SANTA ANA : Residents’ Group, Chamber Settle Suit

A neighborhood group and the city’s Chamber of Commerce have settled a 4-year-old suit that stems from an unsuccessful 1986 ballot measure that would have created council elections by wards in Santa Ana.

Jim Lowman of Santa Ana Merged Society of Neighbors said the organization has agreed to accept $15,000 to settle the suit, which was filed in October, 1986. The suit alleged that the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce’s political action committee broke the state’s election laws when it failed to report money that was received after filing deadlines for mandatory campaign finance reports.

Under state law, special-purpose committees--those that are formed for a particular race or candidate--must disclose such contributions.

“This money says that laws are for everybody and not for a select few,” Lowman said Tuesday.

But Michael Metzler, executive director of the chamber, said the chamber’s PAC did not break any laws because it is not a special-purpose committee. The chamber’s PAC is actually a general one, which does not follow the same requirements as special-purpose ones, Metzler said. The chamber agreed to settle the lawsuit because it “was dividing the community” and was costly, he said.

“We did nothing wrong on this,” Metzler said. “This is strictly to put this behind us and to heal the wounds.”

In June, 1986, Santa Ana was tangled in one of its most bitter elections when voters had the chance to adopt ward council elections. The measure to restructure the local government lost by one percentage point.