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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

August 2, 2005

Pardee Homes' gift swings campaign

In financial disclosure reports submitted Monday, Citizens for Livermore Trails reported raising $500,200 in cash donations and $61,923 in non-monetary contributions from April 1 through June 30 -- all but $200 coming from Pardee itself.

For all of calendar year 2005, a total of more than $1.37 million was raised, while $1.4 million was spent, including $646,000 during the latest reporting period, the document says.

The amount raised dwarfs the $32,880 raised in 2005 by Friends of Livermore, the anti-Pardee group that had spent $27,873 of June 30.

Between April 1 and June 30, it raised $21,664, including $18,760 in cash contributions.

The pro-Pardee report shows the largest single payment to Barnes, Mosher, Whitehurst, Lauter & Partners, a San Francisco-based consulting firm that was paid more than $250,000 to run the direct mail and voter communications campaign.

"Citizens for Livermore Trails is continuing to use all available tools to get facts and information out to the voters," said Carlene Matchniff, vice president of community development for Pardee. "We are fighting the opposition's campaign of misinformation ..."

But Susan Edgar-Lee, a Livermore resident with the anti-Pardee campaign, said it's Pardee that's trying to mislead voters.

"If their project was so good, why do they have to spend all this money selling it to us? They have TV and movie (theater) ads, and that's not cheap," she said.

Mayor Marshall Kamena, who opposes the Pardee project, said less money has to be spent fighting Pardee because "the truth isn't nearly as expensive."

But Pardee spokesman Bernie Rhinerson said Friday that Pardee is being forced to fight forces that go beyond direct campaign spending against the project.

For example, he contended the anti-Pardee City Council majority is spending additional city funds on studies in attempts to discredit the project and said out-of-town environmental groups such as the Greenbelt Alliance and Sierra Club are organizing members to fight Pardee.

Major contributions to the Friends of Livermore campaign for the latest period include $5,000 from Preserve Area Ridgelands Committee, $1,050 from Cynthia Patton of Livermore, $2,200 from Gale Marshall of Livermore and $1,000 from Jean Ford of Dublin.

Livermore resident Bob Baltzer's $100 contribution brought his yearly total to $2,100. Resident Don Miller gave $570, for a yearly total of $1,070; Archer Futch $500, for a yearly total of $1,000.

Politicians, including members of the slow-growth City Council majority, also gave, with Councilman Tom Reitter giving $50 and Councilwoman Marj Leider and Kamena each giving $25.

A separate pro-Pardee political action committee, which is called Livermore Tomorrow and says it's community-based, reported raising $918 as of June 30.

Bonita Brewer covers the city of Livermore. Reach her at 925-847-2120 or bbrewer@cctimes.com.

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