Politics & Government

A Quarter of Measure A Votes Are In; Big Spenders on Both Sides Are Out In Force

As the polls open for the the Measure A special election Tuesday, San Clemente Patch takes a look at the final spending numbers by opposing campaigns.

The big spenders have been out in force leading up Tuesday's Measure A vote, approval of which would allow to move forward.

Voters will be hitting the polls Tuesday morning, but about 25 percent of registered voters have already cast their ballots by mail. According to the registrar of voters, 10,202 mail votes are sitting in Santa Ana ready for counting Tuesday night, a big turnout for a special election before it even starts.

There are 41,332 registered voters in San Clemente, according to the registrar.

Find out what's happening in San Clementewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

All told, the different factions of have spent more than $100,000 this calendar year on moving the 50,000 square-foot retail village project forward.

has spent roughly $30,000 over the same time period trying to stymie the measure.

Find out what's happening in San Clementewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Though , the Pro-A political action committee; the California Association of Realtors; ; and a separate group called San Clemente Businesses for Responsible Growth have injected tens of thousands into the campaign.

According to campaign filings, the California Association of Realtors handed over $45,000 to help pay for mailers, ads, phone calls and political consultants.

In all, the Pro North Beach Vision Coalition, in favor of a “yes on A” vote, brought in $62,745 as of Feb. 19. The group reported several thousand in extra donations in the last-minute filings leading up to the election; campaign law requires reporting of significant donations every 24 hours leading up to the election.

LAB has spent about $20,000 over the last two weeks on brochures, mailings and another view simulation. This is in addition to the roughly $23,000 it spent independently and has donated to the Pro North Beach Vision Coalition from Jan. 11 through Feb. 19.

San Clemente Businesses for Responsible Growth independently has spent a total of about $20,000 on the campaign.

The “no on A” PAC, Vision San Clemente, has received a total of $25,343 in donations to date for the year, as well as $18,000 from Jan. 23 through Feb. 19. Charles Mann, one of the chief financiers of the “no on A” campaign, had put more than $20,000 into the effort, according to the January filing.

He has since loaned the campaign about $8,000—Vision San Clemente owes the same amount in bills to a printer and two credit cards in service of the “no” campaign, according to the late February financial disclosure from the “no” PAC.

Vision San Clemente has done some last-minute receiving of donations and spending of its own.

Vision San Clemente spent $2,428 on fliers early in March.

Other big-ticket donors to “no on A” include Gary Hopp, who has so far donated $6,446 in total to the campaign.

Lead project opponent and former San Clemente Councilman Wayne Eggleston donated another $500 over the last filing period; Larry Corwin donated $1,941.

Ichibiri, the Japanese restaurant next to the proposed Playa del Norte site in North Beach, donated $1,000 to the "no" campaign, and is hosting a group of Measure A opponents to await the vote counts Tuesday evening.

Keep an eye on San Clemente Patch for frequent updates and election coverage throughout the day.

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Editor's note: The author of this article, who lives in a North Beach neighborhood, is declining to vote in this election to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest. The author also did not vote in November's City Council election.

Full disclosure: Martin Berube, who donated $484 to Vision San Clemente in support of a “no” vote on Measure A, is a personal friend of the author of this article.


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