Colonies Influence San Bernardino County Political Decisions

Colonies Partners' handouts stretched far, wide

10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, April 1, 2009

By CASSIE MACDUFF and DUANE W. GANG
The Press-Enterprise

During the past six years, a company led by a prominent Inland-area developer funneled more than $1.2 million to a host of political action committees that spent heavily on local elections, campaign records show.

One of the PACs last year was the principal financial backer of a campaign that defeated an incumbent San Bernardino County supervisor -- one of two supervisors who had opposed the county's $102 million legal settlement with the company.

The campaign influence of Colonies Partners, led by Rancho Cucamonga businessmen Jeff Burum and Dan Richards, reached a crescendo in the past election cycle when the company donated more than $720,000 to six political action committees.

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The committees, which made donations, funded polling and paid for campaign literature, were heavily involved in helping oust incumbents, elect favored candidates and supported Republican groups, according to campaign records on file with the California secretary of state and San Bernardino County registrar of voters.

Burum also is the developer who, in January 2007, gave a $12,675 Rolex watch and a trip to New York to Jim Erwin, then a San Bernardino County assistant assessor.

Erwin later became county Supervisor Neil Derry's chief of staff. He resigned after his arrest March 19 on suspicion of 10 felonies related to failing to properly disclose the gifts. Burum has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

Among Colonies' PAC donations, the largest amount, $250,000, went to the union representing San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies, campaign records show. The union worked to unseat incumbent Supervisor Dennis Hansberger, who had clashed with Burum and Colonies during the lengthy legal dispute with the county over flood control on the company's Upland development.

Hansberger lost in June 2008 to Derry, Erwin's future boss.

Colonies also provided $300,000 in seed money to the Committee for Effective Government, the Alliance for Ethical Government and the San Bernardino County Young Republicans, campaign finance records show.

All three groups donated directly to county and city candidates, conducted polling, paid for political mailers and made contributions to even more political action committees.

Those running the three committees kept their funding from Colonies below the threshold that would have required them to report the company as the sponsor of the groups, campaign finance records show.

State law requires any person or group that supplies 80 percent or more of a political action committee's money to be reported as the sponsor.

In a recent interview, Burum declined to discuss specific contributions but said he makes donations to political action committees because he often doesn't know the specifics of very local races.

"It is a way to support the individuals and the issues," he said.

Burum in an interview last year said he supports pro-development, housing-friendly candidates and causes, and generally backs incumbent elected leaders. He has said he knows and trusts those running the political action committees.

'Good SEED MONEY'

The Colonies donations to the Committee for Effective Government, the Alliance for Ethical Government and the San Bernardino County Young Republicans represented between 70 to 78.4 percent of each committee's total fundraising in 2007 and 2008, records show.

Erwin runs the Committee for Effective Government. It donated $10,000 directly to Derry, $11,000 to the sheriff's union and covered a $16,800 bill for polling for Derry.

It also gave $13,000 to another group, the Citizens Anti-Crime Committee, which provided $30,000 in support to Derry as well as donations to other candidates.

Erwin did not return a message seeking comment about the committee.

The San Bernardino County Young Republicans is a group with official ties to the California Young Republicans. Matt Brown, chief of staff for Supervisor Paul Biane, ran the PAC when it received the donation from Colonies.

The group's largest donation was $40,000 to another organization founded by Brown, the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association.

The taxpayers association ended up on the opposite side of the 2008 Hansberger-Derry election battle from the other committees. The association spent more than $150,000 supporting Hansberger in his unsuccessful campaign for re-election, according to records on file with the San Bernardino County registrar of voters.

Brown said he was serving on the county Republican central committee with Richards of Colonies Partners. Richards offered to make a donation to the group, Brown said.

"It is difficult to raise money," he said. "We gladly accepted. It was good seed money that helped us go out and raise more money for the long term."

The Alliance for Ethical Government made donations to Supervisor Gary Ovitt and Ontario Mayor Paul Leon, covered the cost of campaign literature for a host of candidates seeking seats on the county Republican Party central committee, and paid out more than $30,000 in consulting fees to three of Ovitt's aides, records show.

The Alliance for Ethical Government gave Mark Kirk, Ovitt's chief of staff, $20,000 in consulting fees. The group disbanded Dec. 31, and its leaders were not disclosed.

Kirk declined to name the group's board but said he thinks that type of information should be disclosed. "The problem with PACs is, quite often, people are able to form them and no one knows who's behind them," he said, calling it a loophole in the law.

PAC Disclosure

Finding out who makes the decisions on how political action committees spend money is difficult. Until this year, no laws existed to require the committees to disclose who made the decisions on which candidates and issues to support.

New campaign finance rules that took effect Jan. 1 require all committees not associated with a candidate to disclose their principal officers.

