The Political Landscape:

U.S. Rep. John Campbell has raised $630,375 for his November reelection bid compared to Democratic challenger Beth Krom, who raised $299,026 by the end of 2009, according to newly released campaign disclosure statements.

Campbell’s donors include big names in finance like the brokerage house Charles Schwab, which has given the Congressman $9,355, and the Commercial Mortgage Securities Assn. and Credit Suisse Securities PAC, which pitched in $4,000 a piece.

Campbell also has dumped $315,000 of his own money into the race this election cycle, according to campaign disclosure statements.

Krom’s donors included labor interests including the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which gave the Irvine city councilwoman $5,000. The Amalgamated Transit Union gave Krom $1,000.

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore has raised more than $1.2 million in his bid to unseat Sen. Barbara Boxer in November.

DeVore first must duke it out with former Hewlett-Packard executive Carly Fiorina and former Congressman Tom Campbell in the June Republican primary.

Both latecomers to the race, Fiorina and Campbell reported no campaign contributions for 2009.

CITY COUNCIL REJECTS ROOF BIDS

The Costa Mesa City Council voted unanimously to reject all bids from companies that offered to replace the city’s old corporation yard building on 2300 Placentia Ave.

The roof, which was constructed in 1967, no longer fully deters rain and is in need of replacement.

This is the second time the project is being stalled.

The first time the city issued ads to get a new roof installed, it was canceled due to a lack of funding.

This time, the city is going to use funds from the Obama administration’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which allocated $3.2 billion in energy efficiency and conservation projects.

Costa Mesa received about $1 million to use toward energy efficiency programs.

Although 18 companies submitted bids to replace the roof, the City Council voted to reject all of them after the staff’s recommendation.

The bids were rejected because language in the advertisement wasn’t clear enough, leading bidders to submit insufficient offers. The lowest bidder offered to replace the roof for $25,000, but later asked to withdraw because of a clerical error. The second and third bidders were not certified by the manufacturer to install the roof, and therefore were disqualified. The fourth highest bidder offered to replace the city’s old corporation yard roof for $168,930.

Staff will now redraft the advertisement for the roof.