Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/campaign-finance/)
Large numbers of people in Orange County may have already cast their ballot without getting a conclusive look at who’s really backing the candidates they voted for.
Carroll has refused multiple opportunities to discuss the spending with Voice of OC.
Irvine City Councilman Mike Carroll spent $70,000 on mailers over the past year, drawing from his staff budget to finance the postage.
Carroll says the accusations are electioneering and the mailers were sent to inform the public about Irvine’s response to the pandemic.
Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu paid off his 2016 Assembly campaign debt and a portion of his 2018 mayor campaign debt by fundraising for both campaign committees beginning in December. It’s a move some local politics experts said is an example of loopholes in campaign finance regulations.
The Nov. 6 election comes as the city faces an ever-worsening financial crisis, pulling $10 million in one-time money this year to make ends meet.
Over $2 million from corporations and corporate PACs, whose donations have become a campaign issue this year, has flowed to all the campaign accounts of candidates from both parties in the four hotly contested Orange County Congressional seats, according to federal campaign disclosures.
Government emails and text messages about enforcement of Orange County’s campaign finance laws will be destroyed two years after they’re sent or received, under a policy county supervisors approved Tuesday.
The Disneyland Resort has spent almost $1 million to influence Anaheim city council campaigns and oppose a minimum wage initiative with three weeks to go before the Nov. 6 election, more than it spent at this point ahead of the 2016 election.
Voters have no way of seeing who provided the $2.6 million-plus in dark money supporting or opposing candidates in the four Orange County races key to the battle for control of Congress.