Croul boosts Otting campaign

Local philanthropist and former chairman of Behr Process Corp., Jack Croul has poured $90,500 into an independent committee to support activist Dolores Otting’s District 7 City Council campaign, disclosure statements released this week show.

“I’m happy people think I’m worth it,” Otting said. “I’m speechless. Never in my wildest dreams did I think this would happen.”

Otting said she did not know Croul had put so much money into the independent expenditure group Taxpayers for Safer Neighborhoods, but said she was pleased with two pieces of direct mail the group paid for in support of her campaign.

The group has spent about $60,000 on Otting’s campaign so far this year, campaign disclosure statements show. Expenditures included $3,000 on campaign consultants, $6,000 on polling and $16,338 for printing and mailing of fliers supporting Otting.

Otting’s opponent, Councilman Keith Curry, thinks Croul is using the group to circumvent local campaign donation limits.

“Once again, this is an effort by Mr. Croul to buy this election. I don’t believe the citizens of Newport Beach are going to allow that,” Curry said.

Croul was the only contributor to Taxpayers from Safer Neighborhoods July 1 to Sept. 30 this year, according to campaign documents.

Newport Beach limits how much money one person can donate to an individual City Council candidate to $500, but there’s no cap on how much an independent group can spend on fliers and things like television ads and billboards promoting one candidate — as long as a group works independently from the candidate.

“Mr. Curry has a lot of money from his campaign from a lot of sources,” Croul said. “I think we need a fresh look and Otting can give the City Council that.

Croul said he is backing Otting’s campaign because he feels Curry wants the city to take on too much debt. Otting has campaigned on keeping the city’s debt load low.

“[Curry’s] real job is going to cities and showing them how to borrow money,” Croul said. “His job is to get cities to borrow money.”

Curry is a partner at the municipal financial advisory firm PFM. He also sits on the city’s finance committee.

The city has plans to float certificates of participation, or government securities used to raise funds to improve and construct buildings or purchase equipment, to help finance a new senior center and City Hall.

Croul said he is supporting Otting because he believes the city should vote on bond issues to raise funds for such large projects.

“We’ve had one election for City Hall, and that’s enough,” Curry said. “We should get it built and move on.”

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