Campaign Contributions To Lake Elsinore Candidates Made Public
Lake Elsinore City Council members Bob Magee and Melissa Melendez are seeking the 67th State Assembly seat.
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Campaign contributions to candidates running in two local state races have been made public, and the war chests are almost equal among the all-Republican field of state assembly contenders.
In the bid for the 67th State Assembly seat, which includes Lake Elsinore and Wildomar, the Secretary of State website is reporting that campaign contributions covering the period Jan. 1, 2011 through Dec. 31, 2011 were close among the candidates, but Murrieta Valley Unified School District board member Ken Dickson was the leader with reported total contributions of $101,545. His ending cash after expenditures for the period was $99,999.11.
Two Lake Elsinore City Council members running for the assembly seat also reported their contributions, expenditures and ending cash for the same period.
Councilman Bob Magee showed $86,783.00 in contributions and $56,247.84 in ending cash.
Councilwoman Melissa Melendez reported contributions of $75,687.48 and $65,953.60 in ending cash.
Phil Paule, who serves as district director for Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Vista), has been a vocal contender in the 67th Assembly District race. His reported contributions contradict a claim made last month by his campaign that touted the candidate as the money “frontrunner” in the four-person field. (Click here to read that story.)
According to the Secretary of State, Paule reported $87,511.74 in contributions and $52,439.01 in ending cash, which falls short of Dickson's reported contributions.
Redistricting has shifted political boundaries. Currently, Lake Elsinore and Wildomar fall into the 66th Assembly District represented by Kevin Jeffries (R-Lake Elsinore). Jeffries terms out in November and has announced his bid for a seat on the Riverside County Board of Supervisors.
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Ken Mayes
11:18 pm on Wednesday, February 1, 2012
These people will spent far more than the job pays by the time all is said and done. Something is wrong with this picture.
Bud Green
2:03 am on Thursday, February 2, 2012
What's wrong with the picture is that they all bring in a lot more in contributions than they're spending. They can do whatever they want with the leftover money. Dickinson looks to have spent about 2% of the over $100K he brought in. This payday is tax-exempt too.
To hell with the food stamp application, I wanna run for office.
Jeff Greene
10:54 am on Thursday, February 2, 2012
Politicians in California can NOT keep leftover campaign funds for personal use. They have to either be given back to their donors, given to another campaign (following contribution limits), donated to a 501c3, or turned over to the state general fund. Furthermore, Dickson loaned nearly all of the money to himself and has raised little or none of it from outside sources, so he is very definitely not benefiting from this, though why you would want to spend that much of your own money is beyond me...
Martha L. Bridges
6:51 am on Thursday, February 2, 2012
More proof that our election system is all about money, and has little or nothing to do with getting the right kind of person for these jobs. It's no wonder that so many of our elected officials are beholden to their contributors and couldn't care less about the people they are susposed to serve.
Lake Elsinore Resident
7:22 am on Thursday, February 2, 2012
I agree with all of you, especially Martha - politicans are beholden to their contributors. I BELIEVE Melendez is the worse of the BUNCH, she is being sponsored by Granite Construction AND many more mining affilicates (who are already working in Lake Elsinore) - which makes me believe we will be getting a new mining operator as a BAD NEIGHBOR. What has she done for Lake Elsinore, nothing. Maybe lined her pockets.
stephanie
9:03 am on Thursday, February 2, 2012
Would you trust those two phony smiles? They're smiling all the way to the bank with their new Ipads that we bought for all of the Council members. This morning I saw an Elsinore 'exempt' license plate on a white Chevy Blazer (or some other upscale Chevy SUV)) dropping kids off at Canyon Lake Middle School, then promptly pull into the Stater Bros parking lot. Nice that we're paying for gas and wear and tear while this priviledged elitist screws us. I'll get the plate # next time.
Diana
9:13 am on Thursday, February 2, 2012
I certainly hope that Magee wins and moves out of LE, I believe that he is the controlling voice on the council that keeps the progress from moving forward for all that live here. He has held a Council seat for many years and yet has no accomplishments within the City that are worth mention, it is time for him to move on.