Two San Juan Capistrano incumbents raise more than half of election funds

Oct. 08--Two incumbents for the San Juan Capistrano City Council have raised more than half of the $100,000 that's been given to the eight candidates.

Nearly 75 people and businesses have given $29,628 to Larry Kramer and 93 have given nearly $30,000 to John Taylor.

The next richest candidate is Stephanie Frisch, who has raised $16,655 from 48 sources, followed by Jan Siegel with $10,615 from 31, Rob Williams with $7,800, Pam Patterson with $2,984, incumbent Derek Reeve with $2,548 and Kerry Ferguson with $720.

Candidates must disclose donations of $100 or more; several candidates received donations too low to qualify. The city of San Juan Capistrano limits donations to $500; the Council increased that from $250 in April.

Those fundraising amounts don't include the money candidates have loaned themselves. Taylor, who owns a general contracting company in Brea, has given himself $24,000; Siegel, whose husband, Warren, is a retired Superior Court judge and former general counsel for Sears Roebuck, has loaned herself $20,000. Frisch, an insurance broker whose husband is a real estate agent, loaned $10,650; Kramer, a retired U.S. Navy nuclear submarine captain, loaned himself $7,000. Patterson, a lawyer, gave herself $4,600. Williams, an architect, loaned $2,000; Reeve, a lawyer, loaned $3,650; and Ferguson, a tutor and former knitting store owner, gave herself $4,000.

The finance reports, filed Monday, are the first glimpse at who's trying to influence this year's City Council races and to whom they're giving their cash, which pays for advertisements, consultants, campaign signs, outreach events and, above all else, campaign fliers that are mailed directly to San Juan Capistrano homes and businesses.

The city has 17,511 active voters, according to the Orange County Registrar of Voters. About 15,000 ballots were cast in the 2012 election.

Donors include businessmen like Tony Moiso, president and CEO of Rancho Mission Viejo, but who they're giving money to reveals no cohesive support group.

While Moiso gave $500 to Siegel, his friend Brad Gates, a retired Orange County sheriff, donated $500 to Frisch, Taylor and Kramer.

The low-earning candidates don't seem to mind. Patterson, Reeve and Ferguson are critical of developers' influence on the current City Council and have pledged to vote against the kind of real estate projects that many of the donors in this campaign generally support.

Reeve said he doesn't take money from developers or anyone else who does business with the city.

"The appearance of impropriety can be as dangerous as an actual impropriety," Reeve said in an email. "Unions work the same way. How can I take money from the firefighters or sheriffs union and then turn around and negotiate with them?"

The only union donations this year have been to Frisch, Kramer and Taylor: the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs gave each $500.

No developer associated with the proposed the Spieker Development retirement center on Del Obsipo has directly donated to any candidate, but Josh Host, the developer of the proposed Urban Village hotel and houses, has given $500 to Siegel and Frisch. His wife, Michelle, also donated $500 to Frisch. Seabridge Property Services, which is owned by Joe Goveia, the developer who wants to build a shopping center east of Mission San Juan Capistrano, also gave Frisch $500.

Siegel, a 13-year member of the Cultural Heritage Commission, also enjoys support from longtime preservation advocates like Historical Society Historian Don Tryon, who gave $200, and Ilse Byrnes, who also donated $200.

Historical Society President Tom Ostensen gave Siegel $500, as did his wife, Nina Payne Ostensen, who also donated $100 to Kramer.

Siegel's husband's ties to the Orange County legal community also are evident: Derek Hunt, a Superior Court judge who lives in Newport Beach, donated $100; former Orange County District Attorney Mike Capizzi and his wife, Sandra, each gave $500; and Jack Goertzen, a retired appellate court judge in Laguna Beach, gave $500.

Siegel also accepted $250 from Ken Friess, a former mayor and city councilman. But Friess gave twice as much to Williams. His family chipped in, too: Williams received $500 from Friess' wife, Donna, his son Dan and Dan's wife, Natalie. Meanwhile, Friess' other son Rick and Rick's wife, Jennifer, each gave $500 to Frisch.

The Friesses are major property owners in San Juan Capistrano; the younger Friess is involved in litigation with the city over a parking dispute with a grocery store that's renting space next to his properties on Camino Capistrano.

Williams' $7,800 comes from 19 donors, including real estate broker Tom Hribar, a former mayor and city councilman, who gave $500. Hribar also donated $500 to Frisch.

Steve Nordeck, who owns El Adobe restaurant and Swallows Inn with Rancho Mission Viejo's Moiso and Gilbert Aguirre, donated $300 to Williams. Mission San Juan Capistrano Executive Director Mechelle Lawrence Adams gave Williams $200; she also gave $200 to Siegel.

Bill Griffith, owner of Rivendall Land Co., and his wife, Chris, each gave Williams $500. Their children, 20-year-old Marie and 22-year-old Jake, also each gave $500.

Griffith's children aren't the only young people to throw cash into the San Juan campaign pot: Christian St. Pierre, the 24-year-old son of Taylor's campaign manager, Paul St. Pierre, gave Taylor $500. His mother, Nancy St. Pierre, gave $250.

Paul St. Pierre, founder of the troubled Corinthian Colleges and a longtime San Juan Capistrano resident, said his family supports Taylor because of integrity, business skills and commitment to the community.

"When you start getting into projects and development, he has a very thorough understanding of what we're looking at. Not everyone else does," St. Pierre said.

St. Pierre and his wife also each gave $500 to Frisch and Kramer.

Jim Reardon, a member of the Capistrano Unified School District's board of trustees, donated $250 to Patterson, one of nine people who contributed to her nearly $3,000. He also donated $250 to Ferguson, the largest portion of the $720 she's raised.

Reardon said Patterson tirelessly supported his school board campaign in 2012 and his unsuccessful bid for the City Council in 2010.

"She has a pretty keen legal mind and a healthy skepticism about what people are presenting to her," Reardon said.

Reardon said he supports Ferguson, a California native who is president of the Capistrano Valley Federation of Republican Women, because of her stalwart Republican credentials, which include time in the liberal stronghold of Eugene, Ore., where she and her husband served in Republican leadership roles before moving to San Juan Capistrano in 2013.

Contact the writer: [email protected] or 949-492-5122. Twitter: @meghanncuniff.

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