Money trail links LEAPS investor to three candidate campaigns

Campaign finance disclosure documents reveal a financial connection between private investor, The Hydro Company or The Nevada Hydro Company, Inc., and three candidates running for three seats on the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District (EVMWD) board of directors.

The campaigns of Division 3 candidate Judy Guglielmana, Division 5 incumbent Kristine Anderson and Division 1 incumbent W.R. “Ben” Wicke have received financial assistance by an entity called the California Taxpayer Protection Committee which received almost all of its funds from the Nevada Hydro Company, Inc..

The Nevada Hydro Company, Inc. and the EVMWD entered into a contractual agreement in 1997 to bring the Lake Elsinore Advanced Pump Storage( LEAPS) project to reality. A new contract between the partners is being negotiated as the project enters the next licensing phase.

The current board head-count on LEAPS stands at 4-1 directors in support of the project with director Chris Hyland, representing Lakeland Village which will house the underground pump storage plant on the shore of Lake Elsinore, and the piping system to pump water up to a proposed man-made reservoir in the Cleveland National Forest, is adamantly against the project.

According to the California Taxpayer Protection Committee campaign documents which were filed with the California Fair Practices Political Commission of the secretary of state, the committee was formed on July 5, 2006 in Elverta, California which is near Sacramento. Its executive director and treasurer is Thomas N. Hudson, Esq.

Filings on October 5 for the latest campaign reporting deadline show it received a total of $22,000 during the July 1, 2006 through September 30, 2006. The Nevada Hydro Company, Inc. donated $20,000 to the committee on Sept. 19 and Control Technology, Inc. contributed $1,000 on Sept. 12. Both companies list the same Vista, California address on campaign documents and corporate information with the secretary of state. Hudson did not return phone calls to the committee office or his office by deadline for comment.

The committee spent $2,843.00 for division 5 incumbent Kristine Anderson’s campaign expenses- $600 for Riverside County Registrar of Voters filing fees according to committee documents (Anderson later clarified in an interview that her own election committee paid for her filing fees and the committee paid for additional campaign materials from the Registrar’s office); and a total of $2243 for slate mailers by Citizens for Representative Government, Official Nonpartisan Voter Guide of California, California Voter Guide, The Early Voter, Continuing the Republican Revolution, Voter Information Guide, and Save Prop. 13.

Division 5 incumbent Ben Wicke is facing challenger Doug Pinnow, a retired engineer. The committee also financed Wicke’s campaign materials from the Registrar of Voters of $600; paid $275 towards the hiring of a freelance photographer for campaign literature and paid $630 for placement on similar slate mailers.

The campaign to elect Judy Guglielmana in Division 3 is also listed and the committee paid $135 for her placement in a Voter Information Guide slate mailer.

Amongst several mailers which recently landed in division 3 voters’ mailboxes over the weekend promoting Guglielmana’s campaign, one depicts Hyland at a water board meeting and calls Hyland “a liar.” The committee’s name is displayed as the financers of the mailer.

The battle for division 3 has become fierce. Hyland is well-known for her opposition to the LEAPS project. In a previous interview, Guglielmana said she lives at the base of the Santa Ana Mountains and will be directly affected by LEAPS. She said, ”I am not in favor of LEAPS.” When asked if she would ever change her mind she replied,” At this point, everything I know about it and what they’re doing and where it’s going- absolutely not. I can’t see myself changing my position on it, but I don’t think it’s fair to say “never”.”

The committee based near Sacramento also spent $600 each against the “Rebuild California” statewide propositions- Propositions 1B through 1E and proposition 84. The rest of the monies spent were funneled into the EVMWD directors’ races in southern California.

The fact that their contribution may have been used to attack their endorsed candidate, Chris Hyland was news to the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association (HJTA) and HJTA Political Action Committee.

HJTA president, Jon Coupal was contacted by Hyland when signs appeared paid by the Elverta-based committee defacing Hyland’s signs one Saturday morning. The HJTA immediately faxed a letter to Hyland reiterating their support for her.

As for the Elverta committee’s donation to Hyland’s opponent and other EVMWD candidates Coupal said, “I don’t know anything about those billboards or those signs. Chris Hyland is our endorsed candidate. Anybody who is trying to say otherwise is not being truthful.”

He said the HJTA gave an unsolicited contribution of $1,000 to the committee to help with their volunteer effort against various propositions. It was never our intention that our funds be used against her, he said. “The contribution had nothing to do with this race,” he said.

It is a small world in the world of politics according to campaign disclosure and other documents.

A website search domain for Guglielmana’s website http://www.judygfor waterboard.com revealed it was set up in July by a John Franklin in Washington D.C. The website has not begun operation as of deadline.

Wicke’s latest re-election campaign documents lists a $125 contribution from David Mark and Company at the same Vista address as Nevada Hydro Company, Inc. and Control Technology, Inc. with the exception of a suite number. He also lists $1009.61 paid to Paule Consulting, Inc., a campaign consulting form owned by Phil Paule. Paule is on leave of absence from his position as District Director for U.S. Congressman Darrell Issa since approximately September 2006. Paule is pursuing a board of director’s seat on the Eastern Municipal Water District against 20-year incumbent and retired farmer Roger Siems. Paule has publicly supported the LEAPS project in a column in a political blog.

Anderson explained she was first contacted by the committee about two months ago and they said they wanted to help with her campaign. “I knew the opposition had formed a committee,” she said, “And I would need to spend more money than we had in the past.” So she accepted their help.

She was notified by the group of expenditures made on her behalf after she filed her Oct. 3 filing, so she had to file another statement to list their financial support.

She said she was unaware of Nevada Hydro Company, Inc.’s financial backing of the committee.

Campaign reports filed during their election run in 2004 by current directors Phil Williams and Harvey Ryan list expenditures of $525 for campaign literature produced by Gilliard, Blanning, Wysocki and Associates. One of the firm’s partners, Chris Wysocki is the spokesman for the Nevada Hydro Company, Inc. and a well-known political consulting firm.

What does it all mean? Is the financial backing of current candidates and/ or close ties of a private company with an interest in the voting patterns of EVMWD directors with a potential multi-million dollar project on the line illegal, unethical or politics as usual?

According to government watchdog advocacy groups, the financial relationship between the Nevada Hydro Company, Inc. and EVMWD is permissible without direct evidence of the use of public funds to back Nevada Hydro’s favored candidates. EVMWD has advanced approximately $2.5 million dollars to Nevada Hydro during their partnership. It is legal unless the $20,000 funding contributed by Nevada Hydro can be traced to the EVMWD public funds.

California Fair Political Practices Commission spokesman John Matthews could not comment on the particular situation. “Generally, a receipt of a contribution does not give rise to a violation of an elected official,” he said. Campaign restrictions are stricter on non-elected officials such as local boards and commissions.

Bob Stern is president of the nonprofit and nonpartisan Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles and is the former Elections Counsel for the secretary of state. Stern said even the fact that EVMWD and Nevada Hydro are business partners and have a contract, does not prohibit Nevada Hydro from contributing money to an individual candidate’s campaign.

“It doesn’t make any difference unless the money for the water district to finance the campaign is public funds. That is hard to prove,” he said.

Clearly, the water district and the investor would want LEAPS to be approved, he said. “But I don’t see it (illegal action) at this point.”