Thanks to John Knox White, we can now confirm that Beverly Johnson’s total expenditure during the 2002 elections was approx $36k. This is a far cry from the unsubstantiated rumor being peddled by David Howard that Johnson raised over $100k. To put this in further context, Pat Bail spent more than $100k of her own money during the 2004 elections. As Michael Krueger points out, this was nearly 10x (that’s right: 10 times!) many, many more than ten times the size of the average campaign donation to Johnson. That Pat Bail went on to join the long list of people (anybody remember Michael Huffington?) who failed in their attempt to buy an election is another story.
Now, you have to ask yourself why are Slate supporters spreading these unsubstantiated rumors? Could this be a sign of desperation that their doomsday scenarios are not reasonating with the public at large?
Inquiring minds want to know.
(Update: Added link to Alameda Journal article documenting Pat Bail’s 2004 campaign finances. Thanks to Michael K.)
October 11, 2006 at 8:24 am |
The oft-repeated Pat Bail/120M claim strains credulity. 4X more than the mayoral race winner?
I was around for that campaign, it it wasn’t 4X bigger than anyone elses. Were her signs gold-plated? Did she buy Super Bowl ad time?
I know she DID spend a lot of her own money, but I remain skeptical about the 6 figure claim.
October 11, 2006 at 10:55 am |
Bingo! You hit the nail on the head. Thanks to John and Michael for their investigative reports. There is way too much negative spiel from Slate & Co.
Love the dubya-pinocchio image!
October 11, 2006 at 11:32 am |
I completely agree with Dave’s assertion that the amount Ms. Bail spent on her council campaign “strains credulity”; however, unlike a lot of the innuendo that’s been floating around lately, her over-the-top spending is a well-documented fact.
Although I haven’t been down to the City Clerk’s office to check the exact figure, there is no debate that Ms. Bail spent at least $100,000 of her own money on her failed 2004 council campaign. This was reported in the Alameda Journal as recently as August 15, 2006. Her massive spending was documented in a number of articles during the campaign, two of which are preserved for posterity here and here on Mike McMahon’s Web site.
If you just don’t trust the “mainstream media,” there’s always the “award-winning” investigative “journalism” of our very own Don “Scoop” Roberts. On the September 13, 2006, episode of the Don Roberts Show, I heard Ms. Bail freely admit that she spent over $100,000 on her campaign, a fact that was also reported in this post on Blogging Bayport Alameda. (Personally, I cannot stand to watch Mr. Roberts’ program without a stiff drink in hand, so it’s always good to have independent confirmation.)
If you don’t believe that, look at the second comment on this post on the Medastyle blog, where Ms. Bail herself wrote, “I spent $100,000.00 of my own money on my failed campaign for City Council.” Sounds like an open-and-shut case to me.
I share Dave’s puzzlement at what she spent all that money on. Her lawn signs weren’t gold plated, but my recollection is that in addition to the usual signs, fliers, and mailings, she also aired TV ads, hired a large billboard-bearing truck (or trucks?), and gave away refrigerator magnets and glossy color posters. I suppose all of that campaign swag adds up.
October 11, 2006 at 11:42 am |
For the record, that’s not quite what I said. Ms. Bail’s contributions to her own campaign were ten times the average size of the specific donations David Howard (AKA keepmeasurea) listed here. Although Mr. Howard claimed that these donations were to the Johnson campaign, Mr. Knox White later revealed that this is not true.
Given that Ms. Bail’s contribution to her own campaign was nearly three times larger than the total donated directly to Johnson ($35,600, according to the City Clerk), I imagine that Ms. Bail’s contribution was many, many more than ten times the average donation to Johnson’s campaign.
October 11, 2006 at 11:55 am |
Thanks for clarifying. Looks even worse now …
October 13, 2006 at 12:01 pm |
I have repeatedly offered to share the documentation that I have – to date, nobody has requested a copy from me. My email address is on my blog.
“Californians for Neighborhood Preservation” spent thousands of dollars on “Literature to Support Bev. Johnson” FPPC 1248909. Late Independent Expeniture Report, Form 496, filed 10/30/2002, report # LIE282002-21030
The same document lists the following contributors to the PAC:
The DeSilva Group $10,000
Oakland Police Officers Association $10,000
The DeSilva Group $5,000
Doric Realty (Rown Cowan) $25,000
No CA Carpenters Regional $1,000
Lahori Ram $15,000
Cabc, Inc. $17,500
Foster Interstate Media $10,000
SENTE PAC $9000
Dryer’s Grand Ice Cream $10,000
Signature Properties $1000
NONE of these contributors have an Alameda address.
Just to name a few. If you add all this up, plus numerous other smaller donations (on the order of $1000 or so) plus the donations on Johnson’s own PAC forms (FPPC 1244901) it comes to well over $100,000.
If you add column A and column B from Johnson’s 460 Form, for FPPC 1244901, covering October 20 to Dec. 31, 2002, the total expenditures arrive at $50,202.38, not $36K. Beth is counting only Column B it looks like.
My claim stands – when you count the soft money raised through
“Californians for Neighborhood Preservation” – funded by land developrs – plus the hard money through Johnson’s own PAC, it comes to well over $100,000 that she raised.
Not to mention the mailing that she claimed to know nothing about, which caused a scandal as reported in the Oakland Tribune by Robert Gammon and North Gate News.
Land developers bought Johnson’s Mayoral seat for her in 2002. And thereby, she can be considered a failure, as she failed to steer her funders (Shea Properties was an APCP partner) to success in developing Alameda Point.
October 13, 2006 at 10:44 pm |
http://keepmeasurea.wordpress.com/2006/10/13/how-to-launder-money-to-elect-a-mayor/
October 14, 2006 at 2:27 pm |
For a thorough debunking of Mr. Howard’s doubly erroneous “Mayor Johnson raised over $100,000″ claim, see the “Oh . . .Snap!” post on Blogging Bayport Alameda in general and comments #22 and #30 in particular.