Grindle: Local Candidates Need to Respect Campaign Finance Rules

By Shirley Grindle | February 8, 2016

In the last few years I have noticed that more and more candidates running for local offices (Council seats, School Districts) either are ignorant of the campaign rules or choose to ignore them.

The latest example are most of the candidates running for a Trustee position on the North Orange County Community College District (NOCCCD) — up for election this Tuesday.

For the first time in many years, this Trustee position is to be filled by an election and not merely by an appointment by the other Trustees.

There are four candidates running in this election: Stephen Blount, Steve Hwangbo, Daniel Billings and Al Salehi.

As of this writing, Blount has not filed his Campaign Disclosure Statement that was due on Jan. 28th – in other words he is now 11 days past the filing deadline.

Steven Hwangbo is in even worse compliance with campaign laws in that he has not filed ANY Campaign Disclosure Statements according to the Registrar of Voters office which have sent him two letters apprising him of the missing reports.

Daniel Billings has had a Complaint filed with the Fair Political Practices Commission regarding his failure to identify who or what is paying for his campaign signs, door hangers, mailers, etc. State law requires all of these items to include the statement “Paid for by Daniel Billings for NOCCCD 2016”. Although Billings was notified of this requirement early in his campaign, he continues to post signs and other campaign literature without this disclosure requirement.

Campaign law is all about disclosure so that the voters can determine where the candidate’s funds are coming from.

To ignore these disclosure rules is the height of arrogance and shows a true lack of ethical conduct.

Ignorance of our campaign laws, which have been in place since Watergate, is no excuse.

And if it is due to arrogance on the part of the candidates who do not comply with our campaign laws, then SHAME ON THEM.

LFOldTimer

Why would politicians respect campaign finance rules when there’s really no visible means of enforcement and when ballot measures that are initiated to address the problem have loopholes a mile wide? Look, if the police did not respond to bank robberies and failed to do any substantial follow-up investigations after the fact to find the culprits, would there be more bank robbers or less? This all seems to be common sense to me. But maybe I’m missing something.
- David Zenger
  
  I know! Let’s make a Commission!
  - LFOldTimer
    
    And then 5 years down the road let’s form an ad-hoc committee to investigate why the commission failed. Once that’s done we can implement new training programs and enlarge the scope of the failed commission. Yeah, that’s the ticket!
    - Jacki Livingston
      
      Oh, wait…ohohohohoh! *raises hand* How about we send the offenders to some dumb, ridiculous servant leadership program that costs millions of dollars, with kickbacks to county officials. No one loses their pension, and they spend more money to teach them that they are public servants who are there to serve each other, not the public! (I kid you not, that is the training)
      - LFOldTimer
        
        Or if they do screw up so badly that they’re forced to resign in disgrace use old campaign funds to throw a going-away party for them (w/all supes in attendance) and hand them a $300,000 golden parachute. Mel Brooks couldn’t write material this bizarre.
      - Jacki Livingston
        
        Amen, LFOT. I have said, many times, that if I wrote a script of the insanity I have dealt with from these morons, over the last six years, I would never be able to sell it in Hollywood, because no one would believe that each and every person in the high levels of county government is this corrupt, or stupid and inept. It is a gd Greek tragedy.