The semi-annual FPPC forms for various political committees were due last week (July 31). Interesting things I've found in the current crop of filings:
1. Apparently, "Rosemead PRIDE" is not polling well. People have figured out they're a front for Wal-Mart. So now Wal-Mart has two more front organizations that have filed forms to organize, accept contributions, and spend money against the recall. Losers. Like anyone will doubt who's paying for all the attack pieces they intend to spawn on that last weekend before election day.
2. Rosemead PRIDE has accepted another $20,000 from Wal-Mart. Oh, it doesn't really say that on the forms. What the forms actually DO say is that "PRIDE" has accepted "loans" from folks like Mike Lewis (Wal-Mart's hired gun from West Covina) to the tune of $20,000. But is there any doubt where the money is going to come from to repay those loans? Do you think Mike Lewis is lending PRIDE those big dollars out of the goodness of his heart? Of course not! They're just trying to hide the purse strings until after the election. But only a "Prider" would be so stupid as to think that their little shell game was going to fool anyone. Losers.
3. The committees supporting Polly Low and Victor Ruiz filed their reports on time. And you'll notice that both committees spent substantial amounts of money at the local Office Depot. Make sense. They're grassroots campaigns and need to pay retail for a lot of their office supplies. But at least they're spending their money locally, supporting local jobs and increasing the local tax base. None of the other campaign reports I saw showed any spending in Rosemead. Indeed, as has been true on past reports, a good chunk of the PRIDE dollars are going to Mike Lewis and his employees (contract or otherwise).
4. Low and Ruiz were the only challengers who filed FPPC forms. The third candidate, the one who creeps among the shadows to post his campaign signs on empty fields and public right-of-ways, did not file his required form. That means this candidate (who took in all of $50 in contributions in his last filing) either violated state law, or took in little or nothing during the current calendar year, and does not intend to collect or spend more than $1000 through the end of the year. Loser. Any wonder why he tried to have his name removed from the election ballot?
Pre-Election FPPC Reports Due 8/10/2006
The next batch of FPPC reports were due last week. Wal-Mart's newest front group, "Rosemead Neighbors (sic) Against the Recall," reported $25,000 in contributions from Wal-Mart. But that's not the interesting part. The interesting part is that this organization has incurred an additional $71,370 in expenses. Just like for so-called Rosemead (sic) PRIDE, this group is spending way more than it's taking in. And the reason why it is able to do this is that Wal-Mart stands behind it.
So add up all the money that Wal-Mart has either dumped into Rosemead or had dumped into Rosemead as of August 5, and we're somewhere in the neighborhood of $200,000. And I remind you that this is in a city with only 17,500 voters. Only about 4,000 of them are likely to vote in the recall election (if past trends hold). That means they've already spent an astonishing $50 on each likely voter, trying to persuade them with their lies, inuendo, and half-truths. What kind of dogs must their candidates be that $50/voter is not going to be enough to win an election? So expect them to double or triple that total over the next 4 1/2 weeks.
Incidentally, the other Wal-Mart front group, "No on Rosemead Recall," reported $1,400 in itemized cash contributions. Over half of that money ($800) came from either hired gun Mike Lewis, one of his paid employees, or Jay Imperial's immediate family. The additional itemized contributions came from all of four additional individuals, all of whom were Rosemead (sic) PRIDE contributors. In other words, it's not exactly a groundswell of support building for the incumbents.
Oddly enough, NONE of the Wal-Mart front groups have a listed expenditure for POL--Polling and Survey Research. That's odd because the FPPC forms require disclosure of the types of payments that are made, and one of those allowable codes is POL. How can this be, when so many of us have received phone calls purporting to be conducting a public opinion survey of Rosemead residents? What are the possiblities?
1. Wal-Mart is breaking the law by spending money that it is not declaring.
2. Even Wal-Mart knows that what they're doing isn't real public opinion/survey research.
3. The "survey" expenses are buried in the money paid to Mike Lewis.
Either way, something fishy is going on.
Last pre-election FPPC reports filed
The last pre-election reports were due Thusday, September 7. Wal-Mart's spending for the current calendar year (actually, just from July 1, 2006 - September 2, 2006, and just for "Rosmead Neighbors (sic) Against the Recall) is now $200,000. That brings their total spending since February 2005 up to over $340,000.
We'll have to keep checking back to see if there are any additional "late" contributions, expenditures, or independent expenditures. Recall that in the last week before the March 2005 elections, Wal-Mart spent nearly $60,000. We gotta expect they'll make an even bigger dump of cash in Rosemead this time around.
More humor in reviewing the FPPC forms
The folks who used to be Rosemead PRIDE, now going under the name of No on Rosemead Recall, also filed their FPPC forms last week. I'd love to be their banker, because they obviously can't balance a checkbook.
Total expenditures made: $6892
Beginning cash balance: $1,550
Cash receipts: $813
Cash payments: $1,734
Outstanding Debts: $5,158
Just as with Rosemead PRIDE and with Rosemead Neighbors Against the Recall, they managed to spend a lot more money than they took in. Anyone care to guess who will pay off those outstanding debts after the election? Yep, so count another $5,000+ in spending coming in from Wal-Mart.