Council hopefuls pound war chests

Deirdre Newman and Alicia Robinson

It’s deja vu all over again, with the heftiest campaign war chests in

the second reporting period amassed by City Council candidates

Katrina Foley in Costa Mesa and Steve Rosansky in Newport Beach. The

same two also raised the most during the first period for campaign

finance reports.

The deadline was Thursday afternoon for candidates to report how

much money they had received and spent for the period of Oct. 1

through Oct. 16 and how much they have left in the bank.

Foley, a Costa Mesa planning commissioner, collected $6,948,

including a late donation of $2,000 that was filed on Oct. 18 from

Brion May Consulting of Newport Beach. She has collected even more

funds than reported on her statement, she said.

“Every day I’m raising $200 to $500 a day,” Foley said. “It’s been

a multi-faceted campaign, in that respect, because we really do need

to reach every voter we can, and we can only walk so far. I’ve walked

25 miles altogether.”

Another large contribution came from the Orange County Automobile

Dealers Assn., which gave her campaign $1,000.

“[As a planning commissioner], I maintain a good relationship with

them to try to make sure we have open communications on issues

relating to car dealers,” she said.

Her largest expenditure was $9,000 for printing campaign

literature and mailings.

Scheafer, an incumbent, who was appointed to the council last

year, raised the second most in Costa Mesa -- netting $5,626 in the

last two weeks.

Some of his largest contributions include $1,000 from Surat Singh,

who owns Angel’s Auto Spa and $1,000 from the Apartment Assn. of

Orange County Political Action Committee. Like Foley, Scheafer also

received $1,000 from the Orange County Automobile Dealers Assn.

His largest expenditure was about $700 for door hangers. He could

not be reached for comment.

Newport Beach City Council candidates were all over the map, with

some spending in the thousands and one candidate spending nothing at

all.

As in the first period, Rosansky raised and spent the most of the

group. Rosansky, an incumbent who represents West Newport, netted

$10,345 in the period from Oct. 1 to Oct. 16, with some of his

biggest donations coming from political action committees. The

Business & Community Political Action Committee in Newport Beach and

Orange County Automobile Dealers Assn. in Costa Mesa each gave

Rosansky $500.

“I think people basically support what I’ve done on the council,

and they want to see me stay there for another four years,” Rosansky

said.

A majority of his spending -- $6,450 -- was on campaign literature

and mailings.

“You have to get your name out there, so people know that you’re

running,” he said. “It’s name recognition, so the more opportunities

I have to put my name in front of people’s eyes, the more likely I’ll

be successful.”

Councilman John Heffernan raised the second-highest amount with a

$5,000 loan he gave himself. He spent $2,906 of that on signs.

“It’s my own money, so it’s lent rather than a contribution,”

Heffernan said. “I think it’s appropriate to indicate to residents

that I’m in this race, and I intend to win it, by putting up a

significant number of signs.”

If he had been uncontested, he said, he wouldn’t have spent

anything. Heffernan is being challenged by Dolores Otting.

Despite having no challengers, incumbent Steve Bromberg reported

collecting $950 in this period, and he’s not even trying.

“Last time around, I made it clear to people that I’m sending

money back, and I sent back almost $8,000 or $9,000,” Bromberg said.

“What I ran into was a lot of people saying they don’t want the money

back, and some of them were offended that I was giving it back.”

Although he spent nothing in the most recent period, people in his

district should check their mailboxes in the next week or so. He

plans to send out a couple of mailers to tell people what he stands

for, a suggestion from some of his donors.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers government. She may be reached at (714)

966-4623 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com. ALICIA ROBINSON

covers business, politics and the environment. She may be reached at

(714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at alicia.robinson@latimes.com.