Council campaign finances disclosed

Newport Beach City Council candidates’ fundraising is all over the map, but with three months until the election it’s clear at least one candidate will break previous fiscal records.

Councilwoman Leslie Daigle, who is making her first election bid since she was appointed to the council in 2004, has raised more than $63,000 as of June 30, according to campaign finance reports filed with the city clerk. The reports were due Monday for all candidates and committees that have raised or spent more than $1,000, covering the period from Jan. 1 to June 30.

The record amount raised by a winning candidate in Newport appears to be Councilman Tod Ridgeway’s $57,652 in 2002. But the most raised in a race, period, may be the $63,906 former City Manager Bob Wynn collected for his 2000 council bid.

Eight candidates filed funding reports for the six council seats on the November ballot. Three others who have taken out nomination papers to run — Councilman Ed Selich, John Heffernan and Robert Schoonmaker — did not file reports.

The Greenlight residents group has already set a personal record in its drive to pass a growth control ballot measure. Greenlight spokesman Phil Arst said Monday the group has $55,418 in cash on hand — the most the group has ever had unspent at the close of a reporting period.

In 2000, about $97,000 was spent on the first Greenlight measure, which passed with 62% of the vote. That measure required public votes on certain development plans based on their size or the amount of traffic they’re expected to generate.

The new Greenlight effort takes the same tack but goes further, potentially subjecting more developments to a vote.

The campaign finance reports also showed:

The biggest money this fall will likely be spent to defeat Greenlight. A group called Taxpayers Against Greenlight II has been formed but had not filed a fiscal report with the city as of Monday.

Opponents of the first Greenlight measure in 2000 spent more than $720,000, and the second round is considered even more restrictive.

Daigle looks on track to be the candidate with the most to spend. She said Monday she now has close to $80,000 for her campaign.

Whether she’ll break the $100,000 mark — a first for any Newport campaign — she said, “I can’t predict that, but certainly there’s been an outpouring of support.”