Dwight Robinson: 97% of Contributions from Developers in Lake Forest City Council Race

A little more than two weeks from the 2016 election for Lake Forest City Council, incumbent Dwight Robinson has received 97 percent of his campaign contributions from Political Action Committees representing developers.

The knock against Robinson has been that he was in the back pocket of developers, a criticism that will be tough to shake given the figures reported from July 1 to Sept. 24 in the Form 460 he filed.

Robinson has approved every waiver, variance and project request made by developers during his almost four years in office, and a report in May indicated Lake Forest was the third-fastest growing city in California.

If voters thought there was an appearance of corruption in Robinson’s first term given the special interest contributions and the way he voted, the developer PACs are positioning Robinson for additional scrutiny if he is able to beat the other front-runners, incumbent Adam Nick or recall organizer Leah Basile. Two seats are available on the City Council.

Only time will tell if Robinson will be an easy mark, but according to reported contributions between July 1 and Sept. 24, Robinson received:

• A $6000 contribution from the California Real Estate Political Action Committee

• A $900 contribution from NAIOP SoCal PAC, representing commercial real estate development

The $6900 in developer contributions account for 97 percent of non-loan monies Robinson received during the period. Robinson raised $17,098, but $10,000 was from Robinson's company, Los Angeles Harbor Grain Terminal.

It is that business, located on the Long Beach Pier, that made many voters believe he had lied on his candidate statement. Robinson said he was a business owner in Lake Forest and employed nearly 100 people, but his home-based business in Lake Forest employs only two individuals; other employees are from his other businesses that went unnamed, primarily L.A. Harbor Grain Terminal.

At the City Council candidate forum on Oct. 19, Robinson defended taking money from special interests, but did not provide any examples of his voting against anyone who had contributed money to his campaign.

Campaign forms also show that Robinson’s running mate, Francisco Barajas, received 45 percent of his campaign contributions from PACs, including the California Apartment Association. Total contributions were $3673. Additionally, after this reporting period ending Sept. 24, he received a contribution of $2497 from Robinson.

About the author: Martin Henderson won several Los Angeles and Orange County press club awards while an editor at Patch in 2012-13.