Bob Stern, president of the Los Angeles-based Center for Governmental Studies, a government watchdog organization, said political action committees enable money to be funneled to candidates without having to identify the true source.

On a candidate's financial statement, the source is shown only as the political action committee. To find out where the PAC's money came from, the public has to go to a separate report.

Stern said donors give to PACs so the candidate doesn't have to be associated directly with the donor -- or so the donor can give more than the contribution limit.

While limits exist on contributions to candidates for state offices, there is no limit on contributions to county supervisors' campaigns.

UNION SUPPORT

Colonies since 2003 has donated about $500,000 to the San Bernardino County Safety Employees Benefit Association, the union representing sheriff's deputies, records show.

In a recent interview, Erwin said it's unusual for private companies to donate to dues-supported, public-safety unions.

The only other public-safety union that routinely takes outside money is the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, he said.

Erwin for years helped direct political contributions to local races from the union, which he headed from 1997 until 2005.

The union's influence grew dramatically during Erwin's tenure.

About six years ago, the deputies voted to increase their monthly dues from $5 to$20. That year, the union donations to political campaigns ballooned, Erwin said.

The union in the 2003-04 election cycle gave $100,000 to Ovitt, $30,000 to Biane, nearly $16,000 to then-Supervisor Bill Postmus and another $130,000 to supervisorial candidate John Longville, campaign finance reports show. Only Longville lost, to then-Fontana Councilwoman Josie Gonzales.

Derry, who benefited with more than $400,000 in support from the union in 2008, said money alone doesn't guarantee a candidate will be elected.

Still, money from Colonies reached Derry through three political action committees: Erwin's Committee for Effective Government, the sheriff's deputies union and the Inland Empire Political Action Committee, which received and donated money to Postmus.

The Inland Empire PAC also gave large amounts of money to Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt and to Postmus, then the county's assessor.

Bill Abernathie, current president of the deputies' union, said Erwin has not been associated with the union since January 2007.

Abernathie said the union still endorses and supports candidates..

Reach Cassie MacDuff at 951-368-9470 or cmacduff@PE.com

Reach Duane W. Gang at 951-368-9547 or dgang@PE.com

San Bernardino County GOP politics changes from kingpins to more de-centralized leadership

09:43 PM PDT on Wednesday, April 1, 2009
By CASSIE MACDUFF
The Press-Enterprise

In the past, power in San Bernardino County tended to rest in the hands of a single charismatic leader.

Former Board of Supervisors chairman Jerry Eaves filled that role in the 1990s. This decade, Bill Postmus, the embattled former county assessor, was the man who wielded influence.

Today, power is more diffuse, shared among county supervisors such as Paul Biane and Gary Ovitt, and state legislators such as Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, and Assemblyman Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands.

Some observers say that's a good thing because it reduces the potential for abuse of power.

But others say there's a downside -- the county Republican Party lacks a central figure who can recruit up-and-coming leaders, raise money and bring disaffected Republicans back.

What has remained constant is the behind-the-scenes influence from special interests, such as wealthy developers.

"Politics is not operated by politicians but by very large contributors and developers," said Bill Alexander, the former mayor of Rancho Cucamonga.

"San Bernardino County has become a complete money game, and it's terribly, terribly sad," he said.

Alexander lost his re-election bid in 2006 after a union -- backed by a wealthy developer -- campaigned heavily for his opponent.

That developer, Colonies Partners, is among the special interests that have contributed heavily. Rancho Cucamonga businessman Jeffrey S. Burum is a co-managing partner. He and his companies, along with other developers gave $155,000 to supervisors during the 2007-08 election cycle.

Burum recently made headlines after investigators disclosed that he had flown Jim Erwin, former assistant assessor, on a trip to New York City and Washington, D.C., in 2007, wining and dining him and treating him to an expensive watch.

Erwin had helped Burum facilitate a settlement in a dispute with the county over flood-control property at Burum's Colonies Crossroads development in Upland, according to court records. The county agreed to pay Burum's company $102 million in that settlement.

Erwin, who had previously headed the powerful deputies union and most recently chief of staff to county Supervisor Neil Derry, resigned last week after he was arrested and charged with perjury and filing false documents related to those gifts and the trip.

Burum has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

Diffusion of power

In the 1990s, Eaves held the reins of political power. He was chairman of the county Board of Supervisors and a veteran public servant who had been Rialto's mayor and a state assemblyman.

Some called him the king of San Bernardino County -- until a corruption scandal ended his reign.

In this decade, Postmus, a former county supervisor and assessor, also had clout, hiring political operatives to work in his office and boosting political careers as chairman of the county Republican Party.

Both men ran afoul of the law and were forced from office -- Eaves for failing to properly disclose gifts and trips he received from a businessman; Postmus under suspicion of drug violations.

Today, there is no single dominant elected official.

