Candidates and Corruption - Part 3 (Tettemer)

Earlier this week I talked about the flow of special interest money into the campaign coffers of Mark Tettemer during the 8 years he was on the City Council. Tettemer didn’t reply to my question about whether or not he intended to use special interest money and I said -

“Mark Tettemer didn’t reply. But we don’t need a response from Mark Tettemer to know what he’s up to. Tettemer sat on the Lake Forest City Council for 8 years and during that time the money flowed freely from special interests into his campaigns. He took thousands from builders, developers, lobbyists, Political Action Committees, people wanting ordinances, and companies with city contracts or wanting city contracts.”

Some people questioned the veracity of my assertions, so here are some pertinent examples taking from the 460 forms on file with the City Clerk’s office. Unfortunately they are not available online, but you can do a Public Records Request to get copies (I did reproduce 2 pages from his 460s to illustrate the omnipresence of special interest contributions). Here are the dates and amounts of some of Tettemer’s “donations”. Note that sometimes the money comes from the companies and sometimes it is routed through individuals, sometimes even relatives of individuals.

SHEA/BAKER RANCH

• $500, Larry Tucker, 11/3/2008
• $1,000, Baker Ranch Properties, 3/25/2008
• $500, Shea Property Management, 4/10/2008
• $1,000, Baker Ranch Properties, 11/2/2004
• $250, Eugene Spindler, 3/25/2008

DEVELOPER/BUILDER PACS (POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEES)

• $500, NAIOP, 10/30/2008
• $500, CREPAC, 7/11/2008
• $500, CREPAC, 10/25/2004
• $750, NAIOP, 11/1/2004
• $500, SCAA, 10/28/2008
• $249, SCAA, 11/2/2004
• $250, BIA, 11/2/2004

BALDWIN (PORTOLA)

• $250, Alfred Baldwin, 4/10/2008
• $250, Deeann Baldwin, 4/10/2008
• $250, James Baldwin, 4/10/2008
• $250, Nancy Baldwin, 4/10/2008

BUILDERS, CONTRACTORS, SUB-CONTRACTORS

• $500, Farino Construction, 10/25/2004
• $125, RBF Consulting, 9/24/2004
• $250, Griffin Structures, 10/10/2008
• $250, Farino Construction, 3/25/2008
• $500, Farino Construction, 4/27/2005

MOBILE PARK OWNERS AND LOBBYISTS

• $750, MHET, 11/4/2008
• $500, MHET, 9/30/2008
• $500, El Toro Mobile Estates, 11/1/2004
• $500, Stanford Green, 11/1/2004
• $500, MHET, 11/1/2004
• $250, El Toro Mobile Estates, 12/9/2008
• $1,000, Prothero Mobile Estates

LOBBYISTS (NOT CONNECTED TO BUILDERS/DEVELOPERS)

• $999, Waters & Faubel, 10/25/2004
• $500, Lincoln Club, 10/25/2004
• $250, Lincoln Club, 10/9/2008
• $250, OCAD, 10/7/2008

COMPANIES WITH CITY CONTRACTS/SEEKING CITY ORDINANCES

• $1,000, Waltman Fodor Properties, 3/25/2008
• $1,000, Waste Management. 3/25/2008
• $500, Sun Pacific, 4/27/2005
• $500, Valley Building, 4/27/2005
• $685.76, Waltman Fodor Properties, 4/27/2005
• $500, Valley Building, 10/25/2004
• $1,000, Waste Management, 11/2/2004

These are just some of the obvious examples. There are many more examples, mostly obscure, involving too much space to explain here. These $20,000 worth of examples should suffice.

DID TETTEMER BREAK THE LAW?

According to State law, written by politicians, none of this is illegal. Most of us recognize bribes and payoffs when we see them, but by funneling the money through their “campaign committees” instead of giving it to them directly, the law allows it.

Even when you can show a connection between the campaign contributors and the votes there is no technical law breaking because the money goes to the person's committee and not directly to the person. So Tettemer took money from Shea/Baker and voted for the Shea/Baker properties, and from the Baldwin Brothers and voted for their re-zoning, and from Waste Management and their contract, etc. etc. But none of this is illegal.

DID TETTEMER VIOLATE THE CITY’S ETHICS?

The City’s Code of ethics is specific –

“Safeguard ability to make independent, objective, fair and impartial judgments by scrupulously avoiding financial and social relationships and transactions that may compromise, or give the appearance of compromising, objectivity, independence, and honesty.”

Note that the requirement is not merely to abstain from heinous actions, but not to “give the appearance” of engaging in them.

When Tettemer took so much money and voted to give the people who gave him the money what they wanted, doesn’t that, at the very least, give the appearance of impropriety? Tettemer wasn’t compelled to vote. He could have excused himself, saying “I took the money and my vote might be compromised by my desire to keep the money, so I’m not going to vote on this issue.”

Nearly 10,000 people asked to kick Andrew Hamilton out of office, and one of the reasons to do this is that Hamilton took money from special interests and voted to give them what they wanted. Why would we kick out one corrupt Politician and replace him with another one who takes special interest money?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.

Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a mini town meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be on Dec 2 at 2 pm at the El Toro Public Library.