana Point; and $3,700 for postage.

Village Laguna did not list any donors for the period.

Dicterow reported raising $17,610.99 in 2002 and spending $13,379,

$7,190 of that paid to Super Printers for campaign literature

mailings and fliers.

He also submitted an amended disclosure statement that included

the occupation and employer of individual donors, which he said had

been inadvertently left off previous statements.

The amended statement listed Kim Richards, John Mansour and four

others listed as Athens Group partners, three of them from

out-of-state; eight partners with Vestar, which is affiliated with

Athens Group; and Alan J. Fuerstman, president of Montage Resorts.

Dicterow also received financial support from former Mayor

Kathleen Blackburn and architects Jim Conrad, Morris Skendarian,

Lance Polster and Joseph Ambrose Jr.; Laguna Beach Senior Center

fund-raiser Richard French; Laguna Beach Seniors Inc. board member

Virginia Schott; Super Printers owner David Sanford; the Lincoln Club

of Orange; Gromet and Associates and the Manufactured Housing

Education Trust political action committee.

Pearson also had contributions from Ambrose, the Lincoln Club,

Manufactured Housing political action committee and Polster.

Other donors to Pearson’s campaign from Oct. 20 to Dec. 31 were

the California Women’s Leadership Assn., Betty Ambrose, former

Planning Commissioner Greg Vail, Rosaura Ulvestad, Spencer Recovery

Center; the Log Cabin of Orange County, Hotel Laguna owner Claes

Andersen and the Orange County Professional Firefighters Assn.

Iseman’s reported donors between Oct. 20 to Dec. 31 included Women for Orange County, Waste Management in Sacramento and its affiliated

entities; filmmaker Greg MacGillivray and attorneys Michelle

Reinglass and Susan Trager.

“I am the only council candidate that did not receive donations

from anyone connected to Athens Group, nor did I accept donations

from architects who might appear before the council,” Iseman said.

Her expenditures for the period included $2,525 to Dana Point

campaign consultant Brenda Stouffer, $1,331.96 for lawn signs and

$212 for a silent auction purchase.

O’Neal raised $25,389 in 2002 and spent $24,431.64 in an

unsuccessful run for the council.

Her donors from Oct. 20 to Dec. 31 included former Mayors Lida

Lenney and Charleton Boyd, Village Laguna, Arts Commission Chair Les

Thomas and Design Review Board member Steve Kawaratani. She also gave

herself $4,000.

She spent $3,423.61 with Super Printers in the last three months

of the year and $1,209.67 on her final flier of the campaign.

Copies of the latest campaign statements and previous ones are on

file in the city clerk’s office at City Hall.