Biane and Ovitt hold some influence. Each has served as chairman of the county Board of Supervisors and in the leadership of the county Republican central committee.

But in an interview, Ovitt said most supervisors look to the area's GOP state legislators -- namely Dutton and Emmerson -- as the leaders of their party.

The change, he said, is partly a reaction to Postmus' aggressive political style. There isn't a party strongman anymore.

"What you find now is, no one individual will take that role," Ovitt said.

Derry also said there's no longer one go-to person to get things done -- of whom you don't want to cross.

"I don't think a Bill Postmus will happen again," he said.

The Inland area's state legislators also say no one dominates politics in the San Bernardino County.

"I'm just like any other small businessperson that wants to see good government," Dutton said.

Emmerson, who represents Upland-Rancho Cucamonga as well as east San Bernardino Valley, also downplayed his influence.

"I don't consider myself one of the boys out there. I came from the other end of the county," he said. "I spend as much time with people in Riverside as I do with people on the West End."

But if anyone remains as elder statesman in local GOP politics, it is former state legislator and GOP leader Jim Brulte. Term limits removed him from Sacramento's corridors of power in 2004. Now, Brulte is a government consultant.

But would-be candidates still seek him out for political advice -- and his blessing.

All five GOP candidates interested in running for the 63rd Assembly District seat, for example, separately sought his advice, Brulte said in a phone interview. Three asked for his endorsement.

But Brulte isn't a campaign consultant, and the centrist Republican group he leads, the New Majority-Inland Empire, supports some candidates but doesn't recruit up-and-coming ones.

Brulte's influence remains among area business leaders. They sought his help in bringing then-President George W. Bush to Ontario in 2002.

And today, the Rancho Alliance Investors, a group that includes Burum and is seeking the right to develop 1,200 acres of surplus county land near Rancho Cucamonga, includes him on its project team.

Leaders on both sides of a lawsuit between the county and Colonies asked him to help mediate a settlement in 2005. Brulte was in the room when Postmus and Biane negotiated with Burum and his Colonies partner outside the presence of lawyers.

Two other influential West End Republicans -- developer Ted Dutton and auto dealer Mark Leggio -- have been less active in recent years, Dutton as he nears retirement and Leggio since being charged with campaign finance violations last June.

Special interests

What hasn't changed, observers say, is behind-the-scenes influences in the county.

Along with Burum, the Safety Employees Benefit Association, the union that represents sheriff's deputies and was headed by Erwin, is a major influence in political campaigns.

The influence of Burum and the union was felt in a 2006 Rancho Cucamonga City Council race when the union sought to oust Bill Alexander, the longtime mayor.

During that election cycle, Burum and his companies gave the union $100,000.

Alexander said he was targeted by the union because it wrongly believed he wanted to replace the Sheriff's Department, which provides law enforcement under contract in Rancho Cucamonga, with a local police department.

Erwin, who headed the union from 1997-2005, confirmed the reason, saying a sergeant overheard him say he wanted to have a city police department. The union mobilized against him to protect deputies' interests, Erwin said. Alexander lost the election.

Last year, the union was instrumental in unseating Supervisor Dennis Hansberger after Hansberger criticized Erwin's affair with the county's labor negotiator during contract talks with Erwin's union. Former San Bernardino councilman Neil Derry, with the union's backing, was elected to replace Hansberger and took office in January.

Burum's influence was felt in a supervisor's race in 2002, when then-Rancho Cucamonga Councilman Paul Biane challenged longtime Supervisor Jon Mikels, said former San Bernardino County District Attorney Dennis Stout. Burum helped support Biane's $610,000 campaign.

Mikels and Burum had crossed swords over development in the area.

"I've observed that if you cross certain people, you pay the consequences," Stout said.

Mikels, a 16-year incumbent, lost to Biane.

Other West End developers, including the Lewis Group of Companies, which develops mixed-use planned communities and residential subdivisions, and Young Homes, one of the Inland region's largest homebuilders, also contribute heavily to candidates. But they have not inserted themselves into campaigns the way Burum and the sheriff's deputies union have.

In an interview last week, Burum explained why he contributes to campaigns.

He said he got to know elected officials through his work in affordable housing. Burum regularly lobbied local and state government on affordable housing issues in the 1990s and is the founder of two nonprofit organizations that promote affordable housing.

From there, he got involved in Republican politics, making $50 donations to elected officials. His ties, friendships and connections grew.

"It was just an evolution," Burum said.

Burum has said he makes the donations for access and so his opinion will be heard. He said he never asks for special treatment.

"I give mostly to incumbents who I have known for decades," Burum said last week. "I continued to make donations so I would get access to these people and be treated equally."

Staff writers Jim Miller and Duane W. Gang contributed to this report.

Staff writer Douglas Quan wrote the story.

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