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Contractors and developers in Santa Ana might soon have to disclose any campaign finance violations issued by state or federal officials – a move that could be a first for Orange County.
Santa Ana City Councilman Phil Bacerra wants it made clear to the public if a developer or business applying for a permit, contract, license or entitlement has been found to have violated any state or federal campaign finance laws.
It comes after the Fair Political Practices Commission fined Orange County developer Ryan Ogulnick $87,000 last month for an alleged political money laundering scheme in Santa Ana.
The commission found Ogulnick illegally hid the source of over $300,000 that was spent on mailers in Santa Ana’s 2018 city council elections, some of which opposed Bacerra’s unsuccessful city council campaign at the time.
[Read: OC Developer Fined by State Officials for Dark Money Campaign in Santa Ana]
Gary Winuk, Olgunick’s lawyer, said the developer was new to political campaigns and blamed the mistakes on his past attorneys.
On Tuesday, Bacerra successfully got his colleagues to direct staff to draft an ordinance that would require developers, businesses and other applicants for city permits to disclose any Federal Election Commission or Fair Political Practices Commission violations – the state’s campaign finance watchdog.
“This is to make sure that we make it clear to folks that think that dirty politics is the way to get things approved in Santa Ana. We make it clear that if you do that, you will be called out and it will be known,” Bacerra said at Tuesday’s meeting.
He also wants anybody who is actively opposing or supporting somebody’s application and has a financial interest in the city’s decision on that application to also disclose similar violations.
To read his request, click here.
Councilwoman Thai Viet Phan raised concerns about applying the law to people who have pending Federal Election Commission or Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) cases, saying they could be false allegations.
“I have a lot of experience defending and being the subject of an FPPC complaint, some of which were completely dismissed with no investigation, no request for information. Others that I won on behalf of a client that took two years to show that we won and there was no violation,” she said.
Bacerra was a city planning commissioner who opposed a development project by Ogulnick in Santa Ana.
He went on to win a seat on the city council in a special election in 2019.
“Sometimes, as we saw in 2018 people don’t play by the rules, and they try to hide what they did, but thankfully, justice prevailed,” Bacerra said.
“Let’s make sure that we send a message that Santa Ana is not open to corrupt developers or any other type of contractors, and that this item would be something that shoots a flare in the air when those sorts of characters try to come into our city.”
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
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