IRVINE : Candidates Spend More in Final Days

Candidates for mayor and City Council dramatically increased their campaign spending in the final days leading up to Tuesday’s election, campaign expense reports filed Friday show.

On average, the candidates seeking the mayor’s post and two seats on the City Council spent four of 10 campaign dollars between Oct. 18 and Wednesday. The money went mostly to advertisements in a local newspaper, last-minute mass mailings and cable television ads purchased by the two mayoral candidates.

The city requires candidates to file the fund-raising and spending reports to reveal their campaigning in the last few days of the election, when candidates typically spend a flurry of dollars to nudge voters onto their side. As of Wednesday, three of the six candidates for mayor spent a total of $40,023. Four of the eight City Council candidates spent a total of $110,000.

The other three mayoral candidates and the other four council candidates all filed statements at the beginning of the campaign that stated they planned to spend less than $1,000 each. Spending less than $1,000 exempts candidates from detailing their fund-raising and spending dollars.

The final expense reports show that mayoral candidate Mike Ward received $900 in last-minute donations from developers, development-related businesses and political-action committees.

Among council candidates, Christopher B. Mears and Paula Werner received maximum $180 contributions from the Los Angeles-based carpenters’ union. Ken Bruner, an aide to County Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, received $540 from development interests, a maximum $180 contribution from a county employees’ union, and $180 contributions from two top-level county officials. And Christina L. Shea and Bruner each received $180 donations from the Irvine Coast Republican Women’s Club.

Shea also topped all other candidates in lending personal funds to his or her own campaign. Shea loaned her campaign another $5,600, increasing her personal loans to a total of $15,600. Shea is rivaled by Mears in personal loan money with $4,000 loans in the final days, making his total loan $10,250.

Mears and Shea have been fighting it out during the final days before the election, criticizing each other’s political positions. Mears has criticized Shea for her ties to a conservative Christian group, while Shea has labeled Mears a resurrected Larry Agran, a former mayor ousted by voters in 1990.

Mears tops Shea’s spending in the race, $42,469 to $29,463. They are the top two spenders in the city campaigns. Werner has spent $21,749 in her bid for a second term. Bruner has spent a total of $16,327 in his first bid for public office.

In the mayor’s race, Helen T. Cameron continues to top the pack with $18,447 spent, compared to $12,237 for Ward and $9,339 for Marc Goldstone.

Candidates were not the only groups spending money on the election. The conservative Lincoln Club of Orange County has spent $11,500 for a mailer on behalf of Ward, Bruner and Shea, according to campaign expense reports.