 |
|
|
|
|
Disputed funds shed light on inner workings of fire campaign
Expensive campaign got little county oversight
Impropriety was avoided
By Oakley Brooks
In the midst of a highly competitive and expensive Saratoga Fire District commission election this past fall, questionable contributions momentarily landed in the coffers of eventual winners Joe Long and Jay Geddes before a local lawyer advised them to refund the money.
The contributions--$2,500 to each candidate from a local nonprofit group called the Retired Saratoga Volunteer Firemen Inc.--were made on Oct. 13, three weeks before the Nov. 6 election.
They were returned promptly after Long's campaign manager, Saratoga attorney Russell Perry advised both candidates and officers with the Retired Firemen that the contributions violated the federal rules that govern the Firemen group's nonprofit status.
"It was all above board," says Henry Clarke, the secretary of the Retired Firemen's group, and a former fire commissioner.
Although the contributions were handed back, and an independent expert on nonprofit law says they were possibly legal, the incident sheds some light on the workings of the election that was Saratoga's most intriguing political struggle this fall.
En route to being the top vote-getter, Long raised more than $23,000 for his campaign, and spent at least $4,000 on veteran Oakland political consultants Lew Edwards Group. Geddes took in $7,700, while the losers in the election, Firefighter and Citizen Task force members Barry Ford and Dave Dolloff raised a combined $7,859. Much of the candidates' money was spent on mailers and advertising.
Almost all of the contributions came from individuals; some of them were high- profile figures in the city--City Councilman Stan Bogosian and West Valley-Mission College District Trustee Jeffrey Schwartz who gave to Dolloff and Ford. Joe Long's mother, Ruth Long, pitched in $10,000 to her son's campaign.
And the campaign contributions unsurprisingly split the firehouse, with Chief Ernie Kraule sending funds and support to Geddes and Long, and the Saratoga Firefighters Association contributing to Dolloff and Ford's campaign.
Each contribution was noted in a detailed campaign statement that the candidates filed with the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, with every expenditure outlined.
However, the campaign drew no oversight from the state's Fair Political Practices Commission. As a local election under the county's supervision, the candidates are left to virtually police themselves.
According to the registrar of voter's election division coordinator Shannon Bushey, the county only sees that each campaign filing is complete with dates and signatures. The state does not train county officials to do a full audit of campaign statements. So any improper donation has to be caught by a candidate or citizen who cares to bring it the attention of the Fair Political Practices Commission. Otherwise, a mistake along the lines of the Retired Fireman's donation goes unnoticed.
Long an active social group in the community, the Retired Firemen dates back more than a half century to the days when Saratoga's fire protection was provided exclusively by volunteers.
In 1998, with the group's numbers dwindling, officers decided to sell the Oak Street hall firefighters had built on donated land in the late 1950s. The sale earned the group $212,000, according to tax records.
Over the next two years, it gave grants to local groups like the Saratoga Education Foundation and the Rotary Foundation, as well as the Saratoga Firefighters Association, for training exercises.
Then in 2000, after changing its official name from "Saratoga Fire Department" to "Retired Saratoga Volunteer Firemen Inc.," the group gave $50,491 to the campaign for a new fire station. Known as Measure F on the April 2000 ballot, the bond measure was heavily backed by fire district commissioners.
Clarke, the Retired Firemen's treasurer and still a commissioner at that time, says there was nothing wrong with the group contributing to a political campaign, nor with his simultaneous involvement in both bodies. "When there was a vote involving the district, I usually sat out," Clarke says.
According to attorney Greg Colvin, partner with nonprofit specialists Silk, Adler & Colvin in San Francisco, it is legal for 501(c)4 organizations, such as the Retired Firemen's group, to contribute to ballot measures such as Measure F. Colvin says that by his interpretation of federal law, it would also be legal for such a group to contribute to individual candidates in local elections.
"So long as the primary expenditures of the group are for things other than political campaigns, it may make a political contribution on behalf of a candidate," Colvin says.
Still, Long says he was glad that Perry advised him and Geddes to return the contributions.
"I think it's better to err on the side of caution," Long says.
Long says he's not sure if the district will continue to remain a battleground in Saratoga, and if he'll have to gear up for another expensive campaign in the future.
The smoke is still clearing from the last election--"I've never seen anything like it," says Chief Kraule.
|
|
|
|
Saratoga, California Since 1955
