‘B’ opponents can’t keep up with donations

***CORRECTION: This article incorrectly identified the building inhabited by The Cannery restaurant on Balboa Peninsula as the original fish cannery building that once was on the site. The old building was demolished in the 1970s.***

Retired Newport Beach businessman Jack Croul gave a group behind a Feb. 5 ballot measure on city hall a hefty financial boost earlier this week with another $100,000 donation. Croul also gave the group $80,000 earlier this month.

In total, Croul has given the group City Hall in the Park $468,223 — the vast bulk of its funding, according to campaign disclosure records released Friday.

Members of the political group Newporters Vote No on B, which opposes Measure B, a ballot measure on where the next city hall will be built, say they can’t compete with Croul’s large donations.

“I think you have to ask about the motivation — it’s just checkbook politics,” said Karen Tringali, an organizer for Newporters Vote No on B. “It does not seem to be a grassroots effort when a few financial backers are forcing taxpayers to deal with this.”

Croul is best known locally for saving a historical fish cannery building on Balboa Peninsula from demolition in 2000. Croul purchased the site of the now successful restaurant The Cannery to rescue it from being bulldozed for housing.

Croul could not be reached for comment Friday — he’s on vacation in the Caribbean this week, said Bill Ficker, lead Measure B proponent.

Ficker said Croul’s motives are purely philanthropic.

“He [Croul] gives very generously in the things he believes in,” Ficker said. “He believes strongly in what I’m doing and gives to a lot of causes. He and his wife are very generous philanthropists.”

Ficker said his group continues to have a large amount of grassroots support in the community outside of Croul’s support.

“It was expensive and very costly to put something like this on the ballot, and we had such a short time to do it,” Ficker said. “We have had a lot of other contributors, and we virtually have not asked people to help. Everything has been voluntary.”

The most recent campaign disclosure statements for Newporters Vote No on B were not immediately available from the Newport Beach City Clerk’s office Friday, but the group has struggled to keep up with City Hall in the Park’s spending, Tringali said.

“We continue to get funding every single day, but we’re nowhere near the magnitude of City Hall in the Park,” she said. “As soon as the last campaign report came out, it was obvious that we would not be able to compete.”

City Hall in the Park campaign organizers raised $334,701 in total donations in 2007, according to campaign financial statements — most of the funds came from Croul. Meanwhile, Newporters Vote No on B managed to raise only $143,480 in total campaign contributions in 2007.

Noted philanthropist and Steele family heir Audrey Steele Burnand has become the main benefactor of the Newporters Vote No — she gave the group $125,00 last year, campaign financial statements show.

“She certainly gave us a very generous contribution that allowed us to do a number of things early on in the campaign,” Tringali said. “She’s very important to our campaign.”

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.