Political-action committees and other organizations have invested heavily in their choices for Long Beach City Council races. ” captionposition=”right”] The latest campaign finance reports available from the Long Beach City Clerk’s office can shed a lot of light on which candidates for city council are getting love. Three unions and one committee funded largely by corporate representatives and business owners have invested heavily in the April 12 election in which only a portion of the Long Beach residents will be voting.
April 12’s elections will be held to decide representatives to: Long Beach City Council districts 2, 6 and 8; Long Beach Unified School District Board of Education districts 2 and 4; and Long Beach Community College Board of Trustees areas 2 and 4.
There are four independent committees that are not controlled by any candidates running for office, and they are free to print mailers, make phone calls to residents to solicit their votes and even directly contribute up to $400 to a candidate’s official campaign.
So far, only these organizations have been required to file financial reports with the Long Beach City Clerk’s office: the Long Beach Firefighters PAC, Local 372; the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor AFL-CIO Council on Political Education (AFL-CIO); the Long Beach Police Officers Association; and Long Beach Citizens for Good Government.
Long Beach City Clerk Maria de la Luz Garcia confirmed in an email to the Signal Tribune that, to the best of her knowledge, all four committees have so far complied with the rules. All of them are subject to California Fair Political Practices Commission and City rules if they are making any expenditures or receiving donations in connection with a Long Beach election.
Below is a summary of the reports that were filed with the city clerk’s office and available prior to the Signal Tribune’s publication deadline. Pre-election reports for these organizations were due by March 31. The Signal Tribune will update the amounts next week when campaign donations will be explored.
Committee name:
Long Beach Firefighters PAC, Local 372
Type of committee: State general-purpose committee with reported independent expenditures
Amount spent to support candidates for city council (latest available reports dated through March 24)
Dee Andrews (6th District) $8,324.49
Al Austin (8th District) $8,765.16
Daryl Supernaw (4th District) $5,066.42
Fourth District Councilmember Supernaw was unopposed for his seat and will not need to run for re-election. The Long Beach Firefighters acknowledged that $5,066.42 has been spent on mailers and magnets sent to residents in gratitude of Supernaw’s service.
Rex Pritchard, president of the Long Beach Firefighters, Local 372, in a phone interview said that the mailers to residents to thank Supernaw were “money well spent,” explaining that in non-election years, the firefighters union has sent positive mailers acknowledging city councilmembers, even if they are not running for office.
The firefighters union also spent more than $17,000 on mailers and magnets in support of Andrews and Austin, but those efforts specifically focused on support of their campaigns to run for office.
“They’re just extremely strong supporters of the fire department,” Pritchard said of Andrews and Austin, “and are making headway in convincing people that we need to begin to restore fire resources that have been cut during the Great Recession.”
Committee name:
LA County Federation of Labor AFL-CIO Council on Political Education
Type of committee: State general-purpose committee with reported independent expenditures
Amount spent to support candidate for city council (latest available reports dated through March 30)
Jeannine Pearce (2nd District) $18,957.69
LA County’s AFL-CIO sent out only a general statement about all of the candidates they supported.
“Our endorsed candidates,” said executive secretary-treasurer Rusty Hicks, “support issues that matter to Los Angeles’s growing economy such as affordable housing, good jobs, access to reliable transportation and a fair wage.”
Committee name:
Los Angeles Police Officers Association PAC
Type of committee: City general-purpose committee
Amount spent to support candidates for city council (latest available reports dated through March 23)
Dee Andrews (6th District) $400
Eric Gray (2nd District) $400
This particular group directly donated $400 each to Andrews’s and Gray’s campaigns.
Committee name:
Long Beach Citizens for Good Government
Type of committee: City general-purpose committee with reported independent expenditures
Amount spent to support candidates for city council (latest available reports dated through March 29)
Joen Garnica (2nd District) $14,722.80
Wesley Turnbow (8th District) $13,989.62
Multiple calls and messages to the numbers listed on the campaign finance reports for this committee were not returned prior to press time. Many of the donors noted on the reports are corporate entities and business owners.
