On Monday, I reported the inaugural contribution to the pro-council districts campaign committee was $3,500 donation on May 9, 2014 from one of the lead attorneys suing Anaheim on behalf of Anaheim City School District (ACSD) Board of Education member Jose Moreno (who has successfully avoided running for re-election this November under a by-district system because he slow-walked their introduction into the ACSD).
I would have reported it two months ago, except the Committee for District Elections ( a spin-off of UNITE-HERE-spin-off OCCORD) never reported it to the Anaheim City Clerk. I happen to find it during a search of the Secretary of State’s CAL-ACCESS database – not where one would ordinarily go for information on contributions in Anaheim campaigns.
Although Morris Baller’s $3,500 check was received on May 9, the Committee for District Elections didn’t report it until May 12. Given that is was a late contribution, meaning it should have been reported within 24 hours.
Campaigns and committees sometimes miss reporting deadlines. As long as such omissions are the exception rather than the rule and are remedied in a timely fashion, then no harm, no foul. At the same time, it’s strange that the Committee for District Elections made its Form 410 Statement of Organization filings with the City Clerk – both before and after Mr. Baller’s contribution — it reported Baller’s contribution to the Secretary of State, instead.
As noted in previous posts, the Committee for District Elections has a symbiotic relationship with OCCORD, the non-profit advocacy group whose self-professed mission is to shift Orange County’s political orientation to the Left (and grant immediate citizenship to anyone in the country illegally). It is run by the OCCORD’s founding executive director, veteran organizer Eric Altman. It’s treasurer is OCCORD’s operations manager. It’s offices are next-door to OCCORD. Even the contact phone number listed on its report of Baller’s contribution is OCCORD’s phone number!
But don’t let any of that allow you to give you the impression that replacing at-large with by-district council elections is an left-wing political play to create a Democratic majority on the Anaheim City Council. It’s all about “neighborhoods” and filling pot holes, you know